But no one will be surprised with future success following the school’s “outstanding” NAPLAN results.

In exceeding the national benchmark in growth in numeracy, Dapto was among only 39 NSW public schools to show big NAPLAN results’ improvements.

Mathematics head teacher Alan Duffy was ecstatic but not surprised with the impressive results.

He put down the success to Dapto’s “collaborative learning” approach.

“It’s always good when you see some growth in kids, so obviously we are very happy,” Mr Duffy said.

In high school, NAPLAN tests are for year 7 and year 9 students.

“Over the two years it’s hoped kids are growing and improving their results,” Mr Duffy said.

“If you have kids growing at 130 or 140 points then they are exceeding expectations in growth in numeracy – that’s what we are seeing in a lot of our kids at the moment.

“So in our current year 10 who sat for NAPLAN in year 9, we are talking about 180 kids that are showing on average, great growth that exceeds the national benchmark.”

He added numeracy was a whole school initiative but praised the “good young engaged mathematics staff” who work really positively with kids.

“We are also a BYOD school so every kid brings a device to school  every day so we use a fair bit of technology….but we blend that with hands-on learning or collaborative learning,” Mr Duffy said.

Read more: The classroom practices that lift NAPLAN results

A University of Wollongong grant has also allowed the school to put whiteboards in every wall of two classrooms.

“This allows kids to work collaboratively to solve problems,” he said.

“They learn off each other and teach each other and I think that has been a really positive move for the way kids learn mathematics and improve their numeracy. 

“The culture and vibe in the school is also very positive and that allows kids to learn.” Visit the updated My School website for the most recent NAPLAN results.