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Ruskin Park Primary principal Andrew Moore says there are two key focuses that help students relax, and excel, when faced with tests like NAPLAN.

“Our emphasis here is on attitude and effort… when [students] are doing those tests, they are happy to go in and try new things,” he said.

Ruskin Park Primary School principal Andrew Moore, pictured with grade 3 students, says the school’s focus on attitude and effort, rather than getting the right answer, has helped its NAPLAN results. Credit: Joe Armao

The release of individual schools’ 2023 NAPLAN data on Friday showed the Croydon school’s reading, writing, spelling, grammar and numeracy results were once again classed as either above or well above average compared to students from similar backgrounds.

The school is one of five in Melbourne’s outer-east identified by the Australian Curriculum and Assessment Reporting Authority (ACARA) as achieving consistently strong results in NAPLAN, the annual standardised test given to students around the country.

Moore said that while Ruskin Park Primary was proud of its results and happy to share them with the community, “it’s not something that’s a top priority”.

The focus is more on overall academic outcomes at the school, beyond the results of one test.

“I think our community just want our children to be happy – after that, the results tend to flow,” Moore said.

Students sit NAPLAN (National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy) in years 3, 5, 7 and 9, and their results and progress in the standardised test are compared to students across the country.

This year, ACARA analysis has identified a list of schools – up to five from 17 geographical regions across the state – that have continually produced a strong NAPLAN performance.

The list of high performers has been compiled by looking at NAPLAN results relative to a school’s socio-educational advantage from the past three years, to determine schools which continue to achieve high results.

Hoppers Crossing primary school St Peter Apostle was noted as a high-performing school in Melbourne’s west.

Principal Karen Wilson said her school was extremely proud of its results and students’ growth, but the standardised test was just one part of a broad range of assessment information that St Peter Apostle collected throughout the year.

“As a school, we have many forms of assessment, and our students are used to the collection of data to inform teaching,” she said.

NAPLAN data is used as a diagnostic tool within the school, but there are a number of other ways that progress is assessed. “Our focus is on keeping that NAPLAN data in perspective,” Wilson said.

Secondary school Academy of Mary Immaculate, located in the heart of Melbourne’s CBD opposite Carlton Gardens, was identified as a strong performer for inner Melbourne.

Deputy principal of learning and teaching, Lucy Neil, said the school did very little preparation for NAPLAN. She attributed the school’s success to its strong community and engaged students.

“I think the reason that we do well is that we are focused on learning and there’s a good environment for students to learn,” she said.

The school looks at NAPLAN data to evaluate which students may need extensions or extra support, but Neil emphasised the tests were only one measure of student achievement.

“While it’s great that we’ve got great NAPLAN results, we also measure ourselves on the whole student and the whole person. We want to educate the whole student.”

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