Whether it's reading groups, craft or helping with sport, the school sees the involvement of parents as critical to its success.

"Education is a real partnership and parents are always welcome at our school and we always encourage extra hands in our classrooms," the principal, Kate Pugh, said.

Ms Pugh says the "happy, caring environment" at the school has helped the students significantly lift their NAPLAN scores, with the most recent results revealing that every year 5 student at the school met the minimum national standard in reading and numeracy, with the majority far exceeding that level.

An impressive 85 per cent of year 5 students were in the top three bands for reading and writing, despite last year's writing task widely criticised for being too difficult.

The school's results saw it recognised as one of NSW's 51 most improved performers in NAPLAN, published on the federal government's My School website on Thursday.

My School lists the finances and demographics of more than 9500 schools across Australia and allows parents and teachers to make comparisons.

For the first time, the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA), which runs My School, has identified more than 300 schools across the country which may not have the top NAPLAN marks but have made the biggest improvements.

In NSW, this includes disadvantaged public schools in western Sydney where 95 per cent of students have English as their second language as well 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.

 

Some of the state's top academic achievers also made the list, with the selective schools Sydney Girls and North Sydney Boys significantly lifting their performance in their NAPLAN reading scores between year 7 and year 9.

Most schools on the list showed impressive gains in either reading or numeracy, but several schools including Seven Hills North, Balgowlah Boys, Canley Vale High, Kensington Public and Sydney Grammar School's St Ives Prep lifted their performance in both.

 

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

Improvement, or student gain, is a focus of the NSW education minister, Adrian Piccoli, who wants school 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 will also on Thursday release a study by research firm Colmar Brunton into parents' views of My School, which will include recommendations to improve the site.