How Can I Help My Child Prepare for Year 3 NAPLAN?
If your child is in Year 3 and is nearing their first NAPLAN assessment, it can be easy to feel unsure about how to best prepare your child for the experience. We’ve put together a simple guide on how to get NAPLAN-ready without the stress.
First, remember that NAPLAN does not require hours of serious study
The NAPLAN assessments are not designed to be crammed for – instead, they’re designed to evaluate how effectively classrooms and students are learning over time. These assessments align with the national literacy and numeracy curriculum, so children should be already learning these important English and mathematics skills on a daily basis in the classroom. Therefore, the best way to prepare your child is to help them consistently develop their literacy and numeracy skills over time.
For some children, the challenge may not lie in understanding the basic concepts, but in applying these skills and understandings in an assessment situation.
Keep in mind that NAPLAN questions may require some interpretation
One important thing to remember about NAPLAN is that the questions can often present new situations that require problem solving and interpretation from the child. These may include completing multiple steps for a question, filling in a gap or identifying the reverse order of a situation. The process of reading, interpreting and self-correcting while under time constraints can be a relatively new experience.
How to prepare your child for problem solving
You can begin to practise for these types of questions with your child by asking them questions about cooking, gardening or other relevant situations so they can learn to apply their English and mathematics knowledge in new and unusual contexts. Almost any experience can be an educational opportunity.
Reassure your child that NAPLAN is nothing to be feared
It can be nerve-wracking for children and parents alike to feel like an assessment is coming up, but NAPLAN is ultimately a way to assess current levels of literacy and numeracy, and it is not a life-defining exam. There is no pass or fail.
Now is a very good time to remind your child that the NAPLAN tests are not to be feared, and not to worry too much about any answers they can’t answer. It’s also a good time to take a breath yourself! The results will indicate which percentile your child fits into, which does provide the opportunity to provide extra learning support if you feel they need it. Ultimately, NAPLAN should not be a troubling or stressful time for parents or children but rather a helpful tool in the educational toolkit.
