FROM THE PRINCIPAL

Term 3 - Week 4

Welcome to Week 4,

Many of you may have seen an article by the ABC on Wednesday, NAPLAN results reveal one in three students are not meeting basic literacy and numeracy expectations, which painted a picture of doom and gloom. 

Over the coming weeks I look forward to sharing with you reports I have compiled in regards to how the learning and teaching of our students at St Nicholas School have been reflected positively in our 2024 NAPLAN results, and in stark contrast to the ABC's article.

Today I will start with our 2024 Year 3 NAPLAN Reading Report:

Situational Analysis

In March, St Nicholas School had 81 Year 3 students sit the Year 3 Reading NAPLAN Assessment, 36 (44%) were male and 45 (56%) were female.  Nine (11%) students identify as of Aboriginal origin. 20 (25%) students are on a Personal Plan. 71 of our Year 3 students were enrolled in Kindergarten (2021) and 11 students have enrolled at St Nicholas School since the beginning of Year 1. 

The 2024 NAPLAN Reading data is particularly significant for our school community, as this is the first cohort of children who have received our sophisticated and rigorous approach to reading from Kindergarten.

2024 Analysis

Since 2023 students have been categorised into one of 4 bands for their reading proficiency:

Table 3A illustrates the percentage of St Nicholas students in each standard. This data measures exceptionally against the Nation. 40% of our students achieving an 'Exceeding' band is exceptional. This achievement speaks volumes of the learning and teaching of reading at St Nicholas School every day!

Table 3B presents St Nicholas School Year 3 Reading average alongside the Armidale Catholic Schools (our system of schools) and the State of New South Wales. St Nicholas' student achievement standing against the State average is significant and pleasing. Also noteworthy is that our system of schools has significantly surpassed the State average. A remarkable achievement for a rural and remote diocese!

While it is pleasing to see our Year 3 Reading average so high, it is important to break open the data a little further. Was our high average score due to a few outstanding results, or was our average reflecting the sheer volume of students producing quality reading results?

Further analysis (Table 3C) identifies 70% of our Year 3 students achieved a score higher than the State average. This percentage highlights that our learning and teaching is supporting all students and our average was not reliant on a few high achievers.

“Regular attendance at school is essential if students are to maximise their potential” (CSO Policy & Procedures for Student Attendance, paragraph 1.1). This statement gains extra weight when correlating our Yr 3 NAPLAN Reading achievement against the same students' 2023 attendance rate. 

Our Year 3 students whose attendance rate was above 90% in 2023 (Year 2), on average scored an additional 22.68 marks than their peers whose attendance rate was below 90%. Our school's rigor and sophistication in the learning and teaching of reading sets our students, with a commitment to attendance, up for success!

While the data clearly supports the importance of our children being at school, what does it say in regards to the consistency of teaching across our K-3 grades? When we break open our results to correlate our Yr 3 students who started at St Nicholas School in Kindergarten, against those who were enrolled after Kindergarten (Table 3E), it supports the positive Kindergarten to Year 3 reading culture at St Nicholas School.

Conclusion

The deep analysis of our 2024 Year 3 NAPLAN reading data paints a very strong picture of the learning and teaching of reading at St Nicholas School. 

At St Nicholas School we should be proud of our reading culture. A culture that is founded on a rigorous and sophisticated learning and teaching program. A learning and teaching program developing “literate and numerate students with a hope filled future”.

Dio Athletics

Congratulations to the St Nicholas School Athletics team who represented our school at last week's Diocesan Carnival. You should be proud of your selection in this team and for how you represented our school.

Particular mention to our age champions and runners up:

• Junior Boy Champion: Max Collett
• 11 years Boy Champion: Carter Brown
• 11 years Girl Champion: Isabella Harding-Brown
• 12/13 years Boy  Runner-up   Cohen Jones
• 12/13 years Girl Runner up: Winsome Urquhart 

The very best of luck to our students who will now represent the Diocese at the Polding Carnival in Newcastle:

Have a great week!

John Clery

Principal