Revealed: Victoria’s top-performing NAPLAN schools for the past five years

Five years of NAPLAN data has revealed the government primary school outperforming its expensive private rivals. See where your child’s school ranks.

Oakleigh South is Victoria’s top academic government primary school, outperforming hundreds of expensive private schools, new data shows.

Analysis of five years’ worth of NAPLAN results from 2017 to 2021 shows the school, which has three-quarters of its students from non-English-speaking backgrounds, is no.3 in the state overall.

The two top spots are taken by private schools, Presbyterian Ladies’ College and Huntingtower School, both of which are consistently high achievers. Both charge about $20,000 a year for junior school fees.

Fitzroy Community School principal Timothy Berryman celebrates their NAPLAN results with students. Picture: David Caird

Ron Cantlon, who has been principal of Oakleigh South Primary for 32 years, said the school concentrated on “teaching the essentials, which is different from teaching the basics”.

“It’s not just about the academics but the whole child and we’ve also got performing arts, sports, Japanese, art and robotics to help children succeed in all areas,” he said.

Other high-performing private primary schools in the state include St Andrews Christian College, Haileybury College, Fintona Girls’ School, Camberwell Girls Grammar and Ballarat Clarendon College.

The four top-performing secondary schools from 2017 to 2021 are all selective state schools: MacRobertson Girls’ High, Melbourne High, Nossal High and Suzanne Cory High.

However, the majority of the top 50 secondary schools are all private schools, with Presbyterian Ladies’ College, Ballarat Clarendon College, Haileybury College and Fintona Girls’ School taking out the next top places.

The secondary schools that have performed best in NAPLAN over the past five years include a who’s who of private providers, with only four state secondary schools making the top-50 list.

These include Box Hill High School at no.36, Glen Waverley Secondary College at no.39, University High at no.47 and the Victorian College of the Arts at no.49. Balwyn High, Canterbury Girls’ Secondary College and Melbourne Girls’ College are in the next 10 top schools.

Fitzroy Community School focuses on sport and camps as well as literacy and numeracy. Picture: David Caird

Fitzroy Community School, a private independent school, came in at no.14 on the primary school top performers list.

Principal Tim Berryman said his students do eight sports classes a week and attend up to 20 camps during their primary years.

“We spend half the standard time on literacy and numeracy, to fit all of these extra adventures in,” he said.

“The teachers are positive and enthusiastic, and this enthusiasm rubs off on the children.”

Nick Haines, acting principal from 2023 at St Andrews Christian College, which was fifth for primary and 16th for secondary, said he was “very proud of the consistent achievement of our students”.

The figures were compiled from the federal government’s MySchool website and are based on independent analysis of five years of NAPLAN results in years 5 and 9.