The My School government website

[Bathsheba]

Have you checked it out?

What do you think?

From a personal perspective the information that relates to the 3 schools my eldest children have been to seems "as expected". No surprises... they are good schools and this website just confirms it.

It was very interesting checking out the schools that were our alternative choices. I have also checked out how the schools are performing where i went to school.

I completely understand that this website has huge limitations in terms of quantifying what is a "good" school and what schools need help. However it was interesting to note that a school i went to as a child has used it's summary to high-light achievements like government awards for excellence in certain areas that would have been invisible had you only looked at it's stats... which were VERY grim. Each school is in control of it's own summary and needs to make good use of this, I believe.

Mods: can i link to this site?

[~Trish~]

DH and I were only looking at it last night. It's SO slow to load! It is very interesting though and will be a big help when looking at high schools for our DS1. He is going the the primary school on our street (starts Monday - eek!), it has a score we are happy with. There is a school a short drive away that rates a bit better, but I just can't beat the convenience of walking the kids to school LOL!

[Bathsheba]

The speed of the site was great this morning.... i had 3 tabs loaded and i flitted between three schools quite easily.

Also wanted to note that from my observation the smaller schools really do seem to rate well...

ETA: sadly any stats relating to sports/arts/non core learning isn't available. i guess everyone knows that there is no perfect school... just perfect matches... we changed schools with our DD because she was a sporty girl in a musically focussed school... both the schools she went to rate really well academically but one school was much better for HER than the other. Her first school couldn't keep their P.E teachers (sport teachers) because the facilities were so minimal and what their was was very old and tired.... but they had state-of-the-art arts facilities that weren't much use to my DD.

[ladybird11]

I checked it out late last night and found it fairly quick loading.

As for the schools ratings - I am happy with the 'averaged' performance where we've enrolled the kids.

I looked at my old high school out of interest and noticed bright red all over the year 9 averages . Doh!

[Bathsheba]

LOL Leesa!!! Same here! Lots of red all over my old schools! But 20 - 30 years ago they were ok... things change I guess.... but I wouldn't send my children there now I have to admit.... not unless after visiting realised the culture of the school was actually fantastic despite the stats.

[Trillian]

I did look at it yesterday, but I'm taking it with a grain of salt - I already know our school is fantastic. You can't even begin to compare one school with another because there is so much more to a great school than just results on a piece of paper. I don't think the unions should be making such a huge song and dance about it either though because at the end of the day it is just political grandstanding by Julia Gillard and will achieve nothing and isn't worth their attentions.

[Tinks]

I looked at it yesterday too. My kids school was pretty average according to the site but I'm happy with it so that's all that matters.

DS's high school was average as well but had a very high percentage of students going on to uni.

[Nelle]

Is it particularly holistic, or is it just looking at maths, english, science sort of things?

I'm just thinking - like with the year 9 results, I know some schools use a year like year 9 to focus on life skills and experiences. I hope this doesn't create a bad cycle where parents of bright students send their children to higher scoring schools and things become off balance.

[Pandora]

which site did you look at, the .edu site or the .com site?
i didint know about the .com site and went to the .edu version, which was very fast (and im shaped at home at the moment so everything is slow).
it was good to compare the stats on the 2 schools were are considering for our son (especially cos the one I like was all green/dark green, andthe one DH likes was red).
What it didint not mention though, or I didnt see reference to, was how long the schools had been around. Case in poin is the school DH likes for DS only opened in 2009, and a number of the kids were placed there by the Dept. of Education having done the rounds of the local govt schools.

So it will be interesting to see how the stats change as the enrollments go up.

[Trillian]

I went to the edu site Pandora. Nelle at this point it is only based on reading, writing, spelling, grammar and numeracy. There is talk that they will include the funding that each school gets with the view that funding = results, but I highly doubt that will go ahead because it really wont look good for the govt if they let people see the pittance they give to govt schools compared to private schools.

[Mum2SweetCs]

My husband doesnt believe in the stats. After looking at it (yesterday) i kept thinking all night whether to send DD one 10mins down the road from us in a diff suburb or one 5mins down the road from us. The 10 mins one was way above average, the 5 mins was ok.

The catholic school we were thinking about was also performing avg only.

But i guess things will change in 3 yrs time (seeing gthat DD is only 22mths)

Looked at my old high school too and it was like way below avg!!! LOL as expected though.

[Rivlas]

Not a fan of these test as they are just done on the day and not over time. Some kids so really well while others get flustered and do really bad. Also it makes it really hard to believe these figures as there are many schools who have children with poor English due to their backgrounds, like not being in the country long. These students must be at a disadvantage when it comes to these tests.
I think the best way to get a feel for a school is talk to parents who are already there.
Especially secondary schools, the amount of students who go to Uni or get jobs tells you they are getting them ready for the next step.

