Assistant Principal  -Curriculum

Language Changes, NAPLAN Results 2026, and Stage 5 Project Review

Dear Parents, Carers, Students, Staff, and Friends,

Welcome to this edition of our school newsletter. Today, I am excited to share some fantastic updates regarding our Language Program here at O’Connor, provide an early overview of our recent 2026 NAPLAN results, and share insights from our recent staff review of the Stage 5 WIN Project.

Languages at O'Connor: Welcomes and New Horizons

We have some wonderful updates for our Year 8 Languages program. This term, our students transitioned from studying Latin in Term 1 to learning French. After a brief period of navigating relief and cover teachers, we are absolutely thrilled to announce that Mr. Lachlan Laycock has accepted a contract to teach Year 8 Languages for the remainder of 2026. Mr. Laycock will continue guiding our students through French for the rest of Term 2.

As a brilliant bonus, Mr. Laycock’s true speciality is Japanese! Looking ahead, all four Year 8 classes will dive into learning Japanese for the entirety of Semester 2.

Mr Lachlan Laycock, our new Languages Teacher

A Special Visit: The Anaiwan Language

To add to the excitement, we welcomed a very special guest to our language classes recently. Mr. David Widders visited our Year 8 students to introduce them to the local Anaiwan language. It was an absolute treat, and David was incredibly impressed by the diverse range of languages our students already speak at home!

The lessons were highly interactive and supported beautifully by Mr. Matt Griffin, who also speaks Anaiwan. Students practised vocabulary through active games, including passing stuffed native animals while reciting their Anaiwan names, and a highly competitive, fast-paced team relay race.

The Anaiwan Language Relay Race 

Mr David Widders talking about the local Anaiwan Language

NAPLAN Results 2026

Our school has recently received early access to the 2026 NAPLAN data for Reading, Numeracy, and Conventions of Language (which is split into Grammar & Punctuation, and Spelling). Please note that writing results take a little longer to mark and moderate, so those will arrive at a later date.

Rather than using numerical scores, NAPLAN measures student achievement across four proficiency standards:

• Exceeding: The student's result exceeds expectations at the time of testing.
• Strong: The student's result meets challenging but reasonable expectations.
• Developing: The student is working towards expectations and would benefit from targeted focus.

• Needs Additional Support: The student is not yet achieving expected learning outcomes and will require targeted support to progress satisfactorily.

   

A Snapshot of Our Performance

While I won’t dive into an exhaustive data summary here, I have included the graphs below from our Data Ecosystem (with a big thank you to the Armidale Catholic Schools Data Team). To keep things clear and concise, these graphs highlight the distribution for Reading and Numeracy across both Year 7 and Year 9.

Year 7 2026 NAPLAN: Reading and Numeracy

Year 9 2026 NAPLAN: Reading and Numeracy

We are thrilled to celebrate that around 60% of our students sit within the top two bands (Strong and Exceeding), a result that aligns beautifully with national averages and is a testament to our students' hard work.

Conversely, and in line with broader national trends, about 10% to 20% of our cohorts fall into the Needs Additional Support category. Our teaching and leadership teams have already begun analysing this data closely to determine how we can best support, scaffold, and extend every single learner moving forward.

When will you see your child's results? Parents and carers can expect to receive their child’s individual 2026 NAPLAN Individual Student Reports (ISR) at the beginning of Term 3 (starting July 2026).

The Stage 5 WIN Project

Our staff remains deeply committed to the Stage 5 WIN (What I Need) Project. To ensure this initiative is working effectively for our students, we conduct a rigorous review every five weeks, and we have just wrapped up our mid-Term 2 reflection.

As part of this review, we utilised the fresh Year 9 NAPLAN data to help us identify students who might thrive better by shifting into a different class grouping. Teachers from each of our levels—Lumen, Flare, Spark, and Aurora—have provided invaluable feedback and suggestions to the leadership team.

We Want Your Feedback!

Your voice matters immensely to us. At the end of this term, we will be launching a survey for our Year 9 and 10 students, as well as their parents and carers, to get feedback on the Stage 5 WIN Project. We genuinely value your ideas, suggestions, commendations, and constructive feedback. Please keep an eye out for the survey link as we near the end of the term.

Thank you all for your continued partnership and support of our wonderful school community.

Warm regards,

Mr. Stephen Chapman

Assistant Principal - Curriculum

Never stop learning; for when we stop learning, we stop growing  - Jack Lewman