Top marks for GSSC in NAPLAN

An average of 70 per cent of students fell in the ‘strong’ or ‘exceeding’ bands, while all age groups ranked first or second in all 10 domains.

GSCC Curriculum and Pedagogy Principal Dougie Souter, who has been at GSSC since it opened, said each year the school had seen improvement in its NAPLAN results.

“We are very proud of the incremental progress that we’ve made with students in both literacy and numeracy over the course of the last five years,” Ms Souter said.

“That’s a really important thing ... for a brand-new school, but also because we’re supporting students from a fairly multicultural and diverse community.

“So while the whole school is making progress, that’s really important at the individual student level that they’re making progress and that we’re able to support them.”

GSSC Mathematics Domain Leader Tara Richardson said the Maths curriculum has been developed to cater for readiness for secondary learning that develops and builds onto core learning skills.

“With the start of GSSC, we had a really good opportunity to build our curriculum from the ground up and be able to refine it every year,” she said.

“A big focus that we’ve had in maths is making the secondary content accessible so that we can keep kids’ pathways open for Years 10, 11 and 12.”

English Domain Leader Stephanie Tregear also highlighted the significant improvement made in VCE English outcomes last year.

“We noticed in English students were really struggling in end of year exams,” she said.

“We overhauled our approach to teaching VCE English last year ... so they could build up a bank of writing skills for their exams.

“It’s a shift in the way our students are studying English, and in their understanding of what's expected in their writing and how that compares with the rest of the state.”

State Member for Northern Victoria Jaclyn Symes said the results were a wonderful tribute to the leadership of executive principal Barb O’Brien and her staff, as well as the efforts of students, parents and carers.

“To see such positive results, and particularly pleasing improvements in Year 9 reading and numeracy, is encouraging, and a clear indicator our government’s investment in the Shepparton Education Plan is delivering an outstanding school where every local student can receive a world-class education,” she said.

Ms Souter said the school was implementing targeted support and effective teaching approaches when students came in at Year 7, and was building on those each year.

“A lot is being gained from the learning that’s happening in primary school and carried forward,” she said.

“We’re really building on ... and extending that, and delivering our curriculum in a way that really caters for all students.

“That has significant implications for the way we support and teach our students.”

She also said teachers tried to get the “students’ voice” in what they were learning.

“That pays off, too, because there’s an investment from teacher and student to make improvement,” Ms Souter said.

“The day-to-day and the week-to-week progress they’re making, and the feedback that we give them, is what motivates kids to continue to want to learn.”

Ms Richardson said teachers were proud of their various methods of teaching content to different students, and how their understanding had shone through in the NAPLAN results.

“We’ve done a significant amount of professional learning in maths, both on the content, and on how to teach it in different ways ... to cater for more of our kids,” she said.

“(Teachers’) willingness to try different things and change their practices to do what’s best for our kids is a strong foundation for ongoing improvement, and something we’re really proud of.

“We want to provide students with the skills and the opportunities to get where they want to go in life, and to do that, they need these foundational maths and literacy skills.”