Volume 30 Issue 8 19 Mar 2021 6 Nisan 5781

Primary News

Katie Brody – Director of Students K-6

Parent Teacher Night feedback – Semester 1

A huge thanks to our teachers for running two successful and highly informative Parent Teacher Nights, one via the Zoom platform and one face-to-face. These evenings require considerable organisation by our administration and maintenance teams as well as thorough preparation, insight and energy on the part of every teacher. We would like to reflect on the merits of our Parent Teacher Night and hear from you about your experience. As such, if you would like to participate in a short survey for parents, please add your thoughts by clicking here.

NAPLAN Practice – Tuesday 23 March 2021

Information for Years 3 and 5

On Tuesday 23 March 2021, Years 3 and 5 will experience a supported NAPLAN practice session for the purpose of familiarising our young students with the testing platform, building confidence and troubleshooting any technical aspects prior to the official testing in May. Please note that these practice tests are not recorded by the platform

What is NAPLAN? 

The National Assessment Program Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) assesses the literacy and numeracy skills of students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9. In May of next term, students will participate in NAPLAN tests in the following areas: 

  • Reading
  • Writing
  • Conventions of language (spelling, grammar and punctuation)
  • Numeracy

The official NAPLAN tests (conducted in May) are just one aspect of a school’s assessment and reporting process – they do not replace ongoing assessments made by teachers about student performance, but instead NAPLAN provides an understanding of how individual students are performing at the time of the tests. The tests also provide schools and education authorities with information about how education programs are working and whether young Australians are achieving important educational outcomes in literacy and numeracy.

NAPLAN has moved online in recent years (except for the writing task for Year 3 that is still completed using pencil and paper). The move to NAPLAN online brings new benefits for teachers and students including more precise results due to the adaptive design (tailored tests adapt to a student’s performance and ask questions that match the student’s achievement levels). Tailored testing provides a more precise assessment of students’ performance. Students at each year level start with a similar set of questions and then depending on the number of questions they answer correctly, the next set of questions may be more, or less, difficult. A student’s NAPLAN result is based on both the number and difficulty of questions the student answers correctly. Here is a short video about tailored testing.

How can parents support their child?

The best approach for preparing your child for NAPLAN is simply to encourage your child to do the best they can on the day. Excessive preparation is not recommended as the school curriculum and scope and sequence of learning addresses the content and skills being assessed. The digital skills required to complete NAPLAN Online are skills that students use in everyday classroom activities. There is no need to be able to touch type to complete the test. 

Important dates

  • Practice test session for Year 3 and Year 5: Tuesday 23 March 2021
  • NAPLAN Online test window: 11 May 2021– 21 May 2021