St Felix Catholic Primary School Bankstown has been recognised among the top 20 New South Wales schools for exceptional student progress in literacy and numeracy by the national assessment and curriculum body ACARA.
Amanda Brady, Assistant Principal at St Felix Bankstown, said particularly high gains for Year 3 in Spelling (+18.72%), and Grammar and Punctuation (+11.65%), and for Year 5 in Grammar and Punctuation (+21.60%) reflects a collective effort across teaching, leadership, and student support.
“Our staff have been deeply engaged in professional learning around the new K–6 syllabi, embedding evidence-based strategies such as high-impact teaching, cognitive load theory, spaced practice and retrieval practice into everyday learning, while adapting programs to meet the needs of our English as an Additional Language or Dialect (EAL/D) students,” she said.
“With leaders sharing targeted expertise and our Diverse Learning Team working hands-on in classrooms, regular scheduled professional learning time strengthened collaboration, data-informed teaching and ongoing feedback for both staff and students.”
The ‘Schools making a Difference’ list recognises those schools with the highest proportions of students making above-average gains across reading, writing and numeracy in their socio-educational context across a two-year progression between 2023 and 2025.
Danielle Cronin, Executive Director of Sydney Catholic Schools says schools such as St Felix Bankstown serve communities with diverse, multicultural backgrounds and varying socio-economic challenges, making their strong NAPLAN growth a particularly impressive achievement.
“Across our schools, staff implement evidence-based teaching, use data to inform learning, provide mentoring and targeted support, and engage families and communities to help every child succeed,” Ms Cronin said.
“These schools are achieving remarkable student growth while supporting communities where most students speak a language other than English at home and many require additional learning support.”
“The ACARA recognition is a powerful endorsement of the quality of our teachers, our inclusive culture and targeted interventions.”
This year, Sydney Catholic Schools’ system-wide NAPLAN results stood out for their targeted approach to supporting students, particularly in low socio-economic communities.