Armidale Catholic Schools eBulletin

NAP News

NAPLAN 2025

The ACS contact for NAPLAN is Briony Martin bmartin1@arm.catholic.edu.au - 0459 704863.

 

The NAPLAN Online test window is Wednesday 12th–Monday 24th March 2025. Preparation activities and training for the delivery of NAPLAN 2025 are now available for schools.

If you are concerned that your school may not be able to complete NAPLAN within the designated test window, please immediately contact the NESA NAPLAN Team on:  1300 119 556 or by email at: naplan.nsw@nesa.nsw.edu.au. Schools must ensure that no school camps, excursions, sports carnivals or similar activities are booked during the NAPLAN test window. Information on protocols for test scheduling can be found on the ACARA website.

 

TEST SCHEDULE 

NAPLAN should be undertaken by all eligible students who are present at school on the day each test is scheduled. Schools can organise for students who are absent on the day of a scheduled test to complete a catch-up test during the testing window. The order of testing for all year levels is: writing - reading - conventions of language - numeracy. For more information,  2025 Handbook for Principals and NAPLAN Coordinators. Additional information is available in the:

 

  • 2025 NAPLAN Test Administration Handbook for Teachers - Year 7 and Year 9 
  • 2025  NAPLAN Test Administration Handbook for Teachers - Year 3 and Year 5  

 

For schools with Year 3 students, the handbook will be sent to schools with the writing test materials. For schools without Year 3 students, the handbook will be sent to schools with the Welcome Pack that  began arriving at schools from January 30 and contains:  welcome letter; school PIN; NAP secure login (grid) cards; 2025 NAPLAN Handbook for Principals and NAPLAN Coordinators; Quick Reference Guide.

 

 

Parental consent forms for exemption, withdrawal and access to disability adjustments can be found on Schools Online and have been shared with Principals, AP’s and Leaders of Pedagogy.

 

PRE-CUTOVER VIEW

The term ‘cutover’ is used to refer to the period in which student data is uploaded into the online assessment platform. Principals can register and invite staff before cutover, but no student information will be present within the online assessment platform.  

 

Cutover occurs on the 3rd of March

 

NAPLAN TRAINING ENVIRONMENT

The NAPLAN training environment is a replica of the NAPLAN test environment used for training and familiarising staff and students with the platform. Schools will receive login details for the NAPLAN training environment at the start of Term 1. More information about familiarisation activities is available here. Past NAPLAN test papers and answers are also available: 2012–2016 and 2008–2011. Students and teachers can use the public demonstration sites for Year 3,  Year 5, Year 7, Year 9 at any time to see the range of question types, on-screen tools, timers, and the interactive navigation.

 

NAPLAN COORDINATORS

Please note that the NAPLAN coordinator/s must be a teacher at the school, not an administration officer. Some administration support can be provided by admin staff; however, because the NAPLAN coordinator/s must manage all issues on the days of testing—and this may include making decisions that impact on students' results. Similarly, the role of NAPLAN coordinator should not be filled by the principal. This is because the principal should act as the reserve who will take over the role of NAPLAN coordinator should the actual coordinator/s be unavailable on a day of testing. 

 

NAPLAN TRAINING FOR STAFF

Staff training sessions will be available by TEAMS—not Zoom as previously advised. Teams can be used from a web browser—there is no need to download any software—simply select the option to ‘Continue on this  browser’ as shown in the image on the right.  All schools are to manage their own registrations for training. Information about the various training options is available here. ACS  recommends that schools train additional staff to provide back-up alternatives to help with test administration and support in case of staff illness or absence.

 

SMS ALERTS 

 

LOCKED-DOWN BROWSER

The locked-down browser (LDB) will be installed by the CSO’s ICT Team again this year. Please ensure all devices are fully charged, that you have performed the device check and that students have headphones. Schools should ensure that they have a few fully charged spare Chromebooks to hand during the testing and are fully charged after testing.

 

Please note: 

  • The LDB may take a few minutes to appear if a student signs into a device they have not used previously.

 

CSO NAPLAN ISSUE REGISTER

Please complete this form to register issues related to the implementation of NAPLAN. This allows our ICT Team to ensure that any issues are addressed promptly, and do not continue to impact on the remaining period of testing. All NAPLAN-related issues registered in the CSO NAPLAN Issue Register should also be registered with NESA so that the NESA NAPLAN support team can rectify any problems. 

 

Please register the issue by calling the NESA NAPLAN Team on 1300 119 556 or send an email to: naplan.nsw@nesa.nsw.edu.au. Unfortunately, CSO ICT Team members can't register issues with the NESA NAPLAN support team on your behalf as the NAPLAN support team may need to ask questions that only you can answer.

 

NESA has provided two parent/carer information documents for your use: 

 

  • A suggested NAPLAN newsletter item 
  • An information flyer regarding disability adjustments.

 

These have also previously been shared with Principals