FROM THE PRINCIPAL

Term 3 - Week 6

2023 NAPLAN provides St Nicholas with a moment in time to stop and reflect on the learning outcomes for our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students. While acknowledging the data used for this report does have certain limitations (it requires a person to self identify or be identified to be included as an ATSI student and our ATSI cohorts are small and influenced by small changes in figures), NAPLAN provides an opportunity to analyze St Nicholas ATSI students against themselves, their peers, the State and Nation. The 2023 CSNSW ATSI Report also provides St Nicholas with the unique opportunity to measure our students against the three main education sectors in Australia (Public, Catholic and Independent).

The Commonwealth Government's National Agreement on Closing the Gap (the National Agreement) has 19 national socio-economic targets across areas that have an impact on life outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. St Nicholas commitment to ‘closing the gap’ has the school currently focusing on the targets:

4.  Children thrive in their early years

5.  Students achieve their full learning potential

16. Cultures and languages are strong, supported and flourishing

17.  People have access to information and services enabling participation in informed 

decision-making regarding their own lives

With the 2023 CSNSW ATSI Report and 2023 NAPLAN Data now available, what can St Nicholas learn from our 2023 Year 3 and Year 5 students?

Situational Analysis

St Nicholas had 83 students sit the Year 3 NAPLAN tests for 2023. Six (6) of these students identify as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander origin. Three are female and three are male. Two of these students (33%) are on a personal plan, comparative with the “31.6% of Aboriginal students in NSW Catholic Schools reported as having a level of adjustment under the NCCD categorisation” (CSNSW 2023 Annual Report: Aboriginal Education Outcomes in NSW Catholic Schools, p. 8).

Attendance

Our six Year 3 ATSI students had an average attendance rate of 92% (the highest being 95% and the lowest 89%) for the 2022 school year. This is the same as St Nicholas Year 3 non-ATSI students (92%) and significantly higher than the 2022 average ATSI attendance rate for Years 1-10 students in NSW Catholic (83.4%), Independent (81.4%) and Government (76.3%) sectors (CSNSW 2023 Annual Report: Aboriginal Education Outcomes in NSW Catholic Schools, p. 12).

NAPLAN ANALYSIS 2023

Of the 30 NAPLAN assessments conducted by a Year 3 St Nicholas ATSI student, 22 (73%) resulted in a Strong or Exceeding Proficiency Standard. Of particular note, all six  of our Year 3 ATSI students received a “Strong” Proficiency Standard for Writing.

TABLE 1B presents cohort averages of St Nicholas Year 3 ATSI students against their peers at St Nicholas, the Diocese, State and Nation. In Writing our ATSI students have averaged higher than every other cohort and while their peers at St Nicholas are significantly ahead in Reading, our ATSI students are above the National average and are close to parity with the Diocesan and State averages.

The data presented in Table 1B would indicate there is a clear gap in Numeracy between our Year 3 ATSI students and the other 4 cohorts. 

Table 1C reflects St Nicholas School’s improvement agenda for the last 3 years. During this time the school has completely overhauled the learning and teaching of reading and writing. This table reflects the number and percentage of ATSI students who have scored above the National, State and Diocesan average. Two thirds of our Year 3 ATSI students have scored above each of the National, State and Diocesan averages for Reading and Writing. This is also inline with the entire St Nicholas Year 3 cohort, where 54/82 (66%) students were above all three identified cohorts in Reading and Writing.

TABLE 1C provides more valuable data on why numeracy has now become the number 1 focus for staff learning at St Nicholas, as we seek improved learning outcomes for all students.

Situational Analysis

St Nicholas has 81 students who sat the Year 5 NAPLAN tests for 2023. Ten (10) of these students identify as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander origin. Six are female and four are male. Four (40%) of these students are on a personal plan, slightly higher than the “31.6% of Aboriginal students in NSW Catholic Schools reported as having a level of adjustment under the NCCD categorisation” (CSNSW 2023 Annual Report: Aboriginal Education Outcomes in NSW Catholic Schools, p. 8)..

Attendance

Our 10 Year 5 ATSI students had an average yearly attendance rate for 2022 of 91% (the highest being 95% and the lowest 77%). This is the same as St Nicholas Year 5 non-ATSI students (91%), though significantly higher than the 2022 attendance average ATSI rate for Years 1-10 students in NSW Catholic (83.4%), Independent (81.4%) and Government (76.3%) sectors (CSNSW 2023 Annual Report: Aboriginal Education Outcomes in NSW Catholic Schools, p. 12).

Of the 50 NAPLAN assessments conducted by a Year 5 St Nicholas ATSI student in 2023, 42 (84%) resulted in a Strong or Exceeding Proficiency Standard. Of particular note, all 10 of our Year 5 ATSI students received a “Strong” or “Exceeding”  Proficiency Standard for Reading.

TABLE 2B highlights our St Nicholas Year 5 ATSI students averaging higher than every other comparative cohort in 18 of the 20 (90%) Assessments. This includes averaging higher in, 4 of the 5 assessments, than our Year 5 Non-ATSI students  These results are even more significant when looking at how well the St Nicholas Year 5 cohort performed against the Diocese, State and Nation in 4 of the 5 tests.

Table 1C highlights 50% or more of our Year 5 ATSI scored higher than the Diocese, State and Nation in all but one comparison (40% of our ATSI Year 5 students scored higher than the State in Spelling)

NAPLAN 2023, although a small and limited data source, supports St Nicholas Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students achieving strong educational outcomes as “literate and numerate students with a hope filled future” (Armidale Schools Vision).

St Nicholas is very proud of our ATSI students and our focus on all students reaching their vast potential.

Have a great week

John Clery

Principal