Matthew Flinders Anglican College on the Sunshine Coast has recorded impressive 2025 NAPLAN results to place in the top 20 schools in Queensland and in the number one spot on the Sunshine Coast for both primary and high schools.
In the state NAPLAN comparison, Flinders placed 14th for high schools (Year 9 average) and 18th for primary schools (Year 5 average).
The College jumped more than 30 places in Queensland since the 2024 NAPLAN results, demonstrating significant academic growth, with student scores across all five domains exceeding the 2025 state average by 6% to 25%.
College Principal Michelle Carroll said the 2025 results were pleasing and reflected the school’s commitment to its recently introduced Flinders Teaching and Learning Framework and Flinders Wellbeing Framework.
Both bespoke frameworks are rooted in the Science of Learning and Self-Determination Theory and embed ‘warm demand’ and 'student agency' to better meet students’ unique needs.
Ms Carroll said, “We are immensely proud of these results, and even more proud of the unwavering commitment and professionalism of our staff. Their dedication to continually refining their practice is clearly reflected in the achievements highlighted here.
“Our steady improvement in NAPLAN results, particularly the lift in Year 9 results, reflects the long-term strengthening of our teaching and learning culture, rather than any single change,” she said.
“Over the past several years, and more recently guided by our Teaching and Learning Framework, Flinders has built a highly coherent approach from Prep through to Year 12, ensuring that students experience a consistent, rigorous, low-variance curriculum at every stage of their schooling.
“That continuity means students benefit from a cumulative, well-designed sequence of learning that compounds over time.
“These results stem from a deeply embedded culture of “warm demand”, which describes our learning environment where learners feel both challenged and cared for, and where effort, improvement and personal excellence are normalised.
“At Flinders, we are deliberate about what we teach, when we teach it, and how we teach it. This clarity gives students a stable, coherent learning experience from year to year, reducing guesswork and ensuring that every classroom is aligned to what the research tells us works best for student learning.
“Teachers across the school engage daily with evidence-based practice, applying it with consistency and purpose. Whether through explicit instruction, formative assessment or well-designed practice activities, our teachers bring the Science of Learning to life for students.”
This dedication and focus led the College to present the 2025 Science of Learning Conference in April at Matthew Flinders Anglican College, with world-class keynote speakers including Dr Jared Cooney Horvath and Dr Nathaniel Swain sharing evidence-based strategies with over 500 educators to enhance student engagement and academic achievement.
Ms Carroll congratulated the students for their commitment to engage in learning and embrace challenge.
“Our students’ 2025 NAPLAN results are very pleasing, not simply because the overall data is strong, but because they represent the combined personal bests of hundreds of individual learners," Ms Carroll said.
“Each student approached the assessment from a different starting point, with unique strengths and abilities. What we see in the aggregated results is the story of all those personal achievements coming together.”
Key achievements in Flinders' 2025 NAPLAN results:
- Achieved third consecutive improvement and highest-ever writing results for the College
- Year 7 and Year 9 students recorded their highest scores across all four literacy domains (Reading, Writing, Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar) since online testing was introduced in 2023
- Year 9 students achieved Writing scores 11.15% above the state average, while Year 7 students scored 15.6% higher.
- Compared to “like schools”, Flinders achieved “above” average on 11 out of the total 20 domain metrics.
- The College's highest score was achieved by the Year 3 cohort in the Primary School, surpassing the state average in the Grammar and Punctuation domain by 25%.
The National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) is an annual assessment for students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9, measuring their fundamental literacy and numeracy skills across five domains: Reading, Writing, Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar, and Numeracy.
Founded in 1990, Flinders is a leading co-educational independent school supporting more than 1,410 students from Prep to Year 12 with an "Education for Excellence in Learning and Life”.
To learn more about NAPLAN, ATAR and other academic results at Flinders, please visit https://www.mfac.edu.au/flinders-advantage/academic-results/
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