School reports mixed
Happy with results: As LPS principal Rob Higgins welcomed new Preps Ariella Francis (left) and Brianna McNaughton, he could happily reflect on the Naplan results.
Jane Ross and Bert van Bedaf
LOCAL schools have received mixed results from controversial NAPLAN tests published on the Federal Government’s My School website.
Inverloch Primary School, its annexe at Kongwak and Loch Primary have done very well.
Inverloch, for example, is very well ahead of the national average for Year 3 numeracy, as are Kongwak and Loch.
Those schools’ other scores put them well above or above the national average in Year 3 and 5 reading, writing, spelling, grammar and punctuation and numeracy.
Leongatha Secondary College: Year 7 writing has a score of 581, which is well above the all Australian schools’ average of 569 and the statistically similar (SIM) 565. Year 7 numeracy features well too, with a score of 551 compared with the all Australian average of 544 and SIM of 541. Year 7 and 9 reading are above, but Year 7 writing and spelling and Year 9 grammar and punctuation are below.
Principal Brett Windsor said LSC was “doing pretty well” and he’s reasonably happy with that. Nevertheless, efforts will be made for improvement.
Wonthaggi Secondary College: all Year 7 and 9 results are below both the SIM and national Australian average.
Mary MacKillop College: Year 7 writing and numeracy are below both averages, while Year 9 reading, writing, spelling and grammar and punctuation are well above both averages.
St Laurence’s Primary: Year 3 scores put the school well above both the SIM and all Australian averages in reading, writing, spelling, grammar and punctuation and numeracy.
By Year 5 that trend has altered to spelling being below both, grammar and punctuation still well above, but reading above the average and below the SIM.
Principal Robyn Halliwell said she thought transparency in education was important but in her view, it is very hard to compare schools, based on the information available from the NAPLAN tests.
Leongatha Primary School: these results are interesting. Year 3 reading is well below the SIM but under the all Australian average by one point.
Writing is above both, with grammar and punctuation well above both. Other results such as Year 5 reading and writing show the school is below its SIM but above the average.
Principal Rob Higgins said there were no surprises because the school had had the NAPLAN results for six months.
“Our school is an average school. The results were good, we knew that. We are very happy with our kids all the time.”
Korumburra Primary: the school is well below in Year 5 writing, grammar and punctuation and spelling and above the all Australian average for Year 3 numeracy and spelling. It is above both averages in Year 3 grammar and punctuation.
Tarwin Valley Primary: the school is well above both the SIM and all Australian average in Year 3 reading, grammar and punctuation and numeracy, Year 5 reading and grammar and punctuation. By contrast, Year 3 spelling and Year 5 numeracy are both below average.
St Joseph’s Primary Korumburra: results show the school is well above both the SIM and all Australian average in Year 3 reading, writing, spelling and punctuation. But Year 3 numeracy and all Year 5 categories are below both the SIM and all Australian average.
Mirboo North Primary: scores are well above in Year 5 numeracy and above both averages in Year 5 writing. Year 3 spelling is well below both averages and that year’s reading, writing and grammar and punctuation are below both as well.
Inverloch Primary: scores show the school is streets above both averages in Year 3 numeracy, with a result of 481 compared with the SIM of 402 and all Australian average of 394.
It is well above in all but Year 5 spelling, which is still above both averages.
Kongwak Primary: lists no results for Year 3, but its Year 5 scores are streets above both other averages, with the exception of writing which is below both the SIM and all Australian average.
The score for Year 5 reading is 564 compared with a SIM of 493 and numeracy is 553 compared with a SIM of 485.
Loch Primary is streets ahead in Year 3 reading, spelling, grammar and punctuation and numeracy, as well as Year 5 reading. All other categories are well above or above both averages.
Tarwin Lower Primary: the school is above both averages in Year 5 writing, grammar and punctuation and numeracy and below both the SIM and all Australian average in all other categories.
St Joseph’s Primary School in Wonthaggi is the best of similar schools and all other schools in its category, topping the charts in Grades 3 and 5 across the five categories of reading, writing, spelling, grammar and punctuation and numeracy.
It rises above its counterparts with considerable margin, with the three Rs clear winners.
Wonthaggi North Primary School also scores highly in Grade 3, tipping the scales in such key categories as grammar and punctuation and numeracy.
Grade 5 doesn’t fare as well, with most categories lower than in similar and all schools.
At Wonthaggi Primary School, Grade 3 rates low across categories. Spelling in Grade 3 (373) falls behind similar (406) and all schools (405) with a large margin. Grade 5 rates high to average. It tops similar and other schools in reading and writing.
Fish Creek and District Primary School recorded the lowest score in the district and was in the bottom five of primary schools recording on the My School website. It only registered a higher score in numeracy (417) compared with similar (400) and all (394) schools and drew the shortest straw everywhere else. Grade 5 rated low in all categories.
School principal Robin Smith said he could not comment because of the small class number. The sample was 13 out of 14 students. One was absent at the time.
“I can’t say anything without identifying individuals. People will know who the individuals are. From a statistical point of doing comparisons with such a small sample it is not valid, I believe,” Mr Smith said.
The South Coast Christian College has rated poorly in Year 7 across all five categories. It failed to rise above the average scores of similar and all schools in all of them.
In contrast, Year 5 topped all but the writing category, with grammar and punctuation showing the highest score.
In Year 9 reading (608) rated higher than similar (591) and all schools (580), while Year 3 also rated best in grammar and punctuation.
Korumburra Secondary College was marked on Years 7 and 9, earning an overall low score. Spelling and numeracy in Year 7 were particularly behind similar and all school scores.
Year 9 rated equal in writing compared with all schools and higher in grammar and punctuation and numeracy, but fell behind across the board compared with similar schools.
Mirboo North Year 7 rates low across all categories, while Year 9 tops the ratings in four of the sections, except in reading (604) compared with similar schools (595) and all schools (580).
Foster’s South Gippsland Secondary College rates low across Year 7 and average in Year 9. Spelling, grammar and punctuation rated particularly poorly in Year 7. Spelling is also the lowest (558) in Year 9, compared with similar (581) and 576 (all schools).
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