School excellence
School excellence is central to the work of all NSW public schools. It provides a clear and consistent approach to continuous improvement to achieve equity and excellence. This evidence-informed approach to school improvement recognises the unique context and voice of each school community, and supports informed decision-making through evidence, collaboration and evaluative practice. It is underpinned by a policy and framework, a four-year continuous improvement cycle, and differentiated school support.
The department also ensures accountability across our schools through policy monitoring and system registration.
The Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority’s (ACARA) My School Website is a useful resource for parents, educators and the community to receive information about individual schools.
School Excellence Policy
The School Excellence Policy outlines the requirements for school excellence including school planning, implementation, ongoing self-assessment, annual reporting and external validation (EV).
The approach to school improvement is student-centric and built on:
- an evidence-informed School Excellence Plan for every school
- a clear focus on student wellbeing, growth and attainment
- strong assessment and evaluative practices
- progress monitoring, through regular collection and analysis of evidence, to inform next steps
- meaningful community engagement.
School Excellence Framework
The School Excellence Framework (PDF 753KB) describes high-quality practice in domains of learning, teaching, and leading. The quality practices described in the elements and themes in the SEF work together to improve outcomes for students.
The School Excellence framework helps schools to:
- decide on focus areas for improvement
- engage their communities in identifying strategic directions for their School Excellence Plan
- plan initiatives to achieve strategic directions
- assess their progress towards excellence.
School excellence cycle
All NSW public schools follow a four-year school excellence cycle underpinned by the School Excellence Framework.
The school excellence cycle shows the phases of continuous improvement for school excellence work and supports school leaders and teams to take a strategic approach to planning and evaluative practice. While the School excellence policy outlines obligations, and the SEF defines excellence, the cycle shows schools what they need to do over a four-year planning cycle.
The cycle includes:
- developing strategic directions (and associated initiatives and improvement measures) in a School Excellence Plan
- implementation and progress monitoring of the School Excellence Plan (SEP)
- annual reflection and reporting
- self-assessment and external validation of this assessment, including identification of focus areas for improvement (strategic directions) in the next cycle.
Learn more
For further information on the School Excellence Framework email: SEstrategyandpolicy@det.nsw.edu.au
For department staff, visit the School Excellence intranet for more information and supporting resources.
Last modified date
01/10/2026
Business unit contact email
Executive director
James Brigden
Executive director’s business unit
Public Schools