‘It was obvious’: How Cabramatta High boosted NAPLAN results, and other schools can do it too
Sparing the time for personalised, one-on-one post-NAPLAN feedback sessions for every single student is no mean feat. Here’s how Sydney’s 13th largest public school has boosted kids’ results.
Sparing the time for personalised, one-on-one post-NAPLAN feedback sessions for every single student is no mean feat for the teachers at Sydney’s 13th largest public school, but it’s a scheme that has now earned Cabramatta High School the Department’s spotlight.
Year 9 results at the southwest Sydney school have lifted again in 2025, and both Years 7 and 9 results have been rated “above or well above similar schools” across all domains since 2023.
It all started several years ago when Cabramatta High deputy principal Mark Avery noticed students were largely ignoring their NAPLAN results, too confused by their individual scorecards to make much use of the findings.
“Every school hands out an envelope which goes home and may or may not get to parents, and the students may or may not look at it either,” he said.
“It was kind of a little bit obvious that students needed to know more about it (NAPLAN) … and now we’ve got to sit down with each student and go through each of the areas in NAPLAN to let them know exactly how to interpret it.”
The ten-minute structured feedback sessions bring kids together with English and maths specialist teachers as well as classroom teachers and a year adviser, to design their own learning plans to improve in their basic reading, writing and numeracy skills.
“That’s the important thing – it’s the student’s plan. It’s not my plan, it’s not the teachers’ plan, it’s the kids’ plan for themselves … it’s all about them,” Mr Avery said.
Cabramatta High Year 9 students Adam Nguyen and Thy Tran “didn’t stress much” prior to the tests in March, having completed them every second year since they were in Year 3.
However both agreed the personalised feedback sessions helped make the tests feel more relevant as they enter their senior studies.
“I would rather a one-on-one compared to a whole bunch of students getting the same feedback, as it feels specialised for each student,” 14-year-old Adam said.
Year 7 student Sandra Tammo said the advice she received – practice, revise and review the curriculum – was “basic stuff”, but “it helped me”.
“With NAPLAN obviously it’s more nuanced than just one result,” she said.
“I think it’s great that we had feedback rather than just a result … because there’s some stress and pressure among kids to perform well, so the feedback helps to see where you land and where you can improve.”
Cabramatta High’s approach to NAPLAN feedback has been so successful in improving student results that the school will be featured in an upcoming research publication distributed to every public school in NSW, to be replicated across the state.
The Centre for Education Statistics and Evaluation (CESE) is the NSW Department of Education’s research arm, and its researchers and data gurus run a resource bank of teaching methods which have proven to be effective – including the ‘What Works Best’ collection of case studies, soon to include Cabramatta HS.
Principal Lachlan Erskine said it’s an opportunity to “celebrate” the work being done across the entire school, from the classroom teachers to faculty leaders and learning support workers, to parents and the children themselves.
“At this school we’re very, very innovative, and … it’s a collaborative effort,” he said.
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Originally published as ‘It was obvious’: How Cabramatta High boosted NAPLAN results, and other schools can do it too
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