The students in years three, five, seven and nine will sit the National Assessment Program, Literacy and Numeracy tests (NAPLAN).

The tests are designed to measure the academic improvement of students as they progress through school.

The exams will run for three days, with students sitting the language exam on Tuesday, literacy test on Wednesday and numeracy on Thursday.

While it might be routine for our primary school kids, for this year’s year-nine students it is the first opportunity to demonstrate the new HSC minimum standards by 2020.

“I want to assure all Year 9 students that you will have the opportunity to sit your HSC exams regardless of your NAPLAN results,” National Education Standards Authority (NESA) CEO David de Carvalho said.

“You have three more years of learning, and many more opportunities to reach the standard by the HSC.”

It’s an historic year for the students, who will be the last to sit the paper exam with NAPLAN expected to transition to an online testing system from next year.

This week’s tests follow the release of the latest NAPLAN results in March, which showed improvements across the board in Tamworth schools.

Hillvue Public School achieved substantially higher marks than statistically-similar schools in the writing, grammar and numeracy test components for year-three students, while Tamworth’s St Nicholas’ Primary School received above-average test results across the board in years three and five in writing, spelling, numeracy, grammar and reading. 

Werris Creek Public School was also boasting a big win, with their 2016 results indicating 80 per cent of their year five students exceeded expected growth from their year-three test results.