The 2008 calendar year for the collection of NAPLAN results. The first year of data available for the My School website.

The 2009 calendar year for the collection of NAPLAN results.

Students were not able to sit for the test, for example, due to illness.

Also called the national average. This represents the average NAPLAN scores for each domain and year level of students in all Australia's States and Territories.

This is an estimate of the usual standard of any set of values. It is calculated by adding all the values of the data set together and dividing the sum by the number of items.

Grouping used to measure student performance in NAPLAN tests.

Lowest segment of a distribution which has been divided into four equal segments.

Close to the average result. This means the selected school's performance is relatively close to the comparison value in that calendar year for that domain.

A group of students who sat for the NAPLAN tests in a particular calendar year.

A combined primary and secondary school or campus. This school provides education for year levels from pre-Year 1 to Year 12 or 13, or a combination of primary and secondary years for the relevant State or Territory.

A label applied to a specific skill set or area of study. The five NAPLAN assessment domains are Reading, Writing, Spelling, Grammar and Punctuation, and Numeracy.

Number of students currently attending a school.

Occurs when students are not required to sit a test for a legitimate reason. Consequently these students are not assessed and are deemed not to have met the national minimum standard.

Full-time equivalent. This is a measure of the total level of resources used. 1.0 is the full-time equivalent of a resource.

A full-time student is one who undertakes a workload equivalent to that prescribed for a full-time student of that year level. This may vary between States and Territories and from year to year. A full-time equivalent enrolment is registered as 1. A smaller enrolment is represented as a proportion of the full-time enrolment. For example a half-time enrolment is 0.5.

The number of full time and part time staff employed at the school that are not included in the teaching staff category, expressed as a proportion of full-time staff. This data is provided by school authorities and the national Department of Employment Education and Workplace Relations.

The number of full time and part time teaching staff employed at the school, expressed as a proportion of full-time staff. This data is provided by school authorities and the national Department of Employment Education and Workplace Relations. Full-time staff are registered as 1.0, and part-time staff represented as a proportion of the full-time load. For example a staff member that teaches half-time is registered as 0.5.

For the My School website, Australia's school system is divided into two sectors: government and non-government. The government sector includes schools which are operated by the relevant State or Territory government.

Number of individual people, particularly those who attend a school or class or who are employed at the school.

Index of Community Socio-Educational Advantage.

A scale used to measure facts or trends.

This Index is used to determine a group of statistically similar schools. This index uses data gathered by the Australian Bureau of Statistics and from school enrolment information that strongly correlates to educational performance.

A student is considered to be ‘Indigenous’ if he or she identifies as being of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander origin. The term ‘origin’ is considered to relate to people’s Australian Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander descent and for some, but not all, their cultural identity.

A list of up to 20 schools that are the closest to the selected school. These schools are listed by distance, with those nearest to that school first. Schools are only listed as local if they are within 80 kilometres of the selected school, so those schools that are in remote or very remote locations may have fewer local schools.

Description of where the school is located, with four classifications of metropolitan, provincial, remote and very remote outlined here. More specific definitions are provided by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

An area in each State or Territory within close proximity of its capital city.

Middle two segments of a distribution which has been divided into four equal segments.

National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy. A series of common literacy and numeracy tests conducted annually across Australia for all students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9

Average NAPLAN score of students in Australia per year level and domain.

The scale of scores, of 0 to 1000, from the NAPLAN series of tests. NAPLAN scale scores of students are expected to be lower in the early years tested, such as Year 3, than students tested in later years, such as Years 5 and 7.

A member of the school who supports the school by providing educational services but does not directly teach students. Principals, deputy principals and senior teachers are not included in this measure.

Australia's school system is divided into two sectors: government and non-government . The non-government sector schools are operated independently from the State or Territory government. These may operate as individual schools, in small groups or an independent system such as the Catholic Education Commissions in each State and Territory.

Students who sat the NAPLAN tests.

A measure of the main activity of students who finished school. This measure has a large degree of variation between States and Territories and should not be compared outside the State or Territory of collection.

The number given to a suburb where a school is located, as determined by Australia Post.

Level of education usually starting with pre-Year 1 (or kindergarten in some States) and finishing with Year 6, except in Queensland, Western Australia and South Australia which finish with Year 7.

One of the location measures used. It refers to an administrative division in State.

One segment of a distribution which has been divided into four equal segments.

Any one of three points that divide a distribution of data into four parts.

An area considered spatially distant from the capital city of that State or Territory.

Each domain in NAPLAN is divided into 10 bands of which six are used to report student achievement for each year level. The higher the band the more complex the skill set that is tested.

