The Hon. Alan Tudge MP, Minister for Education and Youth, congratulates CEO|Principal Derek Scott on his appointment to the board of ACARA
Haileybury has supported the NAPLAN (National Assessment Program—Literacy and Numeracy) since it was introduced by then Education Minister Julia Gillard in 2008.
NAPLAN has provided the School with valuable data which has been used to improve our Literacy and Numeracy teaching and student outcomes. It also, of course, provides valuable feedback to parents and carers about the progress of their daughters and sons.
In simple terms, NAPLAN is a national, consistent measure to determine whether students around the country are meeting important educational outcomes. It is a useful tool to have and without it there would be no national measure for schools to base performance against. There are many, including the teacher unions, who want it scrapped. Without it, Australia would have no consistent measure of Literacy and Numeracy performance by schools.
It is no surprise that as Haileybury has focused strongly on Literacy and Numeracy outcomes in Junior School and Middle School over the past 13 years the academic performance of graduating students in Year 12 has also risen.
In 2010, 32% of our girls and boys achieved an Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR) of 90 or above (top 10% in Australia) and 87% achieved 60 or above (top 40% in Australia). In 2020, those figures were 51% and 95%, respectively. Of course, sound literacy and numeracy skills also set up a foundation for success in life after school when coupled with the great breadth of education outcomes that come from the widest possible curriculum and co-curricular opportunities.
I am pleased that most of our students will be doing NAPLAN online this year prior to the full rollout for all schools across the country into an online format by 2022. Taking NAPLAN online will see a quicker turnaround of results and more meaningful data for teachers and schools to work with.
My appointment to the Board of ACARA (Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority) will see me continue to support the next phase of NAPLAN as a very useful tool for schools around the country. ACARA also oversees the national curriculum from Prep to Year 10. The curriculum is undergoing review this year. I will provide more detailed thoughts on this in a future Insight.
Derek Scott
CEO | Principal
