NAPLAN (The National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy) is an Australia-wide testing program which takes place every year, and tests are administered in all schools across Australia.  All Australian schools are required by the Australian Education Act 2013 (Commonwealth) to participate in this testing.  NAPLAN aims to provide parents and schools with information about student performance.  Student results in the form of individual reports are shown in relation to average performance of students in Australia and national minimum standards.  The program includes a number of tests on literacy, comprising reading, writing and conventions of language (spelling, punctuation and grammar).  It also includes numeracy assessment, covering mathematical skills through the concepts of number and algebra, measurement and geometry, and statistics and probability.

This year students in Years 3 and 5 at Immanuel Gawler will be taking part in NAPLAN testing.  This testing takes place across Australia for all students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9.  The testing had previously taken place in Term 2 but this year the testing has been brought forward and will happen in Term 1.  The format for the testing will be online (with the exception of Year 3 Writing, which will be a paper and pencil test) and as a result the test schedule has a degree of flexibility.  The testing period runs from, Wednesday 15 March to Monday 27  March (Weeks 7, 8 and 9), with catch-up testing also taking place in this period (except Year 3 Writing).  A timetable for testing is included at the end of this letter.