A voluntary program that involved half of year 7 at Caringbah High School was a big success, with students triumphing at a global literacy competition.
Word Mania, launched by LiteracyPlanet, gives students a creative outlet to 'play' with words in a game-style initiative.
The fun and interactive digital word-building venture included participation from 2607 schools across 68 countries. Students score points for their school by challenging themselves to improve their literacy outcomes.
Australian and New Zealand students in years 1-9 raced against the clock to help their school climb the leaderboard. They dragged and re-arranged letters in three minutes, to build as many words as possible from a set of 15 randomly generated letters.
The challenge develops skills in phonics, rhyming, spelling, vocabulary, word recognition and comprehension.
Caringbah High School teacher and Word Mania Coordinator, Nadia Kudsi, said this year was the first time the school signed up.
"We decided to give it a go and won $3500, which will go towards Word Mania subscription for one grade and educational resources," she said.
Aiden Kinnane, broke the record for the biggest word created - electroencephalographs.
Ms Kudsi said the challenge was a positive social experience.
"We were looking to try another way to get kids motivated about literacy without them realising they were actually doing work. It created so much enthusiasm. They all say they now know long words."
It was ideal preparation for NAPLAN, which begins this week, on Tuesday, May 10.
This year marks the final year of transition to online testing, with all schools across Australia participating in NAPLAN tests online. ACARA Chief Executive, David de Carvalho, said NAPLAN was entering a new era.
"Earlier this year, education ministers announced that NAPLAN will move from May to March from 2023, so results will be available to education authorities earlier in the year to inform school and system teaching and learning programs," he said. "These changes mean that the valuable NAPLAN data will be more useful to teachers, schools and education authorities."
Mr de Carvalho says NAPLAN online is a better, more precise assessment that is more engaging for students.
"The tailored testing means students are given questions that are better suited to their abilities, so they can show what they know and can do," he said. NAPLAN online also has a variety of accessibility adjustments, so that students with diverse capabilities, learning needs and functional abilities are able to participate.
"[This year's tests] are particularly important so that we can add to a national data set and continue getting insight into the impact the pandemic has had after two years of disruptions to schooling," he said. "The last two years have been challenging for schools, parents and students, with disruptions such as lockdowns, floods and COVID-19 cases keeping students out of the classrooms at times."
Mr de Carvalho says no extra preparation is required for NAPLAN and that there is no need for students to feel anxious about the assessment.
"NAPLAN tests literacy and numeracy skills that are continuously being developed in the classroom. Like any test or challenge students face at school, you should simply remind your child to do the best they can on the day of the test," he said.
