Year 9 Progress
We are pleased to share the strong results achieved by Esperance Senior High School’s Year 9 students in the 2026 NAPLAN assessments. ESHS recorded higher average scores than like schools across all five NAPLAN domains, and our students also performed well compared with Australian schools overall.
| NAPLAN domain | ESHS | Like schools | Difference |
| Reading | 551 | 531 | +20 |
| Writing | 551 | 537 | +14 |
| Numeracy | 567 | 537 | +30 |
| Spelling | 547 | 544 | +3 |
| Grammar and punctuation | 548 | 508 | +40 |
ESHS students also made greater progress across every NAPLAN domain than students in like schools, and Australian schools overall. Improvement was particularly strong in grammar and punctuation.
Progress measures how much a student’s skills develop over time (e.g. from Year 7 to Year 9) rather than their achievement at a single point.
These excellent results reflect effective teaching that engages students, provides purposeful instruction and creates opportunities to practise, apply and reflect on learning. These practices also help to develop student agency by encouraging students to take responsibility for their learning and acting on feedback.
Why Year 9 NAPLAN matters for OLNA
The Online Literacy and Numeracy Assessment (OLNA) enables Western Australian students to demonstrate the minimum literacy and numeracy standard required for the Western Australian Certificate of Education (WACE).
Year 9 NAPLAN provides an important opportunity to prequalify for this standard. A student who reaches the required cut point in reading, writing or numeracy does not need to sit the corresponding OLNA component:
- Numeracy: 570
- Reading: 572
- Writing: 594
Prequalification applies separately to each component and is based on each student’s individual score. Spelling and grammar and punctuation are not separate OLNA components.
Students who do not prequalify through Year 9 NAPLAN must sit the relevant OLNA component. They have at least six opportunities before the end of Year 12 to demonstrate the standard, and it is not expected that every student will reach it while still in Year 9.
For current Year 8 students, the remainder of this year is an important time to strengthen the skills needed for Year 9 NAPLAN. Consistent effort, regular attendance, careful completion of classwork and acting on teacher feedback will give students the best opportunity to demonstrate their ability next year. This effort may also allow them to prequalify and avoid sitting any corresponding OLNA components during their senior years.
Congratulations to our Year 9 students, and thank you to the families and staff who supported them.
