NAPLAN Teaching Resources

Teaching year 3 or year 5? Then you know NAPLAN 2026 is on the horizon. If you're looking for curriculum-aligned resources for your NAPLAN preparation, you've landed in the right place!

The Teach Starter teacher team has you covered with reading, writing, conventions of language and numeracy resources all created with your teaching needs in mind.

Explore writing prompts, assessment rubrics, persuasive writing and narrative writing worksheets and activities, resources designed to help students learn to make inferences while reading, and more ways to build literacy skills. You'll also find a host of maths resources that boost students' ability to understand patterns, recognise equivalences, work mathematically and more numeracy skills.

If you're new to teaching a NAPLAN testing year or just want to get prepared, read on for a look at important ACARA testing dates for 2026, plus a look at the history of NAPLAN.

When Is NAPLAN 2026?

The 9-day NAPLAN testing window in 2026 will be Wednesday 11 March to Monday 23 March 2026.

To help you get ready, our teacher team has put together a list of the important dates for year 3 and year 5 teachers to prepare for NAPLAN testing in 2026.

• Beginning of Term 4, 2025 — Practice testing in the NAPLAN training environment open to all schools
• Wednesday 11 March — Monday 23 March 2026 — NAPLAN 2026 test window
• Wednesday 11 March 2026 — Year 3 and Year 5 will commence reading and writing tests on day 1 of the NAPLAN test window
• Thursday 12 March — Year 3 and Year 5 will commence conventions of language and numeracy testing on day 2 of the NAPLAN test window. This day will also be used for writing for Year 5 if there are technical or logistical limitations.
• Thursday 12 March — Monday 16 March 2026 — Year 3 writing catch-up tests will be offered
• Thursday 12 March — Monday 23 March 2026 — Other catch-up tests will be offered for year 3 and year 5
• May 2026 — NAP Opt-in assessment in science literacy for year 6