Curriculum News

Understanding Your Child’s NAPLAN Report

Queensland schools are beginning to receive the Individual Student Reports for NAPLAN. Aspley State School will be receiving over 200 reports for our Year 3 and Year 5 students.

These reports contain highly confidential information and will be carefully collated and processed to ensure they are handled securely. We expect that families will receive their child’s report by the end of Week 4.

Your child’s NAPLAN report will provide helpful insights into their progress in key areas of learning: numeracy, reading, writing, spelling, and grammar and punctuation.

Each section of the report includes a proficiency scale, with your child’s individual result marked by a black dot. You’ll also see:

• A black triangle, which shows the national average for students in the same year level.
• A light shaded rectangle, representing the range of results for the middle 60% of students across Australia.

The proficiency standards on the report 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.

While NAPLAN offers a useful snapshot of your child’s learning, it's important to remember that it reflects their performance on one day, not their overall ability or growth across the year.

We encourage you to view the results as just one piece of the puzzle, and to speak with your child’s teacher if you’d like to explore their learning progress in more detail.

A video on how to read and understand your child’s report can be seen here.

Can I Compare My Child’s NAPLAN Results Over Time?

Results from 2023 onwards use a new measurement scale and were based on tests conducted in Term 1, rather than Term 2 as in previous years. Because of these changes, NAPLAN results from 2023 and beyond cannot be directly compared with results from 2008 to 2022.

However, starting in 2025, students in Years 5, 7, and 9 completed their second cycle of NAPLAN under this updated system. This means parents and carers can now compare their child’s individual reports from 2023 and 2025 to see how their proficiency levels have changed.

You can also compare how your child’s results relate to the national average and the middle 60% of students between these years.

It’s important to keep in mind that as students move up through the year levels, the skills needed to reach each proficiency level become more advanced. So, if your child achieves the same proficiency level in, for example, Year 3 and Year 5, this still shows positive growth and progress.

Update on the Semester One Report Card Email Delivery to Gmail Accounts

Dear Parents and Caregivers,

We’d like to thank you for your patience and understanding as we’ve worked to resolve a recent email delivery issue that affected some student report cards during the last days of Term 3.   

On the evening of Thursday 26 June, it was identified that report cards sent to Gmail addresses from multiple Queensland State School, were not being delivered as expected. This was due to Google's email protection systems temporarily flagging the massive number of email messages as potential spam, a measure they use to rightly safeguard their users.

We very much appreciate, and respect, the importance of these protective systems and were informed that the Department worked closely with Google to address the situation. Thanks to their support, a workaround was put in place, allowing the delayed emails to be delivered.

Please note that no student report card data was lost, and importantly, there is also no need to change your email address or switch to a different email provider.

Even though ways to automatically resend any emails that were initially held back were actioned, if you use a Gmail address, and are still waiting for your child’s Semester 1 Academic Report Card, please see the following for options:

• Check your Spam or Junk mail folders.
• The QParents application was not impacted by this email issue. Parents can view the report card directly in the QParents app; please contact the school administration team for assistance setting up this application. 
• Alternatively, contact the school administration via email and we can re-issue report cards if needed.

Classroom News

Prep A 

Prep A started Term 3 with NAIDOC activities including stories, understanding the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flag and drawing commonly used Aboriginal symbols. We also began work on our English unit: retelling. We made puppets and story maps for our retelling of The Three Little Pigs. We have also begun investigating and observing the weather for science. 

1A

I can’t believe it’s Term 3 already! Time flies when you’re having fun in Year 1! We have such a busy term ahead, but here is what we have unpacked this week. In Mathematics, students have been exploring the properties and correct terminology used to describe 2D and 3D shapes. They've been making meaningful connections by comparing these shapes to everyday objects found both inside and outside the classroom. In English, we've been looking into procedural texts. We have been learning what a procedure is and the key elements it must include, such as a title, a materials list, and a method. The students have especially enjoyed writing their own procedures for making tacos—and in some classes, pizza! In Science, we've been observing how features in the sky change over the course of a month. It's been fascinating to see how weather conditions influence what we can see and what we can hear. We're looking forward to an exciting term ahead, filled with lots of learning and plenty of fun!

