Casuarina Street Primary School has been revealed as one of the top five performing schools in the NT.
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The recognition follows the release of today's 2019 MySchool data, based on last year's NAPLAN testing.
The national data highlighted five Territory schools as standouts with substantially above average gains in specific areas in 2018 NAPLAN testing.
On a visit to the Katherine school yesterday NT Minister for Education, Selena Uibo, praised the students and teachers for their hard work and growth.
"For a small rural town these results are a great achievement for staff and the students. People will be able to look at this school and compare it with all the others across the country.
"We want the Northern Territory to have the most improved education system in the country."
Casuarina Street Primary School principal Nick Lovering attributed the success to retention of staff - despite the transient nature of the town - and strong partnerships.
"At Casuarina, we have good partnerships between families and our school, our students are aware of their own data, they know where they need to get to and we work on those steps to get them there.
"When we engage students they have agency in their learning. Students are really taking initiative.
Writing has been on a downward trend nationally and the department is working on explicitly improving writing for our kids.
- NT Minister for Education, Selena Uibo.
"We also have leadership in school. We have highly accomplished teachers who set the standard for others, as well as a supportive community."
Despite these great achievements, 2018 NAPLAN data showed that NT schools continue to lag behind other Australian schools.
"40 per cent of our NT students come from a disadvantaged background," Ms Uibo said.
"There are higher rates of socioeconomic disadvantage and higher rates of students with English as a second language.
"All children have the right to a great start in life, regardless of their ability or location, which is why the NT Government is investing significantly to achieve generational change."
She said the Department of Education is working on improving support for individual students and teachers in NT schools.
Teacher retention in the NT has long been an issue for the government, and despite higher pay, the ability to quickly climb the ladder and subsidised housing, educators are quick to throw in the towel.
While the latest MySchool results reveal improvements for one Katherine school, Ms Uibo said the data should not be seen as a complete reflection of a school's standard.
"Looking at the data does not necessarily reflect what is going on.
"We want all schools to be great, and here in Katherine there are so many great staff.
"The data is just a snapshot, it is to support staff in working on areas that need growth."
The five Territory schools recognised for outstanding improvement are
- Alawa Primary School
- Anula Primary School
- Casuarina Street Primary School
- Palmerston Christian School
- Haileybury Rendall School
For more information on MySchool data visit the website here.
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