NAPLAN 2022: Australia’s best-performing schools

An analysis of NAPAN results for 2022 has revealed Australia’s top-performing and most-improved public and secondary schools, in the first proper snapshot since Covid.

Results from NAPLAN testing for 2022 are in, revealing Australia’s top-performing and most-improved public and secondary schools in the first proper snapshot since Covid.

VICTORIA

In Victoria, girls’ schools powered ahead of boys’ schools, a Herald Sun comparison of single-sex academic results showed.

On the list of the top 100 secondary schools, 28 were girls-only, compared with just 12 boys-only schools.

At the primary school level, only six boys-only schools figured in the top 100 versus 15 girls-only schools, the majority co-ed public and private schools.

The Herald Sun identified the top scoring schools based on average 2022 NAPLAN results for year 9 and year 5 reading, writing, spelling, grammar and numeracy.

Serpell Primary School stood out among the pack, scoring an average of 579 and bettering many of Victoria’s most prestigious schools.

Mac. Robertson Girls’ High School was the top-performing secondary school in the state, scoring an average of 695.

FULL COVERAGE AND EXPLORE VICTORIA’S 2022 NAPLAN RESULTS

SOUTH AUSTRALIA

NAPLAN success story. Ardrossan Area School Principal Margaret Roads with students Lily, 7, Cameron, 8 and Nicole, 16. Picture: Keryn Stevens

In SA, several regional public schools with small enrolments, outperformed high-fee-charging Adelaide private schools, the latest NAPLAN results show.

As The Advertiser reported, Wudinna Area School posted higher year 9 literacy and numeracy results than Pulteney Grammar and Westminster School, while Owen Primary School, which has just 52 pupils, was ranked fifth in SA for Year 5.

There was more positive news for the public education system with Glenunga International High being ranked the top-performing secondary school in the state and one of its feeder schools, Linden Park Primary, being ranked the best primary school.

St Peter’s Girls’ School was the top-ranking private school across Years 5 and 9, while St Andrew’s School in Walkerville was the top performing independent primary school.

The latest rankings come as experts gather in the Barossa Valley for a national summit on student wellbeing, hosted by the Education Department.

Department chief executive Martin Westwell said it was recognised internationally that improving student wellbeing at school led to better educational and life outcomes.

Mr Westwell said a spate of violence in SA schools, broadcast on social media, was indicative of poor student wellbeing.

FULL COVERAGE AND EXPLORE SA’S 2022 NAPLAN RESULTS

QUEENSLAND

Rainworth State School Year 6 student Bonnie Berkman (front) with Elliot Campbell and Jayden Cooper. Picture: Richard Walker

Free public schools also matched or bettered their private counterparts in Queensland, a News Corp. analysis of the latest NAPLAN data has revealed.

The state’s top two primary schools - Sunnybank Hills and Rainworth -were state schools, beating Clayfield College, St Joseph’s College, Gregory Terrace and Marist College Ashgrove, which all charge thousands of dollars in fees annually, the Courier Mail reported.

Private institutions performed better at the secondary level, with schools including Brisbane Grammar School, Brisbane Girls Grammar School and St Aidan’s Anglican College, dominating the top 10.

But the best-performing secondary school in the state was the selective state school Queensland Academy for Science, Mathematics and Technology, which took the top ranking for the second year running.

The results were also a tale of geography, with South East Queensland schools appearing frequently among the top performers but those in regional and remote areas falling behind.

Schools in areas where the national teacher shortage is being keenly felt had considerably lower schools than those in the state’s South East, the Courier Mail reported.

FULL COVERAGE AND EXPLORE QUEENSLAND’S 2022 NAPLAN RESULTS

NEW SOUTH WALES

Willoughby Girls High School year 9 and 10 students Kiera Boocock, 15, Beth Uys, 15, Sophie Poole, 14, and Hannah Lau-Du, 14. Picture: Jonathan Ng

An analysis of the NAPLAN results for NSW also highlighted a worrying gap between city and bush schools, The Daily Telegraph reported.

Schoolkids in Sydney’s north were revealed as the state’s academic powerhouse, with Year 5 students in Northern Sydney scoring an average of 536.7 points across reading, writing, spelling, grammar and numeracy.

In fact, the Telegraph reported, every district in Sydney reported an average result over 500.

But in the Far West of the state, the average for Year 5 results was just 445.5, 91 points lower than in Northern Sydney.

The same pattern could be seen in the average results for Year 9 subjects, with the Far West scoring 102.6 points lower than the state’s best-performing region.

Former high school principal and education researcher Chris Bonnor described the gap as “the single biggest problem bedevilling Australian education generally”.

“When you congregate stragglers – disadvantaged kids – together, there’s a proven effect on the levels of achievement, and that clearly comes out in the data,” he said.

Selective Sydney schools dominated the list of best-performing secondary schools taking out nine of the top 10 spots.

The best ranked school went to James Ruse Agricultural High School, which achieved a Year 9 average of 730.8, followed by North Sydney Boys High School (709.4) and Sydney Girls High School (709).

Ranking 38, Willoughby Girls High School was the first non-selective public school on the leaderboard, with Principal Adrienne Scalese saying the results reflected the school’s “culture of high expectations”.

The elite private school Sydney Grammar scored the best Year 5 results in the state and was the only primary school to achieve a score over 600.

FULL COVERAGE AND EXPLORE NSW’ 2022 NAPLAN RESULTS

NORTHERN TERRITORY

Haileybury Rendall School in Darwin topped the leaderboards of both Year 5 and Year 9 results. Picture: Che Chorley

Remote and online schools were among the Territory’s best performers, an analysis of the 2022 NAPLAN results by the Northern Territory News has shown.

Alice Springs School of the Air was ranked second best for the Central Australia region with an average score of 575.6, behind Alice Springs-based Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Catholic College, which had a score of 582.

Nhulunbuy Christian College, about 1000km from Darwin, and Good Shepherd Lutheran College in Howard Springs, performed strongly among the NT’s rural and regional schools.

Darwin’s The Essington School and Haileybury Rendall School were the Territory’s top-performing schools across both Years 5 and 9, while Stuart Park Primary was third best in its cohort with an average score of 517.6.

FULL COVERAGE AND EXPLORE THE NT’S 2022 NAPLAN RESULTS

TASMANIA

A suburban Hobart primary school has been named the Apple Isle’s best, an analysis of 2022 NAPLAN results shows.

Princes Street Primary school, in Sandy Bay, topped the table for its Year 5 results, coming in ahead of the almost-200 other primary schools whose results were published this week on the MySchool website.

Andrews Creek Primary School, Mowbray Heights Primary and Longford Primary also recorded ‘well above average results’.

Fahan school at Sandy Bay posted the state’s top result among secondary schools and was ranked second among secondary schools.

FULL COVERAGE AND EXPLORE TASMANIA’S 2022 NAPLAN RESULTS

WESTERN AUSTRALIA

Twenty WA schools, including a public primary school where three-quarters of the students come from a non-English speaking background, have been singled out as being among the state’s top performers in national NAPLAN testing, PerthNow reported.

Caladenia Primary School, in Canning Vale, stood out on the list of high-achieving schools, which included 14 public schools, five independent schools and one Catholic school.

As PerthNow reported, the list was published by the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) to coincide with the release of the 2022 NAPLAN results, which went live on the MySchool website on Wednesday.