The Hunter Region’s best performing schools for NAPLAN 2022

NAPLAN 2022 results have seen Merewether High School and Hamilton South Public School emerge on top across the Hunter. Check out our interactive tool to see how your school ranked.

Fiona Killman

@FionaKillman

2 min read

February 22, 2023 - 1:00AM

The Newcastle News

See how every Hunter school ranked in NAPLAN results for 2022

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

Hamilton South Public School, in Merewether, had better primary results than any other school across the Hunter, scoring an average of 546.8 across the five test subjects.

Hunter Valley Grammar School in Ashtonfield was the second best for the region with an average score of 544.4, while Charlestown South Public School was the third best with an average score of 542.2.

The top performing secondary school was Merewether High School, in Broadmeadow, with the average result was 674.6.

Newcastle Grammar School in The Hill was the second best for the region with an average score of 628.4, while Hunter Valley Grammar School in Ashtonfield was the third best with an average score of 607.2.

To determine how each school performed in 2022, the scores for all five test subjects for the student cohort (Yr 5 or Yr 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.

Mark Warren, principal for Hamilton South Public School. Picture: Supplied

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

Hamilton South Public School principal Mark Warren said the school had “strong results”.

“In broad strokes, it (NAPLAN) can be really useful to see the impact of different things that we are doing,” he told the Newcastle News.

“The teachers here are fantastic and have an understanding of the students’ needs and then taking them that next step.

“That’s where we are seeing the achievements.”

Mr Warren said the entire team at Hamilton South Public School worked collaboratively and well together.

“But more than that, they have to know their students and where every child is going next,” he said.

“Then they can tailor lessons to suit individual needs.”

Merewether High School principal Rochelle Dooley

Merewether High School principal Rochelle Dooley said she was unsure if Merewether had topped the region before, however was thrilled with the result.

“It’s something we are very proud if in terms of teaching staff as well as students,” she said.

“It certainly shows the focus as a whole ideology on literacy and numeracy approaches.

“It demonstrates the great work and contributions of teachers and students going towards achieving these results.”

Ms Dooley said it also showed the benefits of giving explicit instructions and developing literacy and numeracy in classrooms.

She said all programs at the academic selective school, such as PDHPE, brought in literacy and numeracy strategies to introduce “real world connections”.

“We want to make sure those skills are embedded to stretch and extend students,” she said.