From the Principal
Welcome back to all of our students and families for second semester. I am looking forward to a term full of purposeful learning for our students as we move into the second half of the 2026 academic year.
NAPLAN Individual Student Reports 2026
Students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 who sat NAPLAN will have their Individual Student Reports sent home this week. The article below assists parents to understand the ISR and provides background information about how to interpret their child's results.
NAPLAN is a national literacy and numeracy assessment undertaken by students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9. It is the only national assessment that all Australian children undertake. Literacy and numeracy skills are the critical foundation for all learning and for the ability to participate effectively in society. NAPLAN questions assess content aligned with the Australian Curriculum in English and Mathematics.
NAPLAN tests are only one aspect of each school’s assessment and reporting process. As they are held once every two years for each student, they cannot replace the extensive, ongoing assessments made by teachers about student performance. Your child’s teacher will have the best understanding of your child’s educational progress. Along with other school assessment reports, NAPLAN individual student reports can be used to discuss your child’s progress with their teacher.
How does NAPLAN assess students?
NAPLAN tests are delivered online to schools across Australia in March each year. Online assessment presents questions tailored to an individual student’s responses, delivering more precise results and a more engaging test experience for students.
Questions in NAPLAN are based mostly on the literacy and numeracy knowledge and skills students have learnt from previous years of schooling. A few questions assess content from the year of testing and the following year. These questions have been designed so that they can be answered using strategies students have learnt in previous years. This ensures students of all abilities can show what they can do.
Detailed information on the knowledge and skills being measured in NAPLAN is available at www.nap.edu.au.
Proficiency standards
NAPLAN results are reported against proficiency standards that provide clear information on student achievement. The standards are set at a challenging but reasonable level expected for the student at the time of NAPLAN testing, based mainly on what has been taught in previous years of schooling.
The proficiency standards include 4 proficiency levels:
- Exceeding: The student’s result exceeds expectations at the time of testing.
- Strong: The student’s result meets challenging but reasonable expectations at the time of testing.
- Developing: The student’s result indicates that they are working towards expectations at the time of testing.
- Needs additional support: The student’s result indicates that they are not achieving the learning outcomes expected at the time of testing. They are likely to need additional support to progress satisfactorily.
Page 4 of the individual student report provides a more detailed summary about what students know and can do within each of the proficiency levels. Further information is available at www.nap.edu.au.
How were the proficiency levels determined?
Panels of expert teachers identified the levels of proficiency against learning expectations for each assessment area and year level. Parent and carer input on student reports was also provided through focus groups and national parent organisations.
Reading the NAPLAN report
The NAPLAN report shows a proficiency scale for each assessment area (numeracy, reading, writing, spelling, and grammar and punctuation) with a student’s result shown as a black dot on the scale.
The report shows each child’s achievement against the national average for their year (shown as a black triangle) and the range of achievement for the middle 60% of students in their year level (shown as a light shaded rectangle).
NAPLAN is a valuable tool that can give useful insights into a student’s performance, but individual reports should be interpreted with care as they reflect the student’s performance on the day of testing, rather than being a full measure of their overall learning. This is important for writing results in 2026 because some students experienced disruptions during the online writing test due to connectivity issues. Your child’s teacher will have the best insight into your child’s educational progress.
What if my child’s report says they took their test on paper?
While NAPLAN is an online test, there are a small number of circumstances where students may complete tests on paper. These include when:
- schools use a recognised alternative curriculum
- students need paper tests for accessibility reasons.
- Year 3 students always complete their writing test on paper.
Can I compare my child’s performance to previous NAPLAN reports?
Results from 2023 onwards cannot be directly compared with results from 2008 to 2022. This is because a new measurement scale that is more suited to the online tests was introduced with the new standards, and because the tests were moved from Term 2 to Term 1. Students in Years 5, 7 and 9 have now completed 2 cycles of NAPLAN under the new reporting arrangement. This means that parents and carers can use the individual student reports they received in 2024 and 2026 to compare their child’s proficiency levels. A student’s results compared to the national average and middle 60% of students can also be compared across 2024 and 2026.
