NAPLAN: Top performing Clarence Valley primary and high schools revealed

Clarence Valley Anglican School, Gulmarrad Public School and McAuley Catholic College are the Clarence’s top performing NAPLAN schools. Check out how your school performed.

Clarence Valley Anglican School is the Clarence Valley‘s top performing NAPLAN school.

A leading Clarence Valley school principal believes strong education is key in tackling the region’s growing youth crime problem.

Clarence Valley Anglican School has been ranked as Clarence Valley’s best performing NAPLAN school last year.

Ms Lisle said early education provided troubled kids “direction for the future”.

“Research shows most people in jail are illiterate so by focusing on literacy and numeracy, kids are given a chance to stay out of trouble,” she said.

Clarence Valley Anglican School principal Karin Lisle believes a strong education from a young age can help prevent a life of crime. Picture: Supplied

Ms Lisle said she believed basic numeracy and literacy “forms the foundations for success”.

Her school has topped NAPLAN results in the Clarence for the past five years running.

An independent analysis of newly-released 2022 NAPLAN results revealed the schools which performed the best in the Year 5 and Year 9 tests.

Clarence Valley Anglican School achieved better primary results than any other school in Clarence Valley, scoring an average of 505.4 across the five test subjects.

Gulmarrad Public School (GPS) was the second best for the region with an average score of 500.4, while St Joseph‘s Primary School in Maclean was the third best with an average score of 498.4.

Ms Lisle said strategies were put in place at the school for kid s“falling behind”.

“We track students from kindy right up and if there are signs they’re failing we try lift them up,” she said.

Clarence Valley Anglican School student results are tracked from a young age to ensure they don’t fall behind. Picture: Supplied

Ms Lisle said a happy and stable teaching cohort created a positive teaching environment.

She said the school enjoyed the luxury of having small class sizes, allowing one-on-one teaching.

“It makes a big difference,” Ms Lisle said.

She said teaching shortages in the Clarence created challenges for teachers.

“I take my hat off to teachers all across the region – they’re doing it because they love the kids and are passionate,” she said.

Clarence Valley Anglican School is able to focus on one-on-one teaching. Picture: Supplied

Gulmarrad Public School principal Robyn Urquhart said his school’s NAPLAN reading results improved thanks to individualised teaching.

“We implemented additional support in the Kindergarten to Year Two classes for English, allowing for focused explicit teaching of reading and writing in small groups,” she said.

The NAPLAN results show Clarence Valley Anglican School was also the top performing secondary school with average results of 564.8.

McAuley Catholic College in Clarenza was the second best performing in the Clarence with an average score of 562.2, while Maclean High School was the third best with an average score of 551.2.

Clarence Valley Anglican School has topped NAPLAN results for five years running. Picture: Supplied

To determine how each school performed in 2022, the scores for all five test subjects for the student cohort (Year 5 or Year 9) were combined and the average found.

Special schools, schools with fewer than 20 students enrolled, and schools that did not report any results for NAPLAN subjects were excluded from the analysis.

The figures were independently compiled from the Federal Government‘s MySchool website.

Clarence Valley’s best performing Year 5 schools for 2022:

Clarence Valley Anglican School: 505.4

Gulmarrad Public School: 500.4

St Joseph’s Primary School: 498.4

Iluka Public School: 491.4

St James’ Primary School: 488.6

Pacific Valley Christian School: 486.8

Ulmarra Public School: 481.4

St Mary’s Primary School: 478.8

Coutts Crossing Public School: 475.6

St Joseph’s Primary School: 475.0

Clarence Valley’s best performing Year 9 schools for 2022:

Clarence Valley Anglican School: 564.8

McAuley Catholic College: 562.2

Maclean High School: 551.2

St Andrew’s Christian School: 550.2

Pacific Valley Christian School: 542.6

Grafton High School: 540.0

South Grafton High School: 537.2

Bonalbo Central School: 504.6