Beechboro Primary School principal Len Christie included a letter to his students in the weekly newsletter last Wednesday, after they received their NAPLAN results.

Christie has been a principal at Beechboro for 20 years, and was nominated for WA principal of the year in 2001.

Mr. Christie told Nine News the test did not test all of the attributes needed in life.

'I was inspired by reading something similar published by a school in the UK and I thought it was lovely to recognise the fact that you need so many more attributes than literacy and numeracy.'

'While they're fundamentals, they're not the entire picture,' he said.
'In the hearts of family and friends (the students) are very special people. In the school setting, we also value all sorts of other things they do and achieve.

'There's so much more to them than just these aspects'.
Mr. Christie also said that that 40 per cent of students speak languages other than English at home, and that they speak 35 different languages in total.

He does believe NAPLAN is a valuable resource, but that teachers should consider the results within the broader picture.

'What we endeavour to do is make sure it's not taken out of context,' Mr. Christie said.

'We use the results as a diagnosis tool so that we can identify areas that we can improve on our learning and teaching program,'