As students move through the NAPLAN years, the skills and understanding needed to achieve each proficiency level increase in difficulty. A student who achieves the same proficiency level in successive years, such as Year 3 and Year 5, may still be making progress.
How does NAPLAN help my child?
NAPLAN allows parents and carers to see how their child has performed in literacy and numeracy against national standards. Your child’s achievement can be compared to the national average of all students in the same year and against the proficiency levels. Results can help parents, carers and students to discuss individual student progress with teachers.
What do these results mean for my child’s future?
NAPLAN results provide important information about literacy and numeracy skills that your child is learning through their school curriculum. The results add to other assessments your child does at school, providing you and your child’s teachers with an understanding of your child’s achievements at the time of the tests. The information can be used to support your child to do their best.
Some schools may ask for NAPLAN reports, in addition to school reports, as part of their admissions process. NAPLAN is not designed to be a school admission test. However, results may be useful for informing a new school of a student’s learning needs.
How does NAPLAN help my child’s school?
NAPLAN is the only national assessment that all Australian children undertake. It helps:
- teachers to identify students who need greater challenges or extra support
- schools to identify strengths and areas of need in teaching programs
- schools to set goals in literacy and numeracy
- school systems to review programs and support offered to schools.
NAPLAN also provides nationally comparable data to help governments to check how education programs are working and whether students are meeting important literacy and numeracy standards.
Who else will see the results?
Each year, test administration authorities give schools the results for all students who sit NAPLAN. Schools are encouraged to use the results to inform their planning for improvement across the school. Individual student reports are confidential. No-one but your local test administration authority and staff at your child’s school will see your child’s report.
Average school results are publicly reported on My School at www.myschool.edu.au. The website will be updated with each year’s results towards the end of the year. Your child’s individual results are not available on My School website.
Visit From Malaysian High Commissioner
On Tuesday we were privileged to host a visit from the Malaysian High Commissioner, Her Excellency Datin Paduika Sharrina Abdullah. Her Excellency visited Hills as part of our involvement in the ASEAN Bridge program where we have been connected with a school in Malaysia. Her Excellency spent some time talking with our students and some staff. This visit was another highlight of our involvement in the ASEAN Bridge Program.
Yet again our students and their authenticity shone through with the High Commissioner remarking about their engagement in conversation.
ASEAN-Australia BRIDGE Program Benefits
The program provides an exclusive opportunity to gain the following benefits:
- people-to-people connections for educators and students in primary and secondary schools
- a chance for educators and students to visit partner schools and learn about their host country
- sustained partnerships between schools that benefit students and educators
- opportunities for students to engage with their peers through interactive forums
- build relationships with peers, learn about social and cultural dynamics and enhance connections across the region.
Program Outcomes
- Stronger relationships with peers in Australia and throughout Southeast Asia
- Professional opportunities to exchange know-how and good practices between schools
- People-to-people connections for educators and students that add regional contexts to their learning
- A stronger global focus in the learning opportunities
Year 6 PYP Exhibition
Work is really starting to ramp up on the Year 6 Exhibition. I am privileged to be a mentor for a group of our Year 6 students who are preparing their exhibition on a wide variety of topics. I am looking forward to seeing the final products, but the process of inquiry and individual growth is just as important as a shiny finished product.
Logan Ekka Show Holiday
Just a reminder that Monday 10 August is the Public Holiday for the Ekka. There will be no school that day due to the public holiday.
Upcoming Calendar Events
Term 3 Week 3
Tuesday 28 July
Interschool Maths Team Challenge
Prep 100 Days of School Celebration
Friday 31 July
Primary Schools Cup Volleyball
Primary Assembly
Term 3 Week 4
Tuesday 4 August
Pacific District Athletics Carnival
Wednesday 5 August
Pacific District Athletics Carnival
Thursday 6 August
Jeans For Genes Day
Hills Wellbeing Community Meeting
Friday 7 August
Quota Beenleigh Dance Eisteddfod (Primary)