Haileybury College, Lighthouse Christian College, Toorak College top class in south
Southern Melbourne’s top performing NAPLAN schools for 2019 have been revealed, with a multi-campus school taking out the mantle as the region’s best. SEE HOW EVERY SCHOOL RATES.
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Southern Melbourne’s top performing NAPLAN schools have been revealed following the 2019 results release.
Students in Year 3, 5, 7 and 9 took part in the controversial nationwide standardised test in May.
The test is designed to measure students in literacy and numeracy and track progress.
Across the Southern Melbourne region found Year 3 and Year 5 students at Haileybury College got an average NAPLAN score of 553.4 – the area’s top performing primary school.
SCROLL DOWN TO SEE THE TOP 10 PERFORMING SCHOOLS
The second best performing primary school was Lighthouse Christian College Cranbourne where the average result was 524.0 for Year 3 and Year 5 students.
The third best performing primary school was Toorak College where the schoolwide average score was 517.2.
Toorak College principal Kristy Kendall said they were ecstatic with their results.
“We’ve been working for several years,” she said.
“We all had little tears in our eyes when the results were announced.
“The validation is great.”
Ms Kendall said she put the success down to focusing on skills development over content.
“We develop students’ abilities to inquire, to organise information in the brain,” she said.
“It will serve students well through the rest of their lives.”
Head of Brighton Grammar’s junior school, Peter Tellefson, said the school’s sixth place in the top 10 was due to a concentrated effort on building an academic program tailored to boys over the past three to five years.
“Things like positive messaging and award recognition, as well as implementing a learning model so the boys know what an effective learning looks like,” Mr Tellefson said.
Haileybury College was Southern Melbourne’s top performing high school. Their Year 7 and Year 9 students received an average NAPLAN score of 631.4.
The second best performing high school was Yesodei HaTorah College where the average score was 628.8, while the third best performing school was Shelford Girls’ Grammar where the average score was 619.8.
Shelford Principal Katrina Brennan said the school prided itself on its “wonderful sense of community”
“In our junior and senior schools there is strong emphasis on literacy and numeracy, but also critical thinking, creativity, communication and collaboration,” she said.
“The culture of learning modelled by our staff and families leads to growth for each individual student, every year.”
Mentone Girls’ Grammar School principal Natale Charles, whose students finished as the southern region’s 10th best on 601.9 points, said she was “incredibly proud” of the cohort but admitted her feelings toward the test were “vexed”.
“On the one hand, it has the potential to be a valuable diagnostic tool for educators, but we are well aware of its limitations in providing us with one set of data upon which to evaluate a student’s aptitude on one particular day,” she said.
”I have serious concerns about the way the test is politicised and weaponised as a blunt instrument, judging schools and their overall success/performance in the absence of nuance.”
Ms Charles said the school did not explicitly teach to NAPLAN tests and used the program as an opportunity for students to develop resilience and practice test-taking techniques.
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.
TOP 20 PERFORMING SCHOOLS IN SOUTH
PRIMARY (Grade 3 and 5)
Haileybury College: 553.4 points
Lighthouse Christian College Cranbourne: 524.0 points
Toorak College: 517.2 points
Hampton Primary School: 516.8 points
Firbank Grammar School: 516.7 points
Brighton Grammar School: 516.2 points
St Joan of Arc School: 515.6 points
Heatherton Christian College: 515.5 points
St Leonard’s College: 513.7 points
Caulfield Grammar School: 513.0 points
SECONDARY (Year 7 and 9)
Haileybury College: 631.4 points
Yesodei HaTorah College: 628.8 points
Shelford Girls’ Grammar: 619.8 points
Lighthouse Christian College Cranbourne: 619.4 points
Kilvington Grammar School: 613.0 points
Toorak College: 610.1 points
St Leonard’s College: 609.9 points
Yeshivah College: 607.7 points
Firbank Grammar School: 603.9 points
Mentone Girls’ Grammar School: 601.9 points
*ACARA data compiled by Schools Hub.
The NAPLAN scale is from 0 to 1000 with all year levels on the same scale.
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