NAPLAN data from assessment early in 2025 was released today, noting above-average gains among some Queensland schools across all three domains – reading, writing and numeracy – and some for individual domains.

Four Brisbane Catholic Education (BCE) schools were included in ACARA’s “Schools making a difference” list which contains schools with a significant proportion of students who have made above-average progress across the domains: St Thomas More College, Sunnybank; San Sisto College, Carina; Marymount College, Burleigh Waters; and Our Lady of Good Counsel School, Gatton.

Another four BCE schools were highlighted for improvement in their local government areas: St John Fisher College, Bracken Ridge; St Benedict’s College, Mango Hill; St Mary’s College, Maryborough; and St Augustine’s Parish Primary School, Currumbin Waters.

Meanwhile, Queensland Catholic schools recorded major improvements in writing, on national comparisons, from their Year 7 assessment in 2023 to the Year 9 cohort in 2025.

BCE has 146 schools across southeast Queensland, from the border at Coolangatta, north to Hervey Bay and west to Kingaroy and Gatton.

BCE Executive Director Dr Sally Towns congratulated teachers and students on the results which follow BCE’s concerted efforts to provide their schools with the tools to measure improvement, not just focusing on NAPLAN.

“Our schools have been focused on helping students to become assessment capable learners, assisting them with personalised learning journeys. This provides them with confidence and a deeper understanding that they can answer questions for in-class assessment or for NAPLAN as the national test. NAPLAN is just one of the many tools we use to measure overall school quality,” Dr Towns said.

“We have done this through a focus on teacher capability and through  an explicit reading strategy that has been implemented to help students.

“We have adopted effective, evidence-based strategies for explicit reading instruction. Students have been assisted with critical literacy skills essential for their academic and future success.

“This has been backed by professional learning communities about effective strategies, ongoing data analysis, effective use of technology, and ongoing exposure to these strategies in classrooms.

“The reading outcomes have been particularly encouraging. This is another step in our aim to help our students and staff to reach their potential. We are proud to be providing excellence in teaching and learning and our Christan Catholic values that enable our students to grow and thrive in all aspects of life."

Earlier this year, BCE assessed the results of a 12-month program that focussed on teaching practices and resulted in learning improvements in literacy and numeracy for a cohort of more than 2000 students.

To benchmark improvements, BCE compared NAPLAN results from 2023 to 2025 for the same students progressing from Years 3 to 5.

The 19 participating BCE schools recorded a 10 per cent increase in students in the “Exceeding” and ‘Strong’ categories and a 10 per cent decrease in students falling into the categories of ‘Needs Additional Support’ and ‘Developing’.

Teachers also reported that students could better understand questions, had improved stamina in reading and writing during NAPLAN testing, and enhanced IT skills.

BCE Senior Education Advisor – Learning and Pedagogy Literacy, Rachael Hill said BCE’s approach was not designed to specifically improve NAPLAN results but to support teachers in providing students with skills to adapt to different learning tasks.

That program was rolled out for students in Years 2 and 4 who would go on to take NAPLAN tests the following year.

Ms Hill said the Primary Learning Leaders from each of the 19 schools in the program “were provided with scaffolded planning ‘snapshots’, test readiness strategies and effective feedback scenarios. All schools have been using BCE’s Growing and Thriving model which gives teachers and leaders explicit examples of what best practice looks like in classrooms”. 

“They could then contextualise the content for their schools to ensure the greatest impact within their own school context,” Ms Hill said.

This year marked the first time growth data for the Year 5 cohort could be measured using the same group of students, aligned with the updated NAPLAN proficiency reporting categories introduced in 2023. 

“These changes have enabled more robust and meaningful analysis of student progress,” Ms Hill said. “The results of our program are truly life-changing for our students, setting them up for success in the long term.”

BCE Education and Digital Excellence Executive said teachers had reported benefits for students academically and teachers’ professionally, which was a testament to the dedication and willingness of the teachers and leaders to share learnings and foster open, collaborative communication.

“BCE aims for excellence and engagement in fundamental literacy and numeracy skills for every student to grow and thrive,” Ms Williams said. “We are very pleased to see the teachers’ capability impact in the classroom and, most importantly, that it is translating to such significant improvements for student outcomes.”

“The community of practice was aligned to the BCE Growing and Thriving model. This is one way in which we are making this resource come alive in different contexts.”