English 

NAPLAN TESTING

NAPLAN testing will begin next week across Australia, including for our Year Three and Year Five students. 

As ACARA state: "The National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) is a literacy and numeracy assessment that students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 sit each year. It is the only national assessment all Australian students have the opportunity to undertake."

Furthermore, ACARA discuss the reasons that these tests take place each year. They list these as below: 

As you can see I have coloured the first three dot points in red, because that's what I would like to discuss a little further!

NAPLAN RESULTS AT ST ANTHONY'S

Like any set of data, staff at St Anthony's look closely at the results from NAPLAN testing. However, in saying that, these results are published months after the tests take place. Further to this, we know our students are assessed, monitored and discussed by their teachers from the very first day of the school year. 

We have a firm picture of our students' strengths and challenges long before the NAPLAN test results are published. We also understand that drawing conclusions from one test, or a set of tests, will simply not provide a full picture of a student! This is instead formed by the day to day work that takes place in the classroom. 

For that reason NAPLAN results will be analysed by our school, but they are simply a small part of the extensive work that takes place at our school. 

SHOULD FAMILIES AND STUDENTS STRESS? 

Absolutely not. Students in Year Three and Five will be ready to begin these tests next week after practicing in their classroom. This practice has included using the online platform, sitting in quiet test conditions and practicing the type of questions they may be asked.

We only ask one thing of each of these students, and that is that they try their best. Students will be supported, encouraged and reinforced by all school staff while these tests take place, and they will be completed before they know it! 

WHAT TESTS TAKE PLACE?  

Students take part in one Numeracy test which tests their mathematical skills through a range of questions. They also take part in three English area tests which I will unpack below: 

WRITING 

Both Year Three and Year Five students will be given the same writing prompt for this test. It will either be a narrative or persuasive writing prompt. These are randomised each year. 

The example above is a persuasive writing prompt in which students are asked to discuss positively an activity of their choice. 

Students will be assessed on many concepts on the writing sample they produce. These include, but are not limited to; their spelling, vocabulary, use of paragraphs, ideas, text structure and writing for an audience. 

Over the past weeks students have been practicing the skills of both text types and will be ready to produce a sample regardless of what features in 2024. 

Students in Year Three will write their sample on paper, however students in Year Five will use the online platform and type their writing. 

READING

Students are given reading samples online which feature various texts such as short information reports, short narratives and poetry.

Each section of text will have questions that relate to it. These questions will test a student's comprehension and their ability to locate and think about information shown to them. 

LANGUAGE CONVENTIONS 

This test has a similar structure to the reading test with a majority of questions being multiple choice, with some short answers. 

The questions in this test ask students to think about spelling, grammar and understanding of different types of words such as nouns, verbs and adjectives.

HOW DO WE PREPARE AT SCHOOL?  

Practice in the classroom may include:

• Practicing logging on to the NAPLAN browser
• Practicing test conditions
• Working through past tests to familiarise students with what they will see 
• Working through the skills of both narrative and persuasive texts
• Discussing and working through multiple choice questions

WHAT CAN FAMILIES DO? 

The best thing that families can do before testing starts next week is to please mirror our message at school: that these tests shouldn't be stressful; they will be completed before students know it; and. all that we ask is that they try their best! 

Please know that staff are here to reinforce and encourage students along the way. 

Tim O'Mahoney

English Leader

tomahoney@santglen.catholic.edu