There's a lot of swiping during maths and English classes at Herne Hill Primary School.
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Every student in Grade 3 to 6 at the Geelong school has their own iPad, which is loaded with animated numeracy and literacy apps.
Principal Danny Kelly said the iPads engaged students and had helped improve the school's NAPLAN results, which will be released on Thursday.
"It certainly stimulates their learning."
The school recorded above average improvements in reading and numeracy, according to the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority.
But Mr Kelly said teachers were the main driver behind the school's success in the national literacy and numeracy test.
After analysing their 2013 NAPLAN results the school decided it needed to improve the way writing and spelling was taught and organised a series of professional development days for teachers.
The school has since adopted a "talk before you write" approach to literacy, where students discuss their work before putting pen to paper or typing.
About two-thirds of families at the school are classified as low income and received the education maintenance allowance before it was abolished this year.
Year 5 students at Herne Hill recorded higher than average results in grammar, numeracy and reading than nearby government schools in the Geelong region, MySchool data for 2013 shows.
It was also one of 59 "high gain" schools in Victoria and one of 25 outside the metropolitan region that ACARA highlighted ahead of the release of NAPLAN results on the federal government's MySchool website. The website is used to compare schools and details the demographics and finances of more than 9500 Australian schools. This year the authority has highlighted more than 300 Australian government and non-government schools that have made the biggest improvements.
Sacred Heart School in Kew was another school that exceeded the national average gain in numeracy.
Principal Julie David said while the Catholic primary school took NAPLAN seriously, they did not teach to the test.
She said the school had developed plans for students with similar needs to improve their literacy and numeracy skills.
"When I did prep interviews nearly every parent had looked at the MySchool website and said they chose to come here because of our scores."
Education consultant and NAPLAN expert Philip Holmes-Smith said he was a "huge fan" of the tests, which are held in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9.
"It's the only opportunity for schools to show the community where they are against all other schools."
Mr Holmes-Smith runs a research company and goes into schools to help them analyse their NAPLAN scores.
He said the test was not good at showing how individual students performed because "four lucky guesses" or "four unlucky mistakes" could alter scores to make students look like they were performing either a year ahead or behind.
But once the scores are averaged across a class, they are a reliable tool, he said.
The MySchool website now includes seven years of data on schools. The authority will release a report by research company Colmar Brunton on Thursday into parent perceptions of MySchool, which will suggest improvements to the site.
