NAPLAN results for 2017 have revealed that Gunnedah’s schools have performed well in reading, writing, numeracy, and grammar and punctuation compared to similar schools.
Gunnedah Public School got particularly good results, with Year 3 students performing above average in reading, writing, and grammar and punctuation.
Carinya Christian School Gunnedah also got above average results in writing and numeracy in Year 3 and reading in Year 5. Gunnedah South Public School was above average for writing and numeracy in Year 3.
Gunnedah Public School’s relieving principal Cathie McMaster said the results were pleasing.
“Gunnedah Public School is extremely proud of the NAPLAN results for 2017, especially the Year 3 reading, writing and grammar,” she said.
“Our school has been working very hard, targeting literacy and numeracy performance throughout Kindergarten, Years 1, 2 and 3. We have been implementing the Early Action for Success program, which is part of the Department of Education’s Literacy and Numeracy strategy (2017-2020).
“The results all indicate that our school is working above the selected schools average, which is a credit to our dedicated staff and our instructional leader, Mrs Liselle Abbott. We will continue to build on these results with our unwavering focus on improving literacy and numeracy outcomes for all students.”
St Mary’s College’s Year 9 students shone in NAPLAN, getting above average results in reading, and grammar and punctuation. Principal Max Quirk said it’s “great news”.
“It’s the second time in three years that we’ve been recognised for our growth and growth is what we really focus on because Years 7-9 is when students are with us for those two years and we have a strong focus on literacy and numeracy and if we can grow them substantially over that time, that’s what we're aiming to achieve,” he said.
“For us, I think literacy and numeracy are two areas now that we want to do more work on in particular.
“This year, we’re having what we call literacy blocks, so all students in Years 7, 8 and 9 have two periods a week just focusing solely on literacy, and that's separate to English, and they have one period a week for numeracy, which is separate from maths.
“We did start it last year in Year 9 leading up to the NAPLAN tests to try and give them a bit of a boost for the NAPLAN test so maybe that’s been effective it seems, so now we’ve taken it down to Year 7 and 8 as well.”
To look at the NAPLAN results in more detail, visit https://myschool.edu.au/
