Individual school results of the 2024 National Assessment Program Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) tests have been released, revealing the highest scoring schools nationwide.
The 2024 NAPLAN results, released in August, found that student performance across Australia remains steady compared to 2023, despite many teachers and young people facing enormous mental health pressures that have only worsened since the Covid-19 pandemic.
However, new MySchool data released today shows the schools which performed the best in the Year 5 and Year 9 tests. To measure this performance, the scores for all five test subjects for the student cohort (Yr 5 or Yr 9) were combined.
Below are the top performing primary and secondary schools from each state and territory.
New South Wales:
Primary School: Sydney Grammar School's Edgecliff Campus
Secondary School: James Ruse Agricultural High School
Victoria:
Primary School: Geelong Grammar School
Secondary School: Kardinia International College
Queensland:
Primary School: Sunnybank Hills State School
Secondary School: Queensland Academy for Science Mathematics and Technology
South Australia:
Primary School: Dara School
Secondary School: Southern Montessori School
Tasmania
Fahan School topped both primary and secondary school categories.
Northern Territory:
Primary School: Haileybury Rendall School
Secondary School: The Essington School
Worrying gaps remain
The data found that achievement gaps for First Nations students and non-Indigenous students are wider in year 9 in writing and numeracy than they are in year 3. Meanwhile, achievement gaps for students from low Socio-Educational Advantage (SEA) households and high Socio-Educational Advantage households were found to be wider in year 9 in writing and numeracy than they are in year 3.
Additionally, students from low SEA households are eight times more likely than students from high SEA backgrounds to require additional support in numeracy than their high SEA peers.
The Australian Education Union (AEU) President Correna Haythorpe said while NAPLAN is just one measure of student achievement, its data adds to the large evidence base about the inequality in Australia's education system caused by the ongoing underfunding of our public schools.
“The failure of successive governments to address the underfunding of public schools is leading to entrenched disadvantage and educational segregation in Australia,” Haythorpe said.
“Currently, only 1.3% of public schools are resourced to the Schooling Resource Standard (SRS) – the minimum amount a school requires to meet students’ educational needs.”
Haythorpe said that with 2.6 million students in Australian public schools, the Albanese Government needs to “urgently prioritise school funding negotiations that put these students first.”
“Students who experience compound disadvantages are at the greatest risk of falling behind their peers,” she said.
“Prime Minister Albanese must deliver on his promise of full funding for public schools to 100% of the Schooling Resource Standard, to keep them from falling further behind.”