NAPLAN testing is for students in Years 3 and 5. The NAPLAN (National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy) is a national standardised testing procedure for Years 3, 5, 7 and 9, testing students’ knowledge and skills in English and Mathematics, in the areas of reading, writing, spelling, punctuation and grammar and numeracy.

The NAPLAN provides us with one piece of useful information about how individual children are learning at school and also a means by which the school can monitor and track different cohorts of students as they progress through the school.  An analysis of the school wide NAPLAN data assists us when evaluating our teaching and learning program.  When the NAPLAN results are considered with all the other rich school-based assessment data, we can best determine a child’s strengths and weaknesses and opportunities for improvement within our school programs.

The Year 3 and 5 teachers will ensure that classes are familiar with the format and expectations of the testing program, rather than being “taught” the test.  It needs to be remembered that the NAPLAN tests provide a snapshot of each student’s achievement at a point-in-time on three particular days of the year, and there can be many factors influencing an individual’s performance at this time.  Parents will receive their child’s personalised NAPLAN Report following testing.

Barbara Maclarn

Assessment and Reporting Coordinator