Dear Students, Parents and Carers,

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 writing, reading, conventions of language (spelling, grammar and punctuation) and numeracy.

All schools will be participating in NAPLAN Online between 10 and 20 May 2022. Please check the Testing Schedule page for the timetable.

All Year 7 and 9 students will participate in a National Scheduled Practise Test on 24 March 2022.

As a College, we place great importance on the data that NAPLAN tests provide:

• NAPLAN data is used by teachers to understand student strengths and weaknesses and to plan for effective teaching and learning.

• The information gathered from the NAPLAN assessment can be used to track student growth over time and to assess whole-school literacy and numeracy priorities.

• Students and parents may use individual results to discuss students’ strengths and areas for improvement with teachers.

• Teachers use results to help them identify students who require greater challenges or extra support within their classes.

• School systems and governments use results to review programs and support offered to schools.

As with all testing that your child undertakes, attendance at school is important. Parents/Carers are actively encouraged to ensure their child is present at school for each day of the test schedule. Students who are absent from school will be provided with catch-up opportunities during the testing period but it is important to note that scheduling these tests is not always an easy task and may require your child to sit more than one test in a single day.

NAPLAN Online tests are now tailored/adaptive testing, meaning the questions are pitched at the students level of achievement in previous questions. If your child is absent on any given day, they will need to catch up on the test missed before they can move on to ensure the most appropriate testing experience for the student.

Your help in prioritising your child's attendance at school for all tests and encouraging their full engagement during NAPLAN is greatly appreciated.

Yours faithfully,

Kerrie Piatek

College Principal