Learnest
Start 14-day free trialFree trial

NSW syllabus stages: which stage is each school year?

Parent guides. Facts checked on 6 November 2026 against the official pages listed at the foot.

The NSW syllabus is written in stages, not school years. Early Stage 1 is Kindergarten, Stage 1 is Years 1 and 2, and the stages run in pairs of years up to Stage 6, which is Years 11 and 12. This guide shows which stage each year is in, what a stage tells you about your child's work, and where to read the syllabus for it.

Try seven questions with your child on Learnest's own screens: the Kindergarten, Years 1 and 2, Years 3 and 4, Years 5 and 6, Years 7 and 8 or Years 9 and 10 demo.

Which stage is each school year?

Early Stage 1
Kindergarten
Stage 1
Years 1 and 2
Stage 2
Years 3 and 4
Stage 3
Years 5 and 6
Stage 4
Years 7 and 8
Stage 5
Years 9 and 10
Stage 6
Years 11 and 12

So a child in Year 1 is in Stage 1, and a child in their first year of school is in Early Stage 1. The NSW curriculum site puts it this way: "Students move through stages of learning from Early Stage 1 to Stage 6."

What does a stage mean for my child?

Each stage has outcomes, which are the things a child should be able to do by the end of it. An outcome covers the whole stage, not one year. The Stage 2 maths outcome on multiplication, for example, covers Years 3 and 4 together, so the facts to 10 x 10 are expected by the end of Year 4, not by the end of Year 3.

Each school plans its own lessons to reach the outcomes, so the order of topics can differ between schools. If your child's class has not reached a topic that a friend's class has finished, the two schools may simply have planned the stage differently. The teacher can tell you where the class is up to.

What happens in each stage?

These are a few markers from each stage, to show the shape of the years. The syllabus itself has far more.

Early Stage 1
Counting forwards to at least 30, reading numerals to at least 20, and the first letter sounds. See the Kindergarten guide and the Kindergarten phonics guide.
Stage 1
Vowel teams in reading, and counting to at least 120. Public schools give Year 1 students the Phonics Screening Check in Term 3. See the learning to read guide.
Stage 2
The multiplication facts to 10 x 10, covered in the times tables guide. Students sit NAPLAN in Year 3, and those applying for an opportunity class sit the OC test in Year 4.
Stage 3
Long multiplication and division, built on those facts. Students sit NAPLAN in Year 5, and those applying for a selective high school sit the selective test in Year 6.
Stage 4
The first two years of high school. Students sit NAPLAN in Year 7.
Stage 5
Students sit NAPLAN in Year 9, the last time they sit it. The HSC minimum standard tests can start in Year 10. See the Years 9 and 10 guide.
Stage 6
Years 11 and 12, which lead to the Higher School Certificate.

Which subjects does each stage include?

In primary school, the curriculum site lists English, Mathematics, Science and Technology, Human Society and Its Environment (HSIE), Personal Development, Health and Physical Education (PDHPE), Creative Arts and, as an option, Languages. Schools must have programs for six key learning areas.

In high school, the list is English, Mathematics, Science, Technological and Applied Studies, HSIE, PDHPE, Creative Arts, Languages, and Vocational Education and Training. A student may gain two credentials in Years 7 to 12: the Record of School Achievement and the Higher School Certificate.

How do I read the syllabus for my child's stage?

The syllabus is public, and it is on the NSW curriculum site at curriculum.nsw.edu.au.

  1. Find your child's stage in the list above.
  2. On the curriculum site, open Learning areas and choose a subject, such as English or Mathematics.
  3. Open the syllabus, go to its content pages and choose the stage.
  4. Read the outcomes first. They say what your child should be able to do by the end of the stage, in the syllabus's own words.
  5. Ask the teacher which of them the class is working on this term.

The words can be technical. The parent guides on this site put the most searched parts into plain language, and each one links the official page it comes from.

What if my child seems behind for their stage?

A stage runs for two years, so a child in the first year of a stage has not been expected to meet its outcomes yet. Before you worry, ask the teacher which outcomes your child has met and which are still to come. If there is a gap, the useful question is which skill sits underneath it. A Year 4 child who is stuck on division often needs the multiplication facts first, and that skill belongs to the same stage.

Questions parents ask

What stage is Year 1 in NSW?

Stage 1, which covers Years 1 and 2. Kindergarten is Early Stage 1, the stage before it.

What is Early Stage 1?

Kindergarten, the first year of school in NSW. Its outcomes are what a child should be able to do by the end of that year.

What stage is Year 5 and Year 6?

Stage 3. Stage 2 is Years 3 and 4, and Stage 4 is Years 7 and 8.

Are the stages the same in every NSW school?

The stages and outcomes are the same, because they come from the NSW syllabus. Each school plans its own lessons to reach them, so the order of topics can differ.

How Learnest helps

Learnest follows the same stages. Your child gets twelve to twenty minutes a day of the NSW syllabus in maths, English and science, pitched at the skill they are on and not only at their year level, from Kindergarten to Year 10. When a skill from an earlier stage is missing, the app teaches it again and checks that it holds, and the nightly email names the one skill that slipped. Every question is Learnest's own.

Start 14-day free trial

14 days free, then $10 a month for one child and $5 for each extra child. You add a card today and pay $0. Cancel online before day 14 and you pay nothing.

Forgot to cancel? Email us within 14 days of the first charge and we refund it in full.

Try the Kindergarten demoTry the Years 1 and 2 demoTry the Years 3 and 4 demoTry the Years 5 and 6 demoTry the Years 7 and 8 demoTry the Years 9 and 10 demo

Seven questions your child can try now, with a hint on each. No sign-up, and nothing is saved.

Sources

Checked 6 November 2026. Every date, number and rule above comes from these pages. If one of them has changed since, it is right and this page is behind.

Learnest is not affiliated with ACARA, NESA, the NSW Department of Education or the Australian Maths Trust. This guide explains the published facts in Learnest's own words; the official pages above are the record.