Four Sydney Catholic schools in south-western Sydney are celebrating a major achievement, earning a place among the top 20 NSW schools for outstanding student growth in literacy and numeracy. 

Sacred Heart Catholic Primary School, Cabramatta; St Felix Catholic Primary School, Bankstown; Sacred Heart Catholic Primary School, Villawood and Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Primary School, Sefton have all been recognised by the national curriculum authority ACARA on their ‘Schools Making a Difference’ list. 

This list recognises schools with the highest proportions of students making above-average gains across reading, writing and numeracy in their socio-educational context, measured across a two-year progression between 2023 and 2025.

For these four schools, the achievement is particularly significant. Each serves a community with diverse, multicultural backgrounds and varying challenges, making their strong NAPLAN growth all the more impressive, says Danielle Cronin, Executive Director of Sydney Catholic Schools.

“Across our schools, staff implement evidence-based teaching, use data to inform learning, provide mentoring and targeted support, and engage families and communities to help every child succeed,” Ms Cronin said.

“These schools are achieving remarkable student growth while supporting communities where most students speak a language other than English at home and many require additional learning support.”

“The ACARA recognition is a powerful endorsement of the quality of our teachers, our inclusive culture and targeted interventions.”

The newly released student progress data provides a fairer measure of school performance by showing how much the same students at the same school have improved since their previous NAPLAN assessment, taking into account each school’s unique circumstances and socio-educational context.

For example at Sacred Heart Catholic Primary School in Cabramatta, where 99 per cent of students come from a language background other than English (LBOTE), the numbers tell a compelling story …

MEDIA RELEASE – Issued by Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA)

The annual NAPLAN assessment begins tomorrow, with 1.2 million students set to take the test in more than 9,500 schools and campuses across Australia.

This year marks the final year of transition to online testing, with all schools across Australia now participating in NAPLAN tests online.

“NAPLAN online is a better, more precise assessment that is more engaging for students,” ACARA CEO, David de Carvalho, said.

“The tailored testing means students are given questions that are better suited to their abilities, so they can show what they know and can do.

“NAPLAN online also has a variety of accessibility adjustments, so that students with diverse capabilities, learning needs and functional abilities are able to participate.

Mr de Carvalho said NAPLAN was entering a new era, with 2022 being the first year all schools will take the test online and the last year that the test will take place in May.

“Earlier this year, education ministers announced that NAPLAN will move from May to March from 2023, so results will be available to education authorities earlier in the year to inform school and system teaching and learning programs,” said Mr de Carvalho.

“These changes mean that the valuable NAPLAN data will be more useful to teachers, schools and education authorities.”

NAPLAN tests are the only measure governments, education authorities, schools and parents/carers have to see whether young Australians are reaching important literacy and numeracy goals using a national, objective scale.

“This year’s test is particularly important so that we can add to a national data set and continue getting insight into the impact the pandemic has had after 2 years of disruptions to schooling,” Mr de Carvalho said.

“The …