The average score of year 7 and year 9 students who took the NAPLAN test at Bendigo South East Secondary College last year bested the state average in reading and writing, while the year 9 cohort equaled or bettered the state average for spelling and grammar.

In the single “numeracy” category, the year 7s recorded a selected average score of 543, only a few points behind the state average of 550, while the year 9s scored 588, just one below the state average of 589.

Crusoe Secondary College in Kangaroo Flat was the next best performer, while Weeroona College Bendigo and Eaglehawk Secondary College’s results were roughly even in third place.

During the past three years, Eaglehawk Secondary College’s results showed the most improvement, but also the most marked decline, with a drop in year 7 averages in reading, spelling, grammar and numeracy, while the school’s year 9 results rose across the board.

Both Eaglehawk and Weeroona’s results were “substantially” below the state average in a number of categories, but much closer to the mark when compared to similar schools.

But senior education policy lecturer at the University of Melbourne’s Graduate School of Education, Suzanne Rice, warned parents should interpret the results with caution, saying there may be other factors at play.

“It is a snapshot report that doesn’t say a lot about other things that might be influencing the learning in the school and that tends to focus on certain types of learning more than others,” she said.

“It’s not that I would necessarily say to parents ‘don’t look up the myschool website’, I would simply say ‘use it very judiciously in terms of making a judgement about a school’.”

Dr Rice said change in the makeup of the student body was among a number of factors that could influence NAPLAN results, saying comparisons over time relied on the assumption the figures referred to the same cohort of students.

“Student growth is probably a better measure overall than just the absolute achievement,” she said.

“For example sometimes you have schools that look as if they’re doing really well but they have a fairly privileged cohort of students with a lot of professional parents and so on and kids are just coasting.”

The myschool website advises that NAPLAN tests sample only a part of what students learn during the year, and suggests parents research a school’s whole curriculum and performance across a range of areas before making a comparison.

All four secondary school principals were unavailable for comment.