Hello Wentyl,

This week the full NAPLAN results from around 9000 schools around the country were released. These year 3, 5, 7 and 9 snapshots focusing on numeracy and literacy are just one in a range of measures used by parents, teachers and students to assess the performance of public and private schools. 

Such indicators are invaluable in measuring the academic progress of schools of all types and sizes. Those that have improved should be commended for the hard work of their staff and students. 

Some in the education sector criticise the idea of school comparison lists but we believe parents are smart enough to understand the differences in socio-economic advantage and resourcing between, say, an elite private school and an outer-suburban public school – and the impact this has on academic outcomes.

Many parents will naturally compare schools' NAPLAN results – and of course other factors such as facilities, location, fees and demographics – and draw their own conclusions when deciding which school is the best fit for their children.

Our exclusive searchable interactive and analysis show NSW schools, including a suite of selective public colleges, continue to outperform those in other states.

Searchable list: How schools in your state performed in NAPLAN

New South Wales and ACT | Victoria | Queensland | South Australia | Tasmania | Northern Territory

We've reported some wild stories this week. Like the mother strongly considering legal action against her state's Education Department over sex education classes for year 9 girls which she claims included references to bestiality and incest, with students allegedly told “don’t Google it”. Or the horrifying attack in a Melbourne school in which a principal was allegedly stabbed by a teacher who'd just learned his contract would not be renewed.

We’ve also continued our analysis of the social media ban, with one story about a 14-year-old who’s already beaten one major app’s age-verification process, exposing serious flaws in the system. With some teens already starting to lose access to their accounts, we’ll know more in coming days.

In the meantime, there are plenty of other great stories about standing up to bullies (or should you...), the soaring cost and frequency of autism diagnoses and the cost to business of Gen Z workers taking an astonishing 26 million mental health days off each year. After wrangling all that NAPLAN data this week, I feel overdue for one of them ...

Have a great weekend and enjoy these wonderful reads.