Teaching and Learning

NAPLAN 2026 results

Last week our Year 3 and 5 students received their 2026 NAPLAN results. We are very proud of our Year 3 and 5 students and congratulate them on their efforts. NAPLAN is only a small window into the work we do with our students each and every day, however we use this data as an opportunity to celebrate our strengths and identify areas for improvement as a school.

NAPLAN results are reported using four proficiency levels: 'exceeding', 'strong', 'developing' and 'needs additional support'.

A 'strong' result means your child has met challenging but reasonable expectations for their year level. 'Exceeding' means they have surpassed them.

'Developing' indicates your child is working towards expectations. This does not automatically mean there is a serious problem, but they may benefit from support in particular areas.

'Needs additional support' means your child has not yet demonstrated the expected skills and should receive extra help.

It is important to remember that NAPLAN is just one assessment. It provides a snapshot of how your child performed on a particular test, on a particular day. While the results can provide useful information about your child's literacy and numeracy skills, they do not capture everything your child knows or can do.

NAPLAN does not measure qualities such as creativity, curiosity, resilience, communication, collaboration or achievement across the many other areas of learning, including science, humanities, languages, the arts and sport. A student's performance on the day may also be influenced by factors such as illness, anxiety, tiredness or simply having an unusually challenging day.

We encourage families to view the report as one piece of information alongside classroom learning, teacher observations and your child's ongoing progress throughout the year.

Please keep your child's NAPLAN report in a safe place. This is particularly important for Year 5 families, as a copy of the report is often required when applying for secondary schools next year. If your report is misplaced, the school also maintains an electronic copy that can be provided if needed in the future.

Victorian Premier's Reading Challenge

Hello Families,

The 2026 Victorian Premiers’ Reading Challenge (PRC) is now open and Ballan Primary School is excited to be participating once again this year. This year’s theme is ‘Stories to discover. Stories to tell’. It’s all about discovering new books, and a love of reading. It is not a competition; but a personal challenge for children to read a set number of books by Friday 4th September, 2026.

Children from Prep to Year 2 are encouraged to read or ‘experience’ 30 books with their parents and teachers. Children from Year 3 to Year 10 are challenged to read 15 books.

All children who meet the challenge will receive a certificate of achievement signed by the Victorian Premier and former Premiers.

For our P-6 students and families, if you’d like to participate in the challenge at home and log books via the website, please request your child’s login with a XUNO message to myself.

If you would like to log any books read from home, simply log into the Premiers’ Reading Challenge website using the logins that will be sent home with your child/ren, enter the titles and authors of the books your child has read and teachers will verify those books before the challenge deadline.

https://vprc.eduweb.vic.gov.au/home

There are 43 days left in the challenge if you'd like to participate!

Mathematics and Numeracy at home

The Department of Education have released great Maths and Numeracy resources for families of junior level students (Prep to Grade 2). As your child’s first teacher, you play an important role at home in helping develop their numeracy skills from an early age. These resources and activities/videos help to build your child's skills in maths and numeracy at home.

https://www.vic.gov.au/mathematics-and-numeracy-home

Literacy and Maths Challenge

Get your brain buzzing every day with our Wordle and Numble Challenge of the Day - fun, quick puzzles to sharpen your vocabulary and number skills at home!

Wordle - https://www.nytimes.com/games/wordle/index.html

Numble - https://numble.wtf/

Book Club

Scholastic Book Club is a service offered to students, parents, and teachers. Brochures advertising a variety of books and computer software are sent home with each student, approximately twice a term.

Purchase of the books is not compulsory and there is no obligation. If you do wish to purchase any goods, simply log into the Book Club site www.scholastic.com.au/LOOP and follow the prompts. All Book Club orders must be ordered and paid for via LOOP. Do not send order forms and cash to school. When the order arrives at school, books are sent home with students.

The School earns “Bonus Points” for each order which can be used to purchase new resources for classroom libraries. 

Click here for the Scholastic Book Club Parent Log in page or to register for new users.

You can have a look at the online catalogue here: https://scholastic.com.au/book-club/book-club-parents/issue-preview/. 

How to order 

Click on ORDER in the top menu or REGISTER first to save your details for the first time.  Select Ballan PS and your child’s class.  Add your child’s name and last initial. Enter the item number from the brochure.

You can order for multiple children at once. All orders are linked directly to the school.  

Our school receives bonus points, which are redeemed for a variety of books for the children; therefore, we thank you for your continued support.

If parents wish to collect orders personally, please let the school know.

Please go to www.scholastic.com.au/LOOP and find Ballan Primary School to order or alternatively you can download the LOOP app via the App Store or Google Play.

Happy learning!

James Baker

Assistant Principal - Teaching and Learning

james.baker@education.vic.gov.au 

Ph: 5368 1072