[AnyDream]

The part I found difficult is where they compare your school with those that are "statistically similar"...WTH is that supposed to mean? There wasn't really any qualification of how that comparison is made, kwim? Also, I tried to find the explanation for the socioeconomic number that was given, but the link just looped around to the same page.

[Indadhanu]

I think it's a silly site. Basically, all you are comparing is how well the students performed in a test on one day of the school year. How well students perform in tests has NOTHING to do with how 'well' the teachers teach, or how 'good' a school is. A school with above average results can just mean that most of the students take tests well. A school with below acverage results doesn't mean that the students aren't learning, or that teachers are ineffective. It can just means that the students don't take tests well.

Which I'm pretty sure is the 'outrage'.

Definitely take the ratings with a grain of salt.

[AliBaby]

I think it's a silly site. Basically, all you are comparing is how well the students performed in a test on one day of the school year. How well students perform in tests has NOTHING to do with how 'well' the teachers teach, or how 'good' a school is. A school with above average results can just mean that most of the students take tests well. A school with below acverage results doesn't mean that the students aren't learning, or that teachers are ineffective. It can just means that the students don't take tests well.

Which I'm pretty sure is the 'outrage'.

Definitely take the ratings with a grain of salt.

I think you hit the nail on the head.

Whilst I agree with parents having more knowledge in the their choices they make for their children, these league tables and this website is the wrong way to go about it.

I think parents would be better informed if they speak to other parents at the school to see how they view the school, speak to the children that attend the school to get their opinions, and speak to staff at a school.

This puts so much pressure on students. Imagine how those kids feel who were down the bottom of the league tables that have been created feel. Way to lift their already fragile self esteems. Your results are the worst in the state, etc.

[Astrolady]

The stats are pretty crap. We had a huge meeting about it with our prinicipal late last year, and there is so much that doesn't get taken into account. She was not happy with it as well as a lot of other school prinicipal she knows. Considering it is only based on Naplan results is stupid as well. More to the school than years 3 5 7 and 9

[MissM]

I have to admit, I love the site. I think it gives parents the knowledge to choose a school for their child.

The 2 schools that I went to (Primary & High school) were RED!! (So totally to be expected) DP's schools were also red!

DD goes to a private school - and for the fee's we pay each year I expect the results to be good. After all this is just the BASIC reading writing numeracy & gram! If kids are not learning the basics, they will fall through the cracks and this is where the issue starts. My cousin goes to a public school (the one i went to as a child) and when my DD was in year 1 they were doing the same work! (My cuz is a grade above DD) DD also had a few small issues with learning how to tell the time (last year - which was grade 2), fractions and working out her change when she bought something, she understood what she had to do and with intervention with a support group for a month and me giving her examples of using fractions etc in everyday living helped her

I also agree that you need to go to the school and see for yourself what the school 'feels' like. I know from the moment I went into DD's school it was so warm and welcoming. The entire staff @ DD's school GENUINELY care about their wellbeing & education, it's not just a pay packet for them!

I am also the first person to stand up for the public/state schools regarding the funding. Parents in private schools pay a substantial amount (DD's school covers ALL excursions, textbooks, teachers wages, stationary etc, we only need to buy her uniforms ) each year and not everyone can afford to send their children to a private school, and the kids should not be behind just because they go to a public school! eeach child deserves to have a good education (and WTH is the government thinking by funding a private school 42 mil when it only has 16 kids!?!?!?!?!?!? I am sure there are many other public schools that could have used that money!)

The other thing that also annoyed me - when the 'school stimulus' was given DD's school started the work straight away - the public school down the road has only just begun!! i doubt they were given as much money as DD's school which is so unfair.

Sorry for the lonnnnnnnnnng post - but thats my 2 cents

[*Ali*]

I really dont like it- but obviously I am sitting on the other side of the fence because I am a teacher.

After all this is just the BASIC reading writing numeracy & gram! If kids are not learning the basics, they will fall through the cracks and this is where the issue starts

Actually the issues usually arise BEFORE these test are sat, alot the children in the poor performing schools come with close to 0 pre knowledge, the dont own books, they dont go to the library, some come from parents with poor education, most of these school are in low socio economic areas etc. Kindy and pre - primary teachers are having to have to do teaching that children should already come to school with, so in most cases children in these schools start out 2 years behind.

What really infuriates me is that people are going to make judgements about where they send there children based on these results- make judgements about the sort of programs deliever in that school, the type of teachers in that school, etc. and it is false. I work in a school that did not perform well at all, does that mean I am a bad teacher- HELL NO, I am a damn good teacher, I am committed, and I work my ar$e off to improve the education of those children. Where is that reflected? Where do parents get to see the program that we are implementing to improve the targets for thse children, where do parents get to see all the wonderful things that teachers in these schools are doing for these kids?

These are Standardised Tests-you are asking every year 3, 5, 7, 9 student across the ENTIRE country to sit the same test, regardless of their learning style, background, health on the day etc and you are making judgements about a school based on the results.