Australia’s top 100 NAPLAN schools revealed

Australia’s top 100 primary schools and top 100 secondary schools, based on average NAPLAN scores, can now be revealed. Compare states and territories.

NSW is officially the smartest state in the country when it comes to the nation’s best performing schools, with Victoria second, and three states and territories not even making the cut.

We can reveal for the first time how the states and territories compare, with two exclusive leagues tables featuring Australia’s top 100 primary schools and top 100 secondary schools, based on average NAPLAN scores.

NSW claimed 50 primary schools in the league table and 48 in the secondary school table, while Victoria was the next best performer, with 36 primary schools in the top 100, and 31 secondary schools.

Queensland came third overall, tying with WA with six primary schools each in the top 100 primary schools table. In the secondary schools league table, the Sunshine State scored 12 in the top 100, compared with eight in WA.

South Australia limped behind in fifth with two primary schools and one secondary school in the respective tables.

Embarrassingly, Tasmania, Northern Territory and the ACT received dunce caps after none of their schools made either league table.

the success of a school is down to the quality of teaching. Picture: iStock

Not surprisingly, the majority of schools featured were selective, but nevertheless experts gave NSW some praise.

“NSW is one of the leading jurisdictions in terms of emphasising the importance of evidence-based teaching and learning, as well as prioritising the curriculum and teaching professional development,” Dr Jordana Hunter from the Grattan Institute said. “NSW takes these issues really seriously.”

Glenn Fahey from The Centre for Independent Studies said NSW’s HSC was a “much more demanding qualification” than its equivalents in other parts of the country, which could impact NAPLAN scores.

However, both warned that the success of a school was down to the quality of teaching.

“Teachers are the engine room of the school,” Dr Hunter said. “We need to have our teachers equipped with the training, tools and resources they need.”

Mr Fahey said there were no measures to show the quality of teachers, which made it difficult for parents to make the right choice of school for their child.

Centre for Independent Studies education expert Glenn Fahey. Picture: Supplied

He said evidence showed a series of bad teachers could be “life-changing” for a child.

Dr Hunter said Victoria had some exceptional teaching, but it needed to step up its investment in quality assured development for teachers.

She said South Australia had also invested quite a lot of time and money improving reading skills, which if that investment continued could see an uplift in its NAPLAN scores. However, the state also had higher levels of disadvantage than NSW and Victoria.

“Queensland has also announced a reading commitment, which means there is a lot more support for teachers, which is really positive, but it’s about staying the course,” she said.

Looking at the percentage of schools per state or territory that made the league table, NSW and Victoria were on a par, with NSW just ahead with 3.1 per of primary and secondary schools making one of the two top 100 league tables, while three per cent of Victoria’s schools featured; 1.3 per cent of WA’s, one per cent of Queensland’s and just 0.4 per cent of South Australia’s.

NSW figures include the ACT, although no ACT schools featured in the top 100s.

Dr Jordana Hunter of the Grattan Institute. Picture: Grattan Institute

Dr Hunter said NSW and Victoria had the highest concentration of wealthy families, and elite schools, which explained why they dominated, and parents should look at the “value add” – a measure which shows a student’s improvement – when seeking a school for their child.

Mr Fahey said selective schools attracted the brightest and the most enthusiastic students and often they received tutoring outside of school hours.

He said one way to improve educational standards across the country would be for teachers to spend less time on making sure children were “well” and more time on their academic success.

Originally published as Australia’s top 100 NAPLAN schools revealed