Learning and Teaching

NAPLAN

In two weeks' time, all our Year 3 and Year 5 students will be participating in NAPLAN. They will take part in the Writing, Reading, Conventions of Language and Numeracy assessments from  Wednesday the 15th of March until Friday the 17th of March.

All children in Years 3 and 5 will need a fully charged Chromebook and bring in a set of headphones for the testing period. Please ensure that your child has these. 

Why do students do NAPLAN?

NAPLAN is a national 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. As students progress through their school years, it’s important to check how well they are learning the essential skills of reading, writing and numeracy.

NAPLAN assesses the literacy and numeracy skills that students are learning through the school curriculum and allows parents/carers to see how their child is progressing against national standards and over time. NAPLAN is just one aspect of a school’s assessment and reporting process. It doesn’t replace ongoing assessments made by teachers about student performance, but it can provide teachers with additional information about students' educational progress.

NAPLAN also provides schools, education authorities and governments with information about how education programs are working and whether young Australians are achieving important educational outcomes in literacy and numeracy.

Your child will do the NAPLAN tests online

Schools have transitioned from paper-based to computer-based assessments. All Year 3 students will continue to complete the writing assessment on paper.

Online NAPLAN tests provide more precise results and are more engaging for students. One of the main benefits is tailored (or adaptive) testing, where the test presents questions which may be more or less difficult depending on a student’s responses.

Tailored testing allows a wider range of student abilities to be assessed and measures student achievement more precisely. A student’s overall NAPLAN result is based on both the number and complexity of questions they answer correctly. Your child should not be concerned if they find questions challenging; they may be taking a more complex test pathway.

What does NAPLAN assess?

NAPLAN assesses literacy and numeracy skills that students are learning through their regular school curriculum. Students sit assessments in writing, reading, conventions of language (spelling, grammar and punctuation) and numeracy. The questions assess content linked to the Australian Curriculum: English and Mathematics.

To find out more about NAPLAN, visit nap.edu.au.

Deborah Courtney

Director of Learning and Teaching