Top performing Central Coast NAPLAN schools revealed in last 5 years

Gosford High School and Central Coast Grammar School are the top performing NAPLAN schools in Central Coast. See how your school ranks.

Fiona Killman and Richard Noone

3 min read

November 29, 2022 - 12:45PM

Central Coast Express Advocate

REVEALED: How every Central Coast school performed in NAPLAN.

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An independent analysis of five years of NAPLAN results has revealed the schools which consistently performed the best in the Year 5 and Year 9 tests between 2017 and 2021.

Over that five-year period, Central Coast Grammar School, in Erina Heights, had higher Year 5 yearly results than any other school in the Central Coast, scoring an average of 2800.5 each year.

Gosford Public School in West Gosford was the second best for the region with an average score of 2734.3, while Coast Christian School in Bensville was the third best with an average score of 2672.3.

The top performing Year 9 school was Gosford High School, in Gosford, where the average yearly result was 3341.75 over the five years.

Central Coast Grammar School in Erina Heights was the second best for the region with an average score of 3150.75, while Green Point Christian College in Green Point was the third best with an average score of 3013.5.

To determine how each school performed between 2017 and 2021, their average scores for each year were combined and the yearly average found.

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

Central Coast Steiner School made the top 10 for both Year 5 and Year 9 results.

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

Central Coast Steiner School made the top 10 across the Central Coast for both Year 5 and Year 9 results.

Principal Rosemary Michalowski said the school had “consistent high standards”.

“All students are required to do their best without getting rewards, have high focus and have positive relationships with their teachers,” she said.

“We don’t do these things because of NAPLAN but to maintain a healthy school culture. It all comes together and we are happy to see these results.”

Artists impression of the new performing arts centre under construction.

She said the school was also responsible when it came to tracking student progress.

“We do other assessments and little snapshots and we make sure we give students solid feedback,” she said.

Mrs Michalowski said the school was exploring the possibility to expand to include Years 11 and 12.

“We will have a beautiful facility opening. We also have a new deputy principal from Cranbrook starting in 2023,” she said.

She said the school also had a high standard of behaviour across all years and did not provide a rewards system for students doing their best.

“Learning is its own reward,” she said. “That’s an important aspect for the Steiner approach, it’s a privilege and a joy to learn and stretch yourself as a person. We are preparing them for life.”

Coast Christian School Principal Matthew Drennan with Kindergarten teacher Georgina Battle and their 2022 class. Picture: Sue Graham

Coast Christian School came in third place for Year 5 results, with principal Matthew Drennan saying the biggest consistency at the Bensville school was the quality of teaching.

“A teaching cohort will often change from one year to the next,” he said. “What we are trying to do is have a real consistency in our quality of teaching.

“Every year, if we can challenge the kids that learn relatively easily and then try to help the kids that find learning more difficult, that’s the secret.”

He said the school was focused on getting all of the “mechanisms right” from teaching to the quality of the student’s learning and components of Explicit Direct Instruction (EDI).