Minor adjustment to term dates for WA schools in 2011

The State Government today made a minor adjustment to the dates for terms one and two in 2011 for Western Australian schools to provide sufficient time to distribute the test materials State-wide and ensure students in WA are not disadvantaged by the timing of next year's National Assessment Program - Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) testing.

The Government schools' term dates for 2011 were originally gazetted in December 2007 by the director general of the then Department of Education and Training under the School Education Act. In 2007, it was also determined by the Australian Education Early Childhood Development and Youth Affairs Senior Officials Committee (AEEYSOC) that NAPLAN tests would be held in the second week of May in 2011.

Education Minister Liz Constable said that was in the best interests of all students and schools that a minor adjustment to next year's term dates be made to allow sufficient time to distribute the tests in a secure fashion and importantly, more time for WA students to settle back into the school environment after school holidays and ahead of the NAPLAN testing.

"For Western Australian schools and students, the NAPLAN testing date for 2011 falls on the first day of the first week of term two for pupils, whereas in other States and Territories it will be the second day of the second or third week of the term," Dr Constable said.

"This provides too little time for distributing and maintaining the security of the testing materials and for schools to make arrangements for the tests.

"On the advice of the director general of the Department of Education, I have decided to make a minor adjustment to the 2011 term dates to give schools extra time before testing begins.

"These adjustments provide Government schools with three days to distribute the test materials State-wide and to settle the students after holidays and prepare them for NAPLAN."

Under the adjustments:

• Term one will finish two days earlier on Tuesday, April 19
• Term two will commence two days earlier on Thursday, May 5.

"Extensive stakeholder engagement has begun with the Government and non-government education sectors to inform them of the change and the reasons behind it and separate consultation with the travel and tourism industry is also under way," the Minister said.

"Concerns related to this matter were shared by the private school sector; most will now adjust their own arrangements along similar lines.

"I have also requested that the director general of the Department of Education make the necessary arrangements with her colleagues in other States and Territories to put in place procedures to ensure this problem does not arise in future years."