Dardanup Primary becomes the highest-performing school for Year 3 literacy in the South West
7 min
Success Story
Sam Calilung
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Transforming Writing and NAPLAN Success with Seven Steps
Key takeaway: One whole-school PD day in 2023 set Dardanup Primary School on a path that ended with their Year 3 cohort recording the highest literacy results in the South West. Three years on, the school keeps investing in PD and the results keep building. In 2026, writing became the school’s strongest area across the board, with Year 5 also posting strong results.
It started with a PD day
Dardanup Primary School in regional WA achieved a standout milestone in 2025: their Year 3 cohort recorded the highest literacy results in the South West. For a small school, that’s a remarkable result. It also wasn’t by chance.
In 2023, the leadership team identified a gap. There was no whole-school explicit writing program and teachers were relying on individual approaches that didn’t build year on year. Their response was to book a whole-school Seven Steps PD day and to appoint two lead teachers, Amanda Drummond and Ben Howlett (now Deputy Principal), to carry the momentum forward once the training was done.
That single decision reshaped how the whole school approaches writing.
Source: Facebook – Dardanup Primary School (DPS)
What changed in the classroom
Before Seven Steps, writing was often a struggle. Students found it hard to get started and many were overwhelmed by the blank page. Teachers knew they needed more consistency from Prep through to Year 6.
The PD day gave staff a shared framework to work from straight away.
“Seven Steps gives students a framework to be successful. It helps make writing more manageable and structured.”
– Rebecca Edwards, Deputy Principal
– Rebecca Edwards, Deputy Principal
Lead teachers Ben and Amanda saw the shift firsthand. Amanda describes her Year 3 class producing narratives with real creativity, structure and flair, with a noticeable lift in confidence among students who used to dread writing.
Ben, who has taught many of the same students for three years, puts it simply:
“I have no reluctant writers anymore. Even my weaker writers have a guided sentence structure plan to follow. Their enthusiasm and independence have been amazing to see.”
Source: Facebook – Dardanup Primary School (DPS)
The results show up in NAPLAN
That shift showed up clearly in the 2025 NAPLAN results. Year 3 students improved across the board from their entry data and finished well above ‘like’ schools and above the state average.
“Our results were incredible. We actually were the highest performing school for Year 3 literacy in the South West.”
– Rebecca Edwards, Deputy Principal
– Rebecca Edwards, Deputy Principal
And the improvement has kept going. In the 2026 NAPLAN results, writing has become the school’s strongest area across the board, with Year 5 also posting strong results.
“We are really proud as a school of what we have been able to accomplish. Our NAPLAN results this year were also outstanding. Not our strongest cohort, but the majority of our Year 5 students were strong to exceeding in writing. Across the school, writing has become our strongest area in this data.”
– Ben Howlett, Deputy Principal
– Ben Howlett, Deputy Principal
Turning one PD day into a whole-school program
A single training day only works if there’s a plan to build on it. After the 2023 PD, Ben and Amanda were given release time to work through the online resources and tailor them for each year level. They organised shared drives, streamlined materials and ran peer observations and termly staff presentations to keep the rest of the school moving together.
This is also where a common language across the school came from. From Prep to Year 6, students and teachers use the same terminology and strategies when talking about writing. Consistency like this helps students understand what’s expected of them and build on what they already know and it makes it easier for teachers to collaborate across year levels.
The school didn’t stop there. To help new staff get up to speed, Dardanup ran a second whole-school PD day in January 2026, refreshing current staff and inducting new teachers into the program. It’s a good example of what keeps the results going: PD isn’t a one-off and schools that refresh their knowledge keep building on that initial success.
Lead teacher Ben Howlett saw the impact within days.
“Our staff loved it and they were all glowing with excitement to get started. I looked at Sizzling Starts with my Year 5/6 class, focusing on ‘wow’ or ‘ouch’ moments from their holidays. It was a huge success, with every student able to write an engaging Sizzling Start.”
Source: Facebook – Dardanup Primary School (DPS)
The ripple effect
The benefits show up in other aspects of literacy as well. The language used in writing lessons carries over into reading too, helping students spot author techniques and improving their understanding of the texts they study in class. In speaking competitions, teachers noticed students structuring their speeches using Seven Steps strategies and it showed: students won prizes at interschool events.
“The enthusiasm for writing has taken over the school like wildfire. Students across the school are excited to write and every student understands what a Sizzling Start is.”
– Amanda Drummond, Lead Teacher
– Amanda Drummond, Lead Teacher
What’s next for Dardanup
The school isn’t resting on this result. Plans for the year ahead include:
- whole-school assessment exemplars for moderation
- data tracking of a Pre-primary cohort from 2026
- writing events based on real-life prompts
- sentence-level posters of narrative structure for every classroom
- a scope and sequence with guided focuses for each year level
The school is also expanding into persuasive writing and looking at new tools, including the Seven Steps AI Assessment tool.
Lead teacher Howlett says…
“
It looks absolutely incredible. We can’t wait to use it.
A result that started with one decision
Dardanup’s turnaround isn’t just a story about a writing program. It reflects the vision of a leadership team willing to invest in professional development, the work of lead teachers Ben Howlett and Amanda Drummond and the commitment of staff across the school.
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