Mount Ousley Public School, Shellharbour Public School and St Brigid’s Catholic School in Gwynneville were among 51 NSW schools recording gains in their reading results.

The information was published for the first time on Thursday by the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA), which runs My School.

It identified more than 300 schools across the country which may not have had the top NAPLAN marks but had made the biggest improvements.

In NSW, this included disadvantaged public schools in western Sydney where 95 per cent of students have English as their second language as well as prestigious private schools, such as St Joseph’s College, in Sydney’s most advantaged suburbs. 

There were 29 public schools, 12 Catholic and 11 private schools on the most improved list.

According to ACARA’s methodology, the schools on the list had large overall improvement, as well as improvement compared with schools with similar students and students with similar NAPLAN start points.

Improvement, or student gain, is a focus of NSW Education Minister Adrian Piccoli, who wants schools to push their brightest students further and lift their struggling students.

From this year, Mr Piccoli has told schools they will need to detail to parents how they will improve their NAPLAN results, increase the proportion of HSC students achieving top marks and ensure teachers are maintaining high levels of expertise in their subjects.

The chief executive of ACARA, Robert Randall, said the annual update of My School was eagerly anticipated by ‘‘mums and dads on soccer fields’’, teachers and education policymakers but he warned it was only part of the overall picture of the school system.

‘‘My School is about providing a common reference point for fair comparisons ... we do not support simplistic league tables,’’ Mr Randall said.

ACARA also released a study by research firm Colmar Brunton on Thursday into parents’ views of My School, which included recommendations to improve the site.