Regional Victoria’s top NAPLAN schools revealed

One Ballarat school puts in another amazing NAPLAN performance, as revealed in an analysis of results from all schools. See how every regional school performed in 2019.

Ballarat Clarendon teacher Greg Ashman with students Sophie Zhang, Max Mason, Snow Middleton and John McGill. The school was the best performer across regioanal Victoria in 2019 NAPLAN results.

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REGIONAL Victoria’s top performing schools in NAPLAN have been revealed following the release of 2019 results, and Ballarat families will be cheering.

Ballarat Clarendon College has topped the lists of high-achieving regional primary schools and secondary schools.

Principal David Shepherd said he was proud of the results, but even more excited by the fact the students were all progressing.

“The thing that is most pleasing is to see that the longer the kids are with us, the more progress they make,” he said. “We are a school where every single interaction is about learning.

“We know we are high-performing. For us, we have been identified as one of the few schools that is also making high progress as the students go along.”

Compared to all schools across the state, including Melbourne campuses, Clarendon Year 7 and Year 9 students had the third-highest average NAPLAN score – 634.7 – outperformed by only Presbyterian Ladies’ College and Fintona Girls’ School.

In the list of all Victorian primary schools, Clarendon’s average score of 539.6 placed it ninth.

Its VCE students also outperformed all other schools in the state last year.

“It is nice to know, with external data for confirmation, that with our Year 3 to Year 9 students, they are making optimal progress. VCE results show if we stick with that, we can make that progress continue.”

SCROLL DOWN TO SEE THE TOP 20 PRIMARY AND SECONDARY SCHOOLS

File picture of Ballarat Clarendon principal David Shepherd with students. The School has for many years been using test results to better target its teaching.

Students in Year 3, 5, 7 and 9 took part in the controversial nationwide standardised NAPLAN test in May last year.

The test is designed to measure students in literacy and numeracy and track progress.

In Regional Victoria primary eduation, the second-best performing school was St Thomas’ School at Terang, in the Western District, with an average result of 528.3 for Year 3 and Year 5 students. Third-best performing was King’s College, in Warrnambool, with an average 515.2.

At secondary-school level across regional Victoria, Ballarat Clarendon College led the way again, as the top-performing high school with an average NAPLAN score of 634.7.

Second-best was St Margaret’s School, in Berwick, where the average score was 614.4, while third-best performing was The Kilmore International School with an average 603.1.

TOP 20 REGIONAL PRIMARY SCHOOLS IN NAPLAN 2019, BY AVERAGE SCORE

Ballarat Clarendon College, Ballarat: 539.6 points

St Thomas’ School, Terang: 528.3 points

King’s College, Warrnambool: 515.2 points

St Margaret’s School, Berwick: 515.1 points

Chilwell Primary School, Newtown: 510.5 points

The Kilmore International School, Kilmore: 510.4 points

Geelong Grammar School, Corio: 510.2 points

Inverleigh Primary School, Inverleigh: 505.8 points

Metung Primary School, Metung: 503.1 points

Bacchus Marsh Grammar, Bacchus Marsh: 502.8 points

St Paul’s Anglican Grammar School, Warragul: 502.4 points

Fyans Park Primary School, Newton: 501.1 points

Cardross Primary School, Cardross: 501.0 points

Brentwood Park Primary School, Berwick: 500.2 points

St Patrick’s School, Port Fairy: 498 points

Mount Dandenong Primary School, Mt Dandenong: 497.8 points

Oberon Primary School, Newtown: 496.6 points

Point Lonsdale Primary School, Point Lonsdale: 496.6 points

St Thomas Aquinas College, Tynong: 495.8 points

St Aloysius’ School, Queenscliff: 495.4 points

TOP 20 REGIONAL SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN NAPLAN 2019, BY AVERAGE SCORE

Ballarat Clarendon College, Ballarat: 634.7 points

St Margaret’s School, Berwick: 614.4 points

The Kilmore International School, Kilmore: 603.1 points

Kardinia International College, Bell Post Hill: 602.3 points

Goulburn Valley Grammar School, Shepparton: 592.6 points

Gippsland Grammar, Sale: 590.3 points

Geelong Grammar School, Corio: 589.5 points

Bacchus Marsh Grammar, Bacchus Marsh: 588.4 points

Ballarat Grammar, Ballarat: 588.3 points

Casey Grammar School, Cranbourne: 588.0 points

Holy Trinity Lutheran College, Horsham: 587.6 points

The Geelong College, Newtown: 584.8 points

Girton Grammar School, Bendigo: 584.4 points

St Paul’s Anglican Grammar School, Warragul: 583.6 points

Victory Lutheran College, West Wodonga: 583.3 points

The Hamilton and Alexandra College, Hamilton: 582.2 points

St Thomas Aquinas College, Tynong: 582.2 points

Maranatha Christian School, Endeavour Hills: 579.9 points

Christian College Bellarine, Drysdale: 577.9 points

Woodleigh School, Langwarrin South: 576.3 points

PLAGUED BY CONTROVERSY

The NAPLAN test remains controversial, with the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority, the federal body responsible for developing national curriculum and assessment, this year revamping the My School website, where schools’ NAPLAN results are publicly displayed.

Focus groups across the country found My School was difficult to navigate and was filled with technical language and jargon.

ACARA also had to further explain on the website the benefits of NAPLAN and My School to parents.

The curriculum authority wants parents and teachers to focus on student progress, rather than comparing schools’ overall achievement.

Of Ballarat Clarendon’s Year 9 cohort, 65 per cent made above-average progress in writing and 71 per cent in numeracy. This progress is well above the average “when compared to students with the same starting score and similar background”, according to the explanation on the My School website.

Mr Shepherd said he endorsed the focus on progress and thought NAPLAN was a useful tool for examining teaching effectiveness, but was best used in combination with other data.

“We really spend time analysing NAPLAN so … we make judgments on where we are effective and where we are getting optimal progress.

“We use that to try to close our gaps.

“One thing I am certain about. When young people can see that they are making progress with their learning, they feel good about themselves and get motivated to work harder.

“I think that is a human condition. I don’t think that it is applicable to just 14-year-olds.”

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