Naplan 2024: Suburb by suburb breakdown of Victoria’s best performing schools

Some of the state’s top-performing schools are found in the suburbs — and cost a fraction of the price of independent schools. See where your school ranks.

Parents wanting to provide the best education for their children don’t have to travel far or dig deep into their pockets. Picture: Tony Gough

Parents wanting to provide the best education for their children don’t have to travel far or dig deep into their pockets, with NAPLAN results revealing some of the state’s top-performing primary and secondary schools are a stone’s throw away from suburban homes.

While select-entry public schools such as Melbourne High and exclusive independent schools such as Ballarat Clarendon College, achieved the best NAPLAN results statewide, several quiet-achievers nestled in the city’s outer suburbs also delivered excellent scores.

In Melbourne’s east, there were 13 government secondary schools that obtained NAPLAN averages that put them in the top 100 schools in the state, with the majority requiring parents to pay just a fraction of the price of prestigious independent institutions.

Among the top five government high schools in the eastern suburbs were Melbourne High, Glen Waverley Secondary College, Highvale Secondary College, Balwyn High and Box Hill High.

Meanwhile Catholic schools that performed well in the region included St Kevin’s College, Loreto Mandeville Hall and Mazenod College which scored averages between 621.4 and 620.4.

Mazenod College principal Dr Paul Shannon was very proud of the school’s achievements, which included its Year 9 students scoring better than those of a similar background in all skill areas.

“Over the past five years we have analysed our NAPLAN results and made some important changes to our learning programs,” he said.

“We believe this is how the NAPLAN results are best used to improve learning and teaching.”

Norwood Secondary College acting principal Jackie Harris was also thrilled after the school was recognised as one of the top 10 most improved metropolitan schools for Year 9 reading and for achieving one of the largest increases in the average scale score for reading between 2023 and 2024.

“In reading, writing and numeracy, our Year 7 and Year 9 students have surpassed state averages, with a higher percentage of students placed in the exceeding and strong categories,” she said.

Meanwhile top performing primary schools in the region included independent schools Presbyterian Ladies College, Camberwell Grammar and Camberwell Girls Grammar while Oakleigh South Primary was the top government primary school.

Strathmore North Primary was another school that performed above students of a similar background across all domains in Year 3. Picture: Tony Gough

In Melbourne’s north, independent school Fitzroy Community School was the top primary school followed by four government schools – Alphington Primary, Preston West Primary, Viewbank Primary and Preston South Primary.

Strathmore North Primary was another school that performed above students of a similar background across all domains in Year 3 and in writing and numeracy in Year 5.

Principal Nicole Di Marco said the school used a structured synthetic phonics program in the early years to help students master the basics of reading, writing and spelling.

“Creating strong writers is something I’m very passionate about. We have spent several years working on and refining our teaching practices in this area,” she said.

While independent secondary schools dominated in the region, public schools Princess Hill Secondary College, Viewbank College and University High School were in the top 10 high schools for the area.

In the west, Alamanda College K-9 performed well in both primary and secondary NAPLAN results with year 5 and 9 averages of 538.2 and 600.2 respectively.

The combined school was not far behind independent schools Westbourne Grammar, Penleigh & Essendon Grammar and Bacchus Marsh Grammar.

Select government school Suzanne Cory High School was also the top secondary school in the region, while St Leo the Great Primary School and Mount St Joseph’s Girls’ College were the top catholic schools.

Mazenod College Junior School Captain Angus King, who is in year 9, and Year 7 SRC Daniel Kim both sat NAPLAN this year. Picture: Supplied

In the southeast, there was a similar trend with independent schools dominating in the area, including Haileybury College and Lighthouse Christian College Cranbourne, which achieved great results at both primary and secondary levels.

Bentleigh West Primary and Glen Huntly Primary were the top government primary schools in the region, while Mac.Robertson Girls’ High School and Nossal High School were the highest achieving secondary public schools.