A Laverton school has been recognised by the federal government for delivering one of Australia’s biggest improvements in NAPLAN results.
The improvement in performance between 2015 and 2017 places the school among the most improved schools in the country.
Almost 60 per cent of St Martin de Porres Primary School’s 228 students come from non-English speaking backgrounds and 35 per cent come from families in the lowest economic bracket.
The school’s literacy and numeracy leader, Daniela De Luca, said the students’ results showed accelerated growth.
“The state average growth for numeracy was 92, compared to our school’s average growth of 140,” Ms De Luca said.
“The state mean growth for reading was 75, compared to our school’s growth of 116.
“The average growth for two years’ learning is 78.”
Principal Dan Ryan said the school’s 2015 results made it clear that more needed to be done.
“Our students come from a range of cultural and economic backgrounds and we are enormously proud of what they have achieved,” he said. “We are proud of the fact that we know everyone by name and we as a school community are inclusive of all who come here, familiar or otherwise.
“We are looking forward to the results of this year’s NAPLAN to continue to track and celebrate our improvement growth. The kids at our school now see themselves as learners and this is a confidence boost for them.”
The school made well above-average improvements in all four NAPLAN categories – numeracy, reading, writing and spelling – placing its overall results on par with the average Australian school.
