By Sumeyya Ilanbey
Coburn Primary School principal Vicki Minton is celebrating a significant achievement – her pupils’ outstanding NAPLAN results.
The grade three pupils’ average score for reading, writing, numeracy, spelling, and grammar and punctuation has increased compared with last year, while the scores for pupils in grade five in the areas of reading, spelling, and grammar and punctuation have grown.
The biggest improvement was by the grade three pupils in reading – a mammoth 41.1 per cent increase, compared with the state average of 3.5 per cent.
Ms Minton credited this significant increase to the “hard work” the staff have been doing over the past three-and-a-half years to improve students’ comprehension skills.
“We’ve engaged top quality consultants to work with our staff,” Ms Minton said. “We’ve also done a lot of professional learning for our teachers to build their capacity. We’ve changed our reading block to incorporate an intervention system … where we identify children who are just below level … and give them intensive work with the classroom teacher four days a week.”
The school will make a concerted effort next year to improve grade five students’ writing skills. Ms Minton said everyone at the school had been working hard.
“I’m absolutely over the moon with the growth we’ve had this year,” she said.
