Good Counsel Primary School's NAPLAN success

MARIA GIRGENTI

STAFF and students at Good Counsel Primary School in Innisfail, a rural Catholic school with 325 students, are celebrating their outstanding results in NAPLAN.

Between 2019 - 2022, ACARA identified GCPS as the number one Catholic school in Queensland, regarding the highest scoring students. Furthermore, GCPS ranked eleventh in Queensland across all educational sectors and placed in the top 20 Catholic schools Australia-wide in the same category.

NAPLAN - National Assessment Program - Literacy and Numeracy is an annual assessment for students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9.

NAPLAN consists of tests in the four areas of reading, writing, conventions of language (spelling, grammar and punctuation) and numeracy.

This nationwide measure enables parents/carers, teachers, schools, education authorities, governments, and the broader community to determine whether students are developing the crucial literacy and numeracy skills that provide the foundation for other learning.

Principal Liam Kenny attributes this success in part to the introduction of the 'Morning Routine' across the school, an educational approach that provides students with opportunities to practise literacy and numeracy skills daily.

"These positive results are also a combination of early intervention and extension programs, the staff's commitment to the use of high impact teaching strategies and partnering with parents and carers to allow each student to achieve to their potential."

"Moreover, the school has worked closely with literacy consultants to hone its approach to the teaching of writing. This has positively impacted the NAPLAN results in the areas of writing and conventions of language."

The dedicated staff at Good Counsel Primary School provide a world-class education and achieves the best possible outcomes for the students in their care.