Canley Vale High School achieves above average literacy gains for four years
Canley Vale High School is just one of eight across the country to record above-average improvements every year for the past four years in their NAPLAN assessments.
Fairfield
Don't miss out on the headlines from Fairfield. Followed categories will be added to My News.
They face extraordinary challenges unlike most children their age — but Canley Vale High School students keep excelling time and time again.
The school is just one of eight across the country to record above-average improvements every year for the past four years in their NAPLAN assessments.
Principal Peter Rouse said the school’s community was focused on supporting its children to achieve the best they could achieve.
“When you look at the demographic, 96 per cent of students come from non-English speaking backgrounds and 88 per cent have English as a second language themselves,” Mr Rouse said.
“Literacy became an obvious priority and we have embraced literacy classes that every student accesses.”
However, Mr Rouse said students were not trained to focus their energy on succeeding in the controversial NAPLAN testing alone.
“We focus on building their skills in these classes not so they can succeed in NAPLAN, but because we believe improving literacy provides more opportunities for them in the future,” Mr Rouse said.
Despite that, Year 9 student Arianna Granda Jaines said no-one was immune to the pressure.
“It’s all everybody talks about,” she said.
“It’s a pretty nerve-racking experience.”
Year 8 student Triston Cheng said friendly competition among students fuelled their success.
“A lot of people in my grade like to compete,” Triston said.
“It’s friendly, not serious — but it motivates us to work harder.”
Many of his students bear more adult responsibilities and burdens than most but Mr Rouse said his students never gave up.
“Many students live below the poverty line and those with parents who don’t speak English have to assist them as translators,” Mr Rouse.
“There is a question of how they could achieve such excellent results when everything else says that they shouldn’t but our mission is to take these young people and provide them with opportunities so they can go out into the workforce and succeed.”
Year 10 student Patrick La said the student body’s diversity was their strength.
“We’re all so multicultural,” he said.
“Everyone comes from a different part of the world and when we come here, we don’t take things for granted — we work really hard.”
NAPLAN results reignite public verse private debate
Mr Rouse said he was immensely proud of his students and their outstanding results.
“We’re on a journey with these students, now and in the future,” he said.
“Imagine what they will do in the future — the world needs changing and this generation is going to be doing the heavy lifting.”