SBAT is the name that is given to two programs: School Based Apprenticeships (SBAs) and School Based Traineeships (SBTs). These programs provide the opportunity to combine paid part-time employment and study towards a nationally credentialled program, while continuing at school and completing their high school certification. Depending on the pattern of study, an Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR) can be achieved.

An establishment that provides education services to primary or secondary students or both, and is led by a Principal responsible for the internal operation of the establishment.

A list of data gathered about each individual educational establishment. Government school information has been provided by the respective State or Territory Education Departments. For non-government schools, this information has been provided by the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR) from the annual non-government school census.

The official name of the school. Note that the school name may differ from the local name of the school.

A collection of data about a particular school. This data comes from a number of sources including the school.

Australia's education system is comprised of government and non-government schools. The ‘School Facts’ section lists the school sector for each school, however it does not provide additional information on the type of non-government school. This information is only available in the school statement that was provided by the school.

A message provided by schools, or the school authority, on the school that is approximately 200.

In Australia, there are primary schools, secondary schools, and combined schools (combining the primary and secondary school) which are listed as the school type. There are also a range of special purpose schools. Where these schools have been identified as being for a special purpose by the State and Territories, they have been given the school type of ‘Special’ on the My School website. Special purpose schools include different school types, such as juvenile justice schools. In the first release of the My School website, selective schools are not listed as a school type.

Hyperlink to the selected school's own website.

A mark or number indicating a level of achievement.

To find a school using the school's name only, this search will find a match of letters anywhere in the school's name string.

Level of school education starting with Year 7 in ACT, Northern Territory, New South Wales, Tasmania and Victoria, and Year 8 in Queensland, Western Australia and South Australia. Secondary schools finish with Year 12 or 13.

This is a link to the sector of system to which the selected school belongs. Not all schools belong to a school sector or system, as some act independently.

The focus school or school currently being viewed on the My School website.

The results of students who completed post-compulsory school education.

This term describes the performance of one school when compared to another. If this measure is more than half a standard deviation of the average, then it is termed significant for this website.

Some schools are designated as ‘special’ purpose schools by their school authority. For this website ‘special’ can indicate that the school caters for students who demonstrate a mental or physical disability or impairment, a slow learning ability, social or emotional problems or in custody, on remand or in hospital.

One of the original six constituent units of the Australian federal system of government, occupying a specific area of land. This term can be used to mean States and Territories.

A group of schools that share a similar socio-economic profile, based on their ICSEA value. A list of up to 60 schools is provided. It is possible that a school has no similar schools.

This is a measure of the number of days students attend school divided by the total number of school days available expressed as a percentage. The student attendance rate is collected by schools and supplied for an agreed comparative period during the 2009 school year. It includes the total (aggregated) attendance across year levels 1 to 10 for the relevant school. It does not include pre-Year 1 attendance, except in government schools in Victoria. In Victoria, this attendance data includes Prep and covers the 2008 year, but does not include the 2009 attendance rates, as of January 2010.

Information collected about the student. It can include a student’s sex, Indigenous status, language heritage and socio-economic status.

A residential district or locality using a particular name.

A member of the school who supports students by providing educational services, that is the direct teaching of students. By definition principals, deputy principals and senior teachers are included in this measure.

The head count of full-time and part-time teaching staff employed by the school for non-government schools; or the number of teaching staff both full-time and part-time assigned to the school providing educational services directly to students. By definition principals, deputy principals and senior teachers are included in this measure. This information is provided by the school jurisdiction, so may only provide numbers of staff employed by the jurisdiction.

For the purposes of the My School website Territory refers to the two mainland Territoriesrecognised under the Australian federal system of government,the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) and the Northern Territory (NT).

Highest segment of a distribution which has been divided into four equal segments.

Enrolments are counted in two ways: through a head count of students and full-time equivalent enrolments of students. The total enrolment figure uses the head count method and includes both full-time and part-time enrolments.

An area considered spatially a significant distance from the capital city.

A standardised national training scheme that provides skills and knowledge for work and potential certification for participants. VET provides many skills for people in a vocational environment. VET courses are offered in schools and colleges, community centres, TAFE institutes and other registered training organisations. In these organisations VET may be provided off-the-job and/or in a workplace environment. For example, workplace training is a significant part of all apprenticeships and traineeships.

The results for the final year of school for students who chose to complete all years. This is equivalent to Year 13 in some States.

Level of education split into the specific number or years, based broadly on number of years spent in a school prior to that year.

This is the year range offered by the school. It expresses the level of education based on the number of 12 monthly periods students have attended school. The schooling years on the My School website include Year 1 to Year 12 and the various provisions for education prior to Year 1 which are part of the schooling system in each State and Territory. The abbreviations for school years used on the My School website are consistent with the abbreviations used by the school education systems. For example, K is kindergarten; P is preparatory. The ages that children start school is not being reported on the My School website. This varies from State to State.