NAPLAN results 2023: NSW primary school performance revealed

We’ve crunched the numbers and ranked every NSW primary school based on their 2023 NAPLAN results. SEE WHERE YOUR SCHOOL RANKS.

Public primary schools are achieving results so high in the NAPLAN tests they have parents battling the property market to get their kids into them, while cheap private schools have outperformed some of NSW’s most expensive.

A Daily Telegraph analysis of Year 5 results from the reading, writing, spelling, grammar and numeracy tests held in March reveals the 100 highest scoring schools are split evenly between the public and private sectors, but government schools in every corner of the city account for 14 of the top 20.

While inner-city all-boys school Sydney Grammar achieved the highest overall average score of 638, Concord West Public School snuck in just behind it with an average of 613.8.

Concord West’s clever kids recorded results in numeracy considered above average even when accounting for the school’s relatively affluent community, a feat principal Monica Marchiello puts down to a concerted effort to upskill educators into “confident” mathematicians.

“That’s made a huge, huge impact on our results, because once teachers are feeling confident at being able to teach the elements of maths, we’re able to really see how the students are actually thinking about solving their problems,” she said.

“A good maths lesson” is “broken up into five parts”, she said; a warm-up or introduction to the problem, a problem-solving session involving writing or drawing different strategies, time to practice in pairs and groups, solo practice and a wrap-up.

In 57 schools across NSWe, Year 5 students achieved results ‘well above’ their peers of a similar socio-economic background, with the highest number of those in southwest Sydney with 14, and followed by Northern Sydney and Western Sydney with 13 schools each.

Low-fee independent schools like Northcross Christian School also eclipsed pricey private schools like Abbotsleigh, which charges junior students three times as much in tuition fees.

At Carlingford West Public School, one of Western Sydney’s nine overperformers, principal Andrew Williamson said the focus on explicit teaching is “not rocket science”.

“We’re making sure teachers have a deep understanding of what’s going on in their classroom, and my executive teachers are in there working with them shoulder-to-shoulder,” he said.

“Our community has very high expectations of our performance, and so does myself, so do our staff.”

Concord West Public School students Jesslyn Wijaya, Shohaan Sengupta and Sophia Daniel. Picture: Richard Dobson

Assistant principal Evelyn Seebacher said the school’s reputation for academic excellence sees parents move into the area just so they can be zoned for the school, and some of its students undergo outside tutoring that teachers occasionally “have to undo”.

While the school doesn’t have an opportunity class, it has independently formed its own selective stream of an even “higher calibre”, she said.

“If you’ve got parents on board, it’s 100 per cent better,” Mrs Seebacher said.

“We get kids in Year 5 and 6 who are doing maths at a high school level.”

Concord West Public School students Henri Jones, Samuel Miller, Aileen Fei and Sidharth Kale. Picture: Richard Dobson

In the Central West, Narromine Public School’s students rated as “well-above” their peers, as did the test-takers at Murwillumbah PS in the Tweed area and Westdale PS in the New England region.

Regional schools generally scored poorer results than their more privileged urban counterparts. Sydney’s schools scored an average of 506.6, more than 30 points above the bush average of 474.6.

At Hillvue Public School in Tamworth, one of a handful of regional schools identified as being consistently high performers, principal Jayne Johnson couldn’t imagine working in the city, insisting she’s “very fortunate” to work in the community she was born in.

“We’ve done a lot of work on writing, and that’s shone through so well (in the NAPLAN results) … our Year 5s are just zooming ahead and have made great inroads,” she said.

In ‘connected communities’ schools like Hillvue, disadvantaged kids have access to occupational therapists, speech pathologists and specialist counsellors.

“We sort out a few things with our children, we make sure their health is correct, take care of their wellbeing - do they have enough clothing, do they have enough food,” she said.

“That’s how we get these wonderful children early for learning.”

This year’s NAPLAN results can’t be compared with previous years’, because in 2023 the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) reset the testing regime’s measurement scale and held the exams earlier in the year.