The annual NAPLAN test results were released to the public earlier this week, with St Michael's being one of 60 school state wide and one 268 nationally to have shown 'substantially above average gain' in reading and numeracy achievement. 

NAPLAN assesses students across years three, five, seven and nine in reading, writing and numeracy.

St Michael's school principal Kayleen Petzer was extremely pleased with the results across all aspects in both years three and five.

"We have consistently shown pleasing growth from Year 3 to Year 5 over a number of years, so this is not really so surprising," she said.

"We contribute our success to the fact that we have a stable group of teachers who work together as a team to benefit all students' learning, not just those in their own classes [and] use various forms of data not just NAPLAN analysis to inform learning.

"Students are also encouraged and guided to take responsibility for their own learning."

Ms Petzer attributes the success of St Michael's to prioritising both English and Mathematics for a number of years, including extra resources and support personnel.

St Michael's have implemented a program called 'challenging maths' which helps students focus on problems solving.

It allows students time to think through the possibilities and puts students in the 'zone of the confusion' rather than receiving immediate intervention from the teacher, which helps them learn independently.

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