NAPLAN 2026: What Parents Need to Know | Complete Guide

With NAPLAN 2026 approaching in just a few weeks, it's important for parents and carers to understand what to expect. This is the first article in our five-week series, NAPLAN Ready: A Parent's Guide, designed to help you support your child through this year's national assessment.

What is NAPLAN?

The National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) is an annual assessment for students in Years 3, 5, 7, and 9. It's the only nationwide assessment that all Australian students undertake, providing a measure of how well students are developing the essential literacy and numeracy skills that form the foundation for other learning.

NAPLAN 2026 testing dates

NAPLAN will take place from Wednesday, 11 March to Monday, 23 March, 2026. Your child's school will schedule the tests within this 9-day window, prioritising the first week.

What does NAPLAN assess?

Students will complete four tests:

1. Writing - Students are given a topic and asked to write either a narrative or persuasive response.
2. Reading - Students read various texts and answer related questions.
3. Conventions of Language - This test assesses spelling, grammar, and punctuation.
4. Numeracy - This test covers number and algebra, measurement and geometry, and statistics and probability.

These tests assess literacy and numeracy skills that students are already learning through their regular school curriculum, aligned with the Australian Curriculum: English and Mathematics.

Online testing: What to expect

NAPLAN tests are completed online, using tailored (adaptive) testing that adjusts the difficulty of questions based on your child's responses. This adaptive approach helps students stay engaged and provides more precise results about their capabilities.

Important note: All Year 3 students will continue to complete the writing assessment on paper.

How tailored testing works

The online tests present questions that may be more or less difficult depending on a student's responses. This means:

• Students remain engaged with questions suited to their ability level
• A wider range of student abilities can be assessed
• Student achievement is measured more precisely
• Your child's result is based on both the number and complexity of questions answered correctly

What NAPLAN is not

It's important to remember that:

• NAPLAN is just one aspect of your child's school assessment
• It doesn't replace the ongoing assessments teachers make throughout the year
• Students cannot "fail" NAPLAN—it simply shows where they are in their learning journey
• NAPLAN doesn't measure overall school quality

What's next?

Over the coming weeks, we'll share more information to help you support your child as they prepare for NAPLAN, including:

• How to support your child's preparation
• Understanding test results and proficiency standards
• Test week logistics and what to expect
• Final reminders for test day

For more detailed information, visit the official NAPLAN website.