Year 5 students at the school scored "substantially above average" results in numeracy and writing, coming after several years of Years 3 and 5 achieving close to or above average in numeracy, reading, writing, spelling, grammar and punctuation.

More importantly, the student gains - which show the average change in results for only the students who were at the school in both Years 3 and 5 - show an improvement from high band 3 to low band 6 results.

According to an Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority spokesperson, that was "quite an achievement" for any school.

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Staff and students had "worked very hard to make this shift", deputy principal Nicki Walsh said.

"The staff and students really deserve the success they've had," she said.

She put it down to a number of factors, including instructional leadership, which aims to model quality teaching to the teachers; and a visible learning approach, which includes teachers and students having a clearly defined purpose and goals for every class.

Mrs Walsh also said there had been a stronger focus on "teachers working together for consistency in making sure that every class is getting the same quality program implemented at the same time, simply adjusted for that particular class's needs".

As for future NAPLANs: "The ultimate goal is to be way above the state average."

"It might be ambitious, but I think we've got the right frame of mind and the right drive at the school."

Several schools in the area achieved substantially above-average results, but Hillvue Public School's results are stand-outs.

The school compared very favourably with similar schools on reading, writing, and grammar and punctuation in Years 3 and 5; and numeracy in Year 3.

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