Coolaroo South Primary School is one of the 125 schools that recorded significant improvements in their NAPLAN results over the past two years.
NAPLAN is a literacy and numeracy national assessment for all students in years 3, 5, 7 and 9.
Principal Anne-Maree Grozdanoski at Coolaroo South Primary School was thrilled with the pupils’ results.
“We’re proud of the achievements that have been made in NAPLAN, particularly the area of writing.”
According to the data, 65 per cent of students at Coolaroo South in 2019-2021 achieved above average results in writing.
Ms Grozdanoski commended teachers on their efforts in adapting to online learning and supporting the children through it.
“They had to really flip the way that they were working, become very tech savvy with different programs and ways in which they could really collaborate with the students and the students could collaborate with each other.”
The school has a large English as an additional language student body that required extra support whilst learning from home.
“My community liaison staff who speak Arabic and Turkish, were also doing lots of calls to parents and running support groups with families to keep them connected and helping students adjust,” she said.
The annual test will be conducted in May this year and Coolaroo Primary is doing its part to prepare its pupils.
“We’re doing exclusive teaching to make sure that if there’s any areas of the curriculum that the children require additional support with, we are able to help them so on the day they feel prepared,” Ms Grozdanoski said.
Education Minister James Merlino said: “I thank every teacher, tutor, principal, family and everyone else who supported Victorian students through 2021 – our nation-leading results show despite the pandemic’s challenges, our kids are learning better than ever before.”