Writing, a skill which is in the national spotlight, is key for future success (UNESCO, 2019). At Aviation High School, writing is explicitly taught to all students, every day through the Writer's Toolbox program. This prepares Aviation High students for both ATAR external examinations and gives them the foundational skills required for communication, learning, and full participation in society (Wyatt-Smith & Jackson, 2020).
Since the implementation, Aviation High School students demonstrated greater gains in NAPLAN writing results than the nation. When tracking the Year 9 cohort across the last several years, both their NAPLAN and end of year results grew significantly. On average, students went from 17% A results when they were in Year 7 to 36% A results, after having just completed Year 9. The percentage of students achieving in the upper two bands have increased from approximately 38% to over 74%. Improvement in NAPLAN was also evident, where there was a 10% increase in students achieving in the exceeding range for NAPLAN, as well as an increase in the mean scale score of over 42.
Teachers at Aviation High School are prioritising the teaching of writing across all year levels to prepare students for university and beyond. Students are communicating their thinking with greater clarity and purpose. Focussed and quality feedback, easily achieved through a common language, is contributing to student improvement.
How is writing explicitly taught at Aviation High School? Confidently, students are taught to master writing individually and as a class by developing a writing toolkit that can be called on when needed. They learn to cast sentences in 12 different ways and they learn 8 different paragraph types; all to support communication and higher order thinking. Taught in a language that makes sense to both students and teachers, writing is taught free from grammatical jargon, where all types of learners at Aviation High School develop their writing skills. Quality writers are our priority.