Wagga’s schools are making small but steady overall improvements in NAPLAN results.
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No school in the city made it to the “high gains” list, but the schools are, overall, continuing to show positive trends.
With the latest update to the My School website, parents can now see the 2017 NAPLAN results for Years 3, 5, 7 and 9.
The website allows comparison not only between individual schools’ results, each year, but also with other schools of similar student population and then against the 10,000 other Australian schools that were tested.
Using Wagga Public School as a snapshot, the 2017 Year 5 reading test showed an average of 498, only marginally down on the all-schools figure of 506 and the “schools with similar students” result of 503.
The 2017 result can be compared to a figure from 2010, which showed students’ average was 480, down on the “similar schools” average of 491 and all-schools figure of 487.
But when the school’s result of 480 is compared to the figure for 2015 Year 3 students – essentially the same children two years ago – of 428, there is a substantial improvement in the results.
Wagga Public, according to the My School website, it receives an average in government funding – a mix of state and federal – of $11,004 per student, with a further $414 in parental and other contributions.
Red Hill Public School, which is recognised as being in a low socio-economic area, receives a mix of government funding that averages to $19,016 per child, with another $73 coming from parents and other sources.
In the 2017 Year 5 reading test, the school averaged 465, which was down on the all-school average of 506, but significantly higher than the 437 figure for schools with similar students.
The figure is also much higher than the 2015 Year 3 result of 363, a figure that would likely include many of the same individual students as the 2017 one.
Henschke Primary School, part of the Catholic system, received $8903 in average government funding per student, with parents adding an extra $1515.
In 2017 Year 5 reading, the average was 490, lower than ‘schools with similar students’ figure of 503 and the national average of 506.
Tthe students’ average result in the 2017 test was much improved over the 2015 Year 3 figure of 428.
Hay, Leeton schools recognised for NAPLAN success
Hay Public School has been recognised for big gains in its NAPLAN results.
The school, which has 192 students in nine classes, is one of just 330 out of about 10,000 nationwide to be singled out for special recognition for its improved results.
The Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority, which runs the NAPLAN testing system, identifies “high gain schools” that have demonstrated substantial improvement in reading, numeracy, or both.
Another regional school – St Joseph’s Primary at Leeton – was similarly recognised.
Hay Public principal Carol Oataway said the school is part of the Early Action for Success program, which includes mentoring for teachers and additional help with programming.
“We’ve got really excellent teachers here,” Ms Oataway said.
Like Ms Oataway, St Joseph’s principal MaryJane Simms has told Fairfax Media that she too attributes much of the school’s results success to teaching staff.