80+ OUR BEST SCHOOLS
AN independent analysis of Tasmanian NAPLAN results across Year 5 reveals that more than half of the top achieving students are from public schools.
The average marks, taken over a five-year period between 2014 and 2018, show that three of the top five schools in Year 5 are public primary schools.
Princess Street Primary School in Sandy Bay had higher Year 5 results than any other school, followed by Mt
Nelson Primary, St Michael’s Collegiate, The Launceston Preparatory School and South Hobart Primary.
The benefits of a private education are more marked in the high school years, with the five-year NAPLAN average for Year 9s topped by The Friends’ School in North Hobart, Fahan School, St Michael’s Collegiate, Tarremah Steiner School at Kingston and Launceston’s Scotch Oakburn.
THREE of the top five Tasmanian schools which have achieved the highest Year 5 average NAPLAN testing results over the past five years were public schools, new analysis reveals.
An independent analysis of NAPLAN results has revealed the schools that performed the best in the Year 5 and Year 9 tests between 2014 and 2018.
Over that period, Princes Street Primary School in Sandy Bay had higher Year 5 yearly results than any other school in the state, scoring an average of 2712.6 each year.
The top performing Year 9 school was The Friends’ School in North Hobart, where the average yearly result was 3109.2 for the five years.
To find how each school performed between 2014 and 2018, their average scores for each year were combined and the yearly average found.
Special schools, schools with fewer than 20 students enrolled in either year, and schools that did not report any results for NAPLAN subjects in either year were excluded from the analysis.
The figures were independently compiled from the Federal Government’s MySchool website.
They reveal Mount Nelson Primary School had the second highest results for Year 5 over that period, with a yearly average of 2707.0.
The third best performing Year 5 school was St Michael’s Collegiate School, with average results of 2688.6.
The second best performing Year 9 results were at Fahan School in Sandy Bay, where yearly results averaged 3104.
St Michael’s Collegiate School had the third highest themercury.com.au
average results between 2014 and 2018, with an average of 3102.6.
Friends’ Deputy Head of High School for Curriculum Lindy Gannon said the school was not driven by NAPLAN testing, nor was it planning units of work around it.
“I think there’s a combination of factors for the strong performance, and that includes having a strong cohort of students who have lots of natural ability that we nurture and develop,” she said.
“We also have lots of staff who are very strong in their discipline, and also in their desire to nurture the learning growth of students and see them do their best.”
Head of Year 9 Paul Goodluck said the school had worked at getting high levels of engagement in school in general. “If you’re turning up and enjoying a class, it rolls on to enjoying school, and retention is really important, particularly through that Year 9 level where we know some teenagers can get disengaged.”
On Wednesday it was revealed Tasmanian students were trailing their mainland counterparts in literacy and numeracy.
The latest Programme for International Student Assessment found Australian students were about a year behind in key subjects, with scores in reading, maths and science dropping to their lowest levels since testing began.
Six per cent of Tasmanian students tested were marked as high performers in mathematical literacy — the lowest of any state or territory.
Tasmania also had the lowest number of high performers in reading literacy — 10 per cent.
Education Minister Jeremy Rockliff said the Government’s Literacy Framework 2019 -2022 released earlier this year outlined support for all students to develop the skills and confidence to succeed in literacy over the next four years.