A message from the Principal

This week I am very pleased to share with you our school’s 2025 NAPLAN results.

About NAPLAN

NAPLAN stands for the National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy. It is a set of nationwide tests that assess core skills in Reading, Writing, Language Conventions (spelling, grammar and punctuation) and Numeracy. 

Each year, students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 across Australia sit these tests, giving schools, families and education systems a snapshot of how children are developing these essential foundation skills.

Before I talk about the numbers, I want to be clear about something: at SKiPPS, NAPLAN is not the measure that we strive for. We know that children’s education is a much broader, richer and more meaningful journey than the relatively narrow outcomes captured in a set of standardised tests. We are, above all else, proud of the articulate, kind, curious and engaged young people who fill our classrooms each day. Their creativity, their friendships, their willingness to question and explore, and their growth as learners and citizens will always mean more than percentages and statistics.

That said, NAPLAN does give us a valuable lens on how we are performing academically as a school. It provides an external benchmark to compare against state results and helps us reflect on our teaching and learning practices. And this year, I am delighted to say, our results are very strong – by far the best we have achieved since the format and structure of NAPLAN changed in 2023.

The overwhelming majority of SKiPPS students achieved in the “Strong” and “Exceeding” NAPLAN proficiency bands. These bands represent students who are meeting and exceeding rigorous age-expected benchmarks.

Highlights from this year include:

• Year 3:
  • Reading – 91% of students meeting or exceeding benchmarks
  • Writing – 91%
  • Numeracy – 85%
  • Spelling – 81%
  • Grammar – 68%
• Year 5:
  • Reading – 78% of students meeting or exceeding benchmarks
  • Writing – 86%
  • Numeracy – 74%
  • Spelling – 72%
  • Grammar – 78%

When we compare these results with those achieved at 'similar schools' (those with a similar size and family demographic), 'Network' schools (our nearby schools) and the state averages, we are pleased to see the proportion our students excelling academically stacks up well in most areas.

Overall, we believe that these improved results tell us that the strategies we have been working on as a school – structured literacy, explicit teaching, and strengthening core knowledge – are making a clear impact. 

They also show us where we still have work to do, but are a welcome and encouraging sign that we are on the right track.

As always, I want to acknowledge and thank our outstanding teachers for the skill and care they bring to their work, and our families for the support you give to your children and to our school. 

Most of all, congratulations to our students – your effort, focus and readiness to “do your best” made these results possible.

Neil Scott

Principal