SCHOOL PERFORMANCE IN NAPLAN – 2016
The following pages summarise a very pleasing overall set of results achieved by our students in
the 2016 National Assessment Program. These are an important indicator of student academic
achievement at key stages in a student’s school career: Years 3, 5, 7, & 9. Students at Hills
Grammar are performing well above their state cohorts in a range of areas. Such data provides a
wealth of information which allows the School to continually improve the quality of its academic
programs by celebrating and maintaining areas of strength and identifying areas requiring
additional resources and/or new approaches. A thorough process of analysis is also undertaken
each year with a view to more appropriately catering for individual student needs, as well as
informing the learning and teaching and strategic planning processes. These are an expression of
the School’s ongoing commitment to continuous improvement.
NAPLAN
The National Assessment Program - Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) was introduced in 2008 for
all students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 in all government and non-government schools, with the key aim
of assessing the literacy and numeracy learning of students in all Australian schools.
The results of the tests in Language Conventions, Reading and Numeracy provide important
information to schools about what each student can do, and are used to support teaching and
learning programs. Parents receive a report indicating their child’s level of achievement. Each
student’s level of achievement is reported against the agreed national benchmarks of student
achievement. A brief summary of the 2016 results for each cohort is provided below, with graphs
showing the comparison between School and State performance in Literacy and Numeracy. In the
analysis “Literacy” results have been obtained by averaging student performances across the
domains of Reading, Writing, Spelling, and Grammar and Punctuation. “Numeracy” results are
based on the numeracy results reported in individual student NAPLAN Reports.
The overall Literacy and Numeracy band results indicate that the performance of the School’s
cohorts significantly exceeded that of the state candidature with:




86% of Year 3 students in the top three bands for Literacy (compared to 75% of the State)
and 77% of students in the top three bands for Numeracy (compared to 61% of the State)
78% of Year 5 students in the top three bands for Literacy (compared to 60% of the State)
and 73% of students in the top three bands for Numeracy (compared to 57% of the State)
76% of Year 7 students in the top three bands for Literacy (compared to 54% of the State)
and 89% of students in the top three bands for Numeracy (compared to 61% of the State)
67% of Year 9 students in the top three bands for Literacy (compared to 46% of the State)
and 83% of students in the top three bands for Numeracy (compared to 53% of the State).
While these are pleasing figures, the Minister’s recent announcement of Minimal HSC Standards
from will mean that even closer attention will be required to address any weaknesses in the areas
of Reading, Writing and Numeracy. From 2017, Year 9 students to ‘prequalify’ for the HSC by
achieving Band 8 (top 3 bands) in these sub-components of NAPLAN. Where students are not able
to reach these standards, they will have opportunities to do online tests in Years 10, 11 and 12.
More information on this topic can be found at:
http://www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/policy-research/stronger-hsc-standards/
Highlights of student achievement in the top bands for each year group included:




53% of Year 3 students reaching the top Band for Reading (compared to a state
average of 28%) and 40% of Year 3 Students reading the top band for Numeracy
(compared to a state average of 20%)
19% of Year 5 students reaching the top band for Reading (compared to a state average
of 14%) and 40% reaching the top band for Numeracy (compared to a state average of
16%)
32% of Year 7 students reaching the top band for Reading (compared to a state average
of 12%) and 37% reaching the top band for Numeracy (compared to a state average of
14%)
22% of Year 9 students reaching the top band for Reading (compared to a state average
of 8%) and 26% reaching the top band for Numeracy (compared to a state average of
12%)
Students at The Hills Grammar School were above the averages for all sections of the NAPLAN
tests, including the four measures of literacy and the three measures of numeracy, when measured
against State scores. The School was also on or above averages of Association of Independent
Schools in all areas, in Years 3, 7 and 9, and some areas of Year 5.
It is important to note that to date our approach to ‘preparing’ students for NAPLAN tests is one of
familiarisation rather than ‘drill’. That is, the School has always utilised the tests for their intended
purpose: to provide a ‘snapshot’ of student performance in Literacy and Numeracy measures on a
given day of the year, and through analysis, to provide the School with information to consider
alongside other forms of assessment, to help us improve our programs and respond to individual
needs. This said, the new HSC Minimal Standards for Year 9 will provide a new challenge moving
forward, particularly in the area of writing, based on current analysis.
More details about NAPLAN are published each year on the My School Website; currently the
data available on the site is for the 2015 school year. http://www.myschool.edu.au/
Geoff Gates
Director of Academic Programs Pre K to 12
Please Turn Over for Summary Graphs of Literacy and Numeracy Performance in Bands, Per
Grade and Overall.
Summary of NAPLAN Performance in Bands (3, 5, 7, 9)
Year 3 Literacy 2016- Average Percentages in
Bands
50
40
30
THGS
NSW
20
10
0
B1
B2
B3
B4
B5
B6
Year 3 Numeracy 2016 - Percentages in Bands
40
35
30
25
THGS
20
NSW
15
10
5
0
B1
B2
B3
B4
B5
B6
Year 5 Literacy 2016 - Average Percentages in
Bands
40
35
30
25
THGS
20
NSW
15
10
5
0
B3
B4
B5
B6
B7
B8
Year 5 Numeracy 2015 - Percentages in Bands
35
30
25
20
THGS
15
NSW
10
5
0
B3
B4
B5
B6
B7
B8
Year 7 Literacy 2016 - Average Percentages in
Bands
30
25
20
THGS
15
NSW
10
5
0
B4
B5
B6
B7
B8
B9
Year 7 Numeracy 2016 - Percentages in Bands
40
35
30
25
THGS
20
NSW
15
10
5
0
B4
B5
B6
B7
B8
B9
Year 9 Literacy 2016 - Average Percentages in
Bands
30
25
20
THGS
15
NSW
10
5
0
B5
B6
B7
B8
B9
B10
Year 9 Numeracy 2016 - Percentages in Bands
35
30
25
20
THGS
15
NSW
10
5
0
B5
B6
B7
B8
B9
B10
Summary of NAPLAN Performance by Average Overall Score
Overall Averages 2016 - Literacy
650
600
550
THGS
NSW
500
450
400
Year 3
Year 5
Year 7
Year 9
Overall Averages 2016 - Numeracy
650
600
550
THGS
NSW
500
450
400
Year 3
Year 5
Year 7
Year 9