Guides for parents › NAPLAN for parents
Guides for parentsNAPLAN is the national test every child sits in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9. This page answers the questions parents ask most, in the official facts.
Facts checked on 14 October 2026 against the official sites listed at the foot of the page.
The 2027 tests run from Wednesday 10 March to Monday 22 March, at school, inside the school's own timetable. Writing is always the first test; reading, conventions of language and numeracy follow in that order. The 2028 window is 15 to 27 March, so the test never moves later than the third week of March.
Conventions of language is spelling, grammar and punctuation. Year 3 is the only year that writes on paper; every other test is online.
Reading, conventions of language and numeracy are tailored tests: every child starts on the same first set of questions, and the result of that set decides whether the next set is easier or harder, with two branching points in all. The final result counts both how many questions were right and how hard they were, so a child routed to the harder sets is not penalised for missing some of them.
Since 2023 each test is reported on four proficiency levels: Exceeding, Strong, Developing and Needs additional support. Strong means the child meets challenging but reasonable expectations for the year; Exceeding means the result goes beyond them. Reports reach families through the school, in 2026 from the start of Term 3. Results from 2023 onwards cannot be compared with the old ten bands.
Every child in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 is expected to sit it. A parent can withdraw a child on religious or philosophical grounds by signing a consent form with the principal before testing starts; schools are not allowed to encourage withdrawal. Formal exemptions exist for children with a significant disability or who arrived recently from a non-English-speaking background.
The official advice is that knowing the format is enough and that cramming does not help. What does help is the ordinary work of the year: reading every day, writing a page a week, knowing the number facts. Where a child lacks a skill the year expects, a short weekly practice on that one skill is worth more than a stack of past papers. The free diagnostic finds those skills; the practice pages for Year 3, Year 5 and Year 7 show the kind of question each year asks.
Years 7 and 9 get an on-screen calculator after a short section without one. The official test description gives no calculator section for Years 3 and 5.
Through the school, from the start of Term 3 in 2026; the national summary is published in August. The 2027 date is not published yet.
No. It is a point-in-time check of literacy and numeracy against national standards, used by schools to see where support is needed. It is not graded by the school and does not appear on a report card.
Sources: NAPLAN key dates · NAPLAN 2027 information for parents and carers · Proficiency level descriptions · Tailored tests · Participation