Wellbeing 

NAPLAN has moved from May to March. This change means results will be available to education authorities earlier in the year to inform schools and allow teaching and learning programs to use the information gained. NAPLAN will take place in schools Australia wide starting next week. 

The National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) involves students in Years 3 and 5 from all states and territories in Australia. Students will be assessed on their skills in reading, writing, language conventions (spelling, punctuation and grammar) and numeracy. These national test results provide information on how your child is progressing and performing in the key areas of literacy and numeracy and help to support improvements in teaching to benefit your child.

The hours of great teaching, learning and preparation feels like it comes down to 3 days this term, despite what is happening in those Grade Three and Five children’s lives – whether they are healthy, well fed, energized by appropriate sleep, nurtured or loved… the NAPLAN will go on. The language we use with our children is important in creating self-assurance in approaching this testing schedule. It’s important your child knows that you will remain incredibly proud of them no matter the test results, as long as they tried their best, and they were able to draw upon a series of strategies to help them manage the testing space. Any assessment should be seen as a celebration of what your child knows, understands and how they can demonstrate their thinking.

NAPLAN is a demonstration of this knowledge. The mindset needs to be one of, ‘I tried my best’, ‘This is what I knew and understood on that day’, and ‘With each and every day I will learn more and I will be able to do more’.

While many children will take this in their stride, others will find the process overwhelming and stressful despite how well prepared they may be.

Supporting your child through NAPLAN testing days can be a delicate job, however here are some practical ways that you can ensure that they feel supported and acknowledged during this time.

1. Let them lead the conversation. Sometimes as parents we ask lots of questions about how our child is feeling in regard to these tests, however children often need emotional and mental space to process their thoughts and feelings. Let your child guide the conversation IF they feel like talking about it. Perhaps it’s not even a big deal to them, but if we are constantly talking about NAPLAN and how they should approach it we can create anxiety where it isn’t.

2. Acknowledge their feelings. IF your child is feeling overwhelmed or stressed and has openly shared this with you – then you need to listen and acknowledge their ideas. It can be very tempting to offer our advice or opinions when our child is feeling upset or anxious – however by jumping in to try and solve this for them we are taking away their sense of autonomy. Allow children to deal with their emotions the way they need to. Instead of asking lots of questions and offering advice, try a statement like ‘You seem to be overwhelmed’ or ‘You’re really putting lots of thought into NAPLAN’ and allow them to do what they wish with that statement. Some children will simply agree, while others will take this as an invitation to tell you more.

3. Keep it light. Be conscious of how YOU are feeling about your child doing NAPLAN and ensure you keep your anxieties separate from your child’s. While you may be dying to find out how they went or how they felt, often kids will not go into great detail and might not even want to talk about it. If this is the case – let it be. Follow their cues and change the subject if that’s the vibe you are getting.

4. Keep it in perspective. Try not to make a huge deal of it. A much more accurate indicator of your child’s ability and learning progress is on their ongoing assessment tasks, reports and indicated as part during regular discussions with their classroom teacher, such as parent/teacher interviews.

5. What Can I Do? You can support your child/ren to be ready to participate in these assessments by making a smooth, calm start to each day. Simple tasks such as ensuring that your child has breakfast before coming to school, and that children arrive at school on time, can make a big difference. 

Remember NAPLAN is a snapshot of a moment in time. Two correct answers can be the difference between medium growth and high growth. There's no NAPLAN assessment for the child who excels at football, or the child who builds intricate robotic Lego, or folds complicated origami structures. NAPLAN is a measure of literacy and numeracy, on four assessment tasks, over four days. Please remember that.

Donna