Assistant Principal -Curriculum
Mr Stephen Chapman
AP Curriculum Article for newsletter. Week 6 Term 1 2023: NAPLAN Season
Here we are at the end of week 6, Term 1. School life is whizzing along at an electric pace. Some things have changed and some things stay the same. In this article, I'll talk about some of each of those. NAPLAN, Learning Tasks, Reports and the Year 11 and 12 Google Sites.
It’s NAPLAN Season! Normally these national tests are in early Term 2, but from this year on, they will be in Week 7 and 8 of Term 1. Why the change? It’s to get the results back to schools and parents/carers so that the information (Data) can be used to help everyone grow.
The National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) is a point in time assessment of literacy and numeracy skills that are essential for every child to progress through school and life. Students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 participate in the annual NAPLAN tests in reading, writing, conventions of language (spelling, grammar and punctuation) and numeracy.
At O’Connor, we are completing these tests in the first four days of the testing period.
Timetable
| NAPLAN 2023 | Wednesday 15th March | Thursday 16th March | Friday 17th March | Monday 20th March | Tuesday 21st March to Monday 27th March |
| Period 1 | Year 9 Writing | Year 9 Reading | Year 9 Conventions of language | Year 9 Numeracy | Catch ups - Room AG1 |
| Period 3 | Year 7 Writing | Year 7 Reading | Year 7 Conventions of language | Year 7 Numeracy |
Click on the this link to see the detailed timetable (with rooms and classes): NAPLAN Timetable for students 2023
We have scheduled these tests on the same lesson each day and in the same classroom. This is to give all students the most settled and familiar environment so they can do their best. Students in Year 7 will use their own personal school-supplied Chromebook while Year 9 students will use Chromebooks supplied by our College IT department. It is vital that all students bring their own pair of headphones for all tests as there are some sections that are read out to students. These headphones need to be wired, not bluetooth.
If your child is absent for any of these tests, they need to complete the tests in the catch up times. These are period 1 for the final five days of the testing period: From Tuesday March 21 until Monday March 27. No tests can be completed after this last day. Catch up tests will happen in room AG1.
Excessive preparation for NAPLAN Online is not recommended. Students do not need to be able to touch type to complete NAPLAN Online as the tests are not about keyboard skills. Students can use the public demonstration site to familiarise themselves with the functionalities of the online assessment.
https://www.nap.edu.au/naplan/public-demonstration-site
The Demonstration Questions on this site show the platform and the types of questions they will experience in NAPLAN Online. There are a number of ways students can practice these tests. Education Perfect https://www.educationperfect.com/ has some practice exams. All students should know how to log onto this platform. The numeracy NAPLAN test can be further practicised online via:
https://explore.smartermaths.com.au/ The username is the students email and Password is Password1$. Go to Year 7 or Year 9 and scroll down to the two practice NAPLAN tests.
If you would like more information on the NAPLAN tests, feel free to read the National NAPLAN Information for parents brochure. The link is below:
Reports and Learning Tasks
We have been looking carefully at our reports in recent years. A part of this is us taking notice of the feedback on the School Improvement Surveys. The data from parents is that our reports are not giving useful information. As a result, we are changing things quite a lot. More details will come in the near future, but I’ll mention the main things here.
- No progress reviews
- Student Led Conferences will happen with students and parents/carers meeting with all subject teachers.
- These conferences will happen earlier. Term 1 Week 9 for Year 12. Term 2 Week 2 for Years 7 to 10. Term 2 Week 4 for Year 11.
- For years 7-10, a simple report will be provided at the end of each semester giving the grade A-E with no comments from teachers. Instead, written feedback will be available via Compass for every subject via Learning Tasks.
- These Learning Tasks will be visible for all on Compass, providing continuous feedback to parents/carers and students.
As I’m sure you can understand, our wonderful teachers are on a steep learning curve with the production of these Learning Tasks. It’s worth it, though. Everyone can see the benefits of seeing feedback for all classes in one place: Compass.
Google Sites for Stage 6 Assessment
We now have two new Google Sites that have all the information about Assessment for Year 11 and 12 (Stage 6). Here are the links:
Year 11 2023 InformationYear 12 2023 Information
In past years, we have placed all this information into a static booklet. The Google Sites above make it much easier to find assessment information for students and parents. Please, bookmark it if your child is in Year 11 or 12.
Thanks for your ongoing support of our great college. I am so proud of our school and genuinely love working with our students.
Never stop learning; for when we stop learning, we stop growing - Jack Lewman
Mr Stephen Chapman
Assistant Principal - Curriculum