NAPLAN 2023

Last week, parents and carers of students in Year 3 and Year 5 received their child's 2023 NAPLAN results. The NAPLAN assessments were completed earlier than usual in 2023, taking place in March rather than the usual date in May. The purpose for the earlier assessment time was to allow teachers a greater opportunity to use the data from these assessments to inform teaching and learning practices for the remainder of the year. 

In reality, the NAPLAN data collected in Reading, Writing, Spelling, Grammar & Punctuation and Numeracy forms just one aspect of our school's greater data profiling. We correlate the NAPLAN data with other ongoing summative assessments conducted throughout the year such as PM Benchmarking, PAT-R and PAT-M assessments and Cold Write, plus a wide range of formative assessments conducted in class. All of this data combined contributes to our planning and implementation of targeted teaching and learning activities for your child. Whilst it is good to be able to draw reference to state and national averages, it is not the only form of tracking student achievement utilised at St Francis Xavier's.

This year, the NAPLAN assessment reporting system has changed. Student achievement in the past has been presented in bands - either working above, at or below age expected levels. This year, the achievement scale is represented in four categories; Exceeding, Strong, Developing and Needs Additional Support. 

A high percentage of our students received scores in the Exceeding or Strong categories in 2023 in both Year 3 and Year 5. In terms of specific assessments, our Year 3 Writing data reflects very well in regards to the percentage of children in the top two achievement categories, with 83% of our students receiving Exceeding or Strong results. In every other category across both year groups, more than 55% of our students were placed in the top two achievement categories. 

We encourage parents and carers to reach out if you have any questions in regards to your child's specific NAPLAN data.