2A

In Term 3 English, students are engaging with a range of imaginative texts. These texts provide a stimulus for using language to assist students to express opinions.  Students are writing a preference for a place using descriptive language and orally presenting this to the class.  We have read and discussed ‘Are we there yet?’ and ‘Magic Beach’ by Australian author Alison Lester.  We are using our class Wagoll wall to help remind us of the steps needed when writing an opinion or preference.  2A hopes you enjoy reading some of our recent writing about our preference to visit and see snow!

3A

In English this term, year 3 will be creating a spoken text to express an opinion about a topic. Students will choose from a range of topics to plan, create, and present a 1-2 minute speech. In order to convince the audience effectively, students will need to use language features such as modal verbs and adverbs and topic specific and precise vocabulary. They will also need to practise changing the tone, pitch, pace, and volume of their voice to engage the audience.

4A

We ended last term with a ‘bang’! Our class was treated to a unique and interactive free Street Science digital show titled Rainbow Science Spectacular. It explored the colours of the rainbow, with a high-energy experiment for each of the seven colours. Our students loved it — the more the screen lit up with fire and explosions, the louder the shrieks of delight! They also enjoyed interacting throughout the session via live polls and seeing comments from other Queensland schools. The colourful experiments sparked excitement, with the fiery demonstrations for red and orange being clear favourites.

Meanwhile, in science we have started our new unit called: Material World. In this unit, students will explore natural and processed materials and how their properties influence their uses. We’ve begun with hands-on investigations into the properties of materials such as flexibility, strength, and absorbency. Students will learn to compare materials and make informed choices based on their properties. Later in the term, they will complete an assessment in which they apply this knowledge to solve a real-life problem involving selecting the most suitable material. It’s shaping up to be an exciting and practical term of learning!

5A

This term, 5A students have been exploring how fractions appear all around us, from slicing pizza to measuring ingredients while baking. They shared their own examples and used shading and diagrams to visually represent these fractions, creating a colourful class display that brought their ideas to life.

In peer-teaching sessions, students explained fraction concepts using everyday scenarios. They demonstrated key skills such as finding equivalent fractions, working with common denominators, and converting between fractions, decimals and percentages. This collaborative approach helped deepen their understanding and build confidence in explaining their thinking.

A highlight of this week’s lesson was adapting a banana cake recipe originally for 12 people to serve groups of different sizes, including 6, 18 and even our class of 27. Students applied real-life thinking by adjusting ingredient sizes, for example understanding that 3.5 bananas means 3 whole bananas plus a half, and creatively working out how to measure 2½ eggs by adapting the ingredient sizes to fit the recipe.

We’re proud of the curiosity, confidence and mathematical thinking 5A have shown while making fractions come alive!

6A 

Wow, it’s hard to believe we’re already in Term 3—and what a jam-packed term it’s going to be! Of course, the highlight on everyone’s mind is our exciting (and chilly!) Canberra trip in Week 3. Curriculum-wise, we’re busier than ever. In English, we’re crafting persuasive speeches to deliver to a person in authority—mine argues (with a bit of bias!) that the government should subsidise every Year 6 student’s Canberra visit. In Maths, we’re diving into fractions, area and perimeter, and calculating percentages—essential skills for any savvy shopper! Our Science and HaSS units explore natural disasters and our closest neighbours in Southeast Asia. Buckle up for an exciting, educational, and enriching term ahead!

EQI SCHOOL STUDY TOUR 2025 - SEEKING HOST FAMILIES

Aspley State School has a long-standing tradition of hosting study tours, providing both our students and international visitors with enriching opportunities for cultural exchange. After a pause during the pandemic, we are excited to once again welcome students from Japan (Ritsumeikan Uji Junior High School) for the 2025 study tour. These tours not only allow our students to learn firsthand about different cultures, but also provide a valuable chance for our international guests to immerse themselves in the Australian way of life.

Cultural immersion is a powerful tool for fostering understanding, empathy and lifelong friendships. For our students, it enhances their Japanese language skills, broadens global perspectives and strengthens connections with peers from across the world. For our Japanese students, staying with local families offers an authentic experience that deepens their connection with Australian culture, helping them practise English in a welcoming and real-world setting.

We are currently seeking host families who are willing to provide a homestay for our visiting Japanese students. By opening your home, you can play an essential role in this unique exchange, supporting the development of lasting international friendships and enriching both the Japanese and Australian students' lives. Information regarding homestay follows this message. We hope you can help us continue this exciting tradition at Aspley State School! Thank you.