Fairfield NAPLAN: 2019 Top performing high schools revealed
The top performing high schools in Fairfield can now be revealed following the release of the latest NAPLAN results, with number one spot taken by one of the region’s newest schools. SWW HOW YOUR SCHOOL PERFORMED
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One of Fairfield’s newest schools has taken the number one spot in a list of the top performing high schools in NAPLAN.
Years 5 and 7 students at Pal Buddhist School — established in 2013 as Australia’s only Buddhist school — outperformed others in the region with an average score of 591.6 across literacy and numeracy subjects.
Freeman Catholic College ranked second with a score of 584.7, followed by Canley Vale High with 568.5, Prairiewood High with 566.2 and Bonnyrigg High with 562.2.
Pal Buddhist School founding principal Panha Pal said the excellent academic results stemmed from a more wholistic approach to education with a focus on wisdom and morality.
“If you can actually get a student to activate their humanistic side … then you can bring anybody to become a studious learner. In fact, they will be able to learn and absorb knowledge, any kind of knowledge,” he said.
He said parents were looking for “a more serious” and “lifelong” education for their children and by nurturing students’ moral values their academic results also improved.
“By focusing on being a good human being, they develop compassion, they develop selfless joy … they also develop an unshakeable mind.”
The latest NAPLAN results was a “vote of confidence” in the school, which had the potential to one day be “on par or even better” than James Ruse Agricultural High School - which topped the state - or Sydney Grammar, he said.
The NAPLAN test is designed to measure students in literacy and numeracy and track progress.
The NAPLAN test remains controversial with the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority, the federal body responsible for developing national curriculum and assessment, this year revamping the MySchool website where school’s NAPLAN results are publicly displayed.
Focus groups across the country found MySchool was difficult to navigate and was filled with technical language and jargon.
ACARA also had to further explain on the website the benefits of NAPLAN and MySchool to parents.
HOW YOUR SCHOOL PERFORMED:
1. Pal Buddhist School — 591.6
2. Freeman Catholic College — 584.7
3. Canley Vale High School — 568.5
4. Prairiewood High School — 566.2
5. Bonnyrigg High School — 562.2
6. Patrician Brothers’ College Fairfield — 554
7. Bossley Park High School — 547.5
8. Westfields Sports High School — 543.6
9. Fairvale High School — 543.6
10. Mary MacKillop Catholic College — 541.8
11. Cabramatta High School — 538.7
12. St Narsai Assyrian Christian College — 530.6
13. Irfan College — 530.6
14. St Johns Park High School — 529.9
15. Fairfield High School — 496.7
16. Aspect Western Sydney School — 490.8