Gold Coast’s top NAPLAN schools revealed

IT’S that time of year again and the NAPLAN results are in — and here’s where our schools sit. SEE THE COMPLETE LIST

SCROLL DOWN TO REVEAL TOP GOLD COAST SCHOOLS PLUS RESULTS BREAKDOWN

STAYING the course in Gold Coast education is proving a winner, with one-stop private schools offering prep to Year 12 education leading this year’s NAPLAN results.

The results, released by the Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority yesterday, show schools that offer a consistent teaching experience scored heavily.

Somerset College at Mudgeeraba topped the list among Gold Coast schools when the scores for every test among years 3, 5, 7, and 9 were tallied.

Somerset College students, Lillian Swainson, Chloe Ming, Ruby Mackintosh (front), Jamison Webber. Picture: Jerad Williams

The non-government school boasts a student population of 1438 students from Prep to Year 12.

Kings Christian College finished second among the primary schools and A.B. Paterson was runner-up in the high school category.

GOLD COAST SCHOOL JUMPS BANDS IN LONG-TERM NAPLAN SCORING

In the public sector, Broadbeach State School performed best among the city’s primary schools while Benowa State High School was the highest-rated high school.

Overall, this year’s results rated on a par with last year’s finds.

Prep-to-Year 12 (P-12) public school Varsity College also rated well in each category.

Professor Donna Pendergast, the Dean of Griffith University’s School of Education and Professional Studies, said the prominence of independent P-12 schools could be due to providing a less disruptive education.

“One of the things about P-12 is the transitions tend to be internal and less disruptive to learning,” she said.

“There is a lot of literature on what they call the middle-school plunge, where students get used to the new learning space.

Somerset College students topped this year’s charts. Picture: Jerad Williams

“Primary students could also benefit from older students as role models on campus,” she said.

This year’s NAPLAN results do not come without controversy as at least a quarter of Year 9 students across the state were failing to meet the minimum writing standard.

Professor Pendergast said the process could be done better.

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“I think it is not so much that NAPLAN is bad, it is just very narrow,” she said.

“It only measures a certain thing in a certain way, it becomes seen as a proxy for learning outcomes,” she said.

She said the sector had moved faster than the testing.

“Primary students could also benefit from older students as role models on campus”. Ruby Mackintosh Picture. Somerset College students Ruby Mackintosh, Lillian Swainson and Jamison Webber. Picture: Jerad Williams

“It has been in place for 10 years now. Schools have changed quite remarkably.

“What I think is exciting is the fact that principals are thinking about more than NAPLAN.”

Somerset College headmaster Craig Bassingthwaighte said the education landscape in the beachside city was often underestimated.

“There are some great schools on the Gold Coast. You need to be on your game down here, we are really pleased to be part of that landscape,” he said.

“I think people are doing a lot of research and are putting great things into place, especially at our new schools.”

At Somerset, the school is building its students to work in a future economy, he said.

“Around NAPLAN we don’t do a lot of specific preparation apart from the physical nature of the test.

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“We are focused a lot on what is known as the 21st-century skills. This is things like critical thinking, collaboration, creativity and communication.

“We try to take an all-round view, testing should emerge from your curriculum, not the other way,” he said.

Alternatively, other schools focus on the basics. Stephen Wruck, from the Gold Coast Christian College, said the combination of hard work by students and teachers reaped results.

“We do have a thorough grounding in numeracy and literacy (and) have constantly scored above national averages,” he said.

“The results are very impressive and we are very proud of the students.

“NAPLAN is an important tool, among others that allows us to track the progression of students over the years from primary school through to high school.

“That way we can pick up weaknesses. I think there are lots of really good things happening on the Gold Coast.”