Abilities Based Learning and Education Support (ABLES) Assessment Tool – Ruby platform

Contact
Maureen Lorimer (08) 9273 6397 [Tuesday, Wednesday & Friday]
Maureen.Lorimer@scsa.wa.edu.au

School leaders and teachers are reminded that the ABLES assessment tool is available to all schools who deliver the Western Australian Curriculum and may be accessed via the School Curriculum and Standards Authority website at
https://k10outline.scsa.wa.edu.au/home/resources/ablewa/getting-started-with-ablewa.

The ABLES assessment tool supports teachers to assess students on the basis of their abilities and provides explicit guidance material and resources that will assist teachers to effectively plan and teach students based on their individual learning needs. The assessments cover seven learning domains and have been designed to describe skills and abilities that teachers can observe in everyday school and classroom contexts and interactions with students.

Administrators are advised of the following recommended protocols when using the ABLES assessment tool:

• Record the password for the generic school email username for ongoing access by users, e.g. when a school leader leaves the school.
• When creating a teacher listing, use their education email address as the username.
• When creating classes, use year groups rather than room numbers, e.g. Year 1, Year 2.
• When adding a student, include their legal given name and surname and their Western Australian student number (WASN).
  (Note: generally, the WASN will match the year group, e.g. in 2025 the WASN for Kindergarten is 44, Pre-primary is 43, Year 1 is 42.)
• Do not add the calendar year to the naming protocol as this will result in a large number of classes over time, as well as the possible duplication of student names.

These protocols allow for easy transfer of teachers and students from one school to another. If you require assistance in transferring a teacher or student to your school, email ablewa@scsa.wa.edu.au with the relevant information.

As the functionality of the assessment tool does not currently allow for automatic rollover of student data to the next year group, a manual update is required either at the end or beginning of the school year. The recommended procedure is:

• Mark the students in the highest year group as Graduated, e.g. the Year 6 students in primary schools.
• When all students have been moved, Delete this empty class.
• The Year 5 class is then edited to become Year 6, the Year 4 class to become Year 5 etc.
• Add a new Kindergarten class at the conclusion when the current Kindergarten class has been edited to become Pre-primary.

Similarly for secondary schools, commence with the Year 12 students as Graduated and edit backwards to the Year 7 class.

Contact ablewa@scsa.wa.edu.au if you have any questions regarding this process.

Pre-primary to Year 6: Adopting and adapting the Western Australian curriculum update

Contact
Antoniett Halden (08) 9273 6791
Antoniett.Halden@scsa.wa.edu.au

Western Australian curriculum in the implementation phase

The Western Australian curriculum for Pre-primary to Year 10 English and Health and Physical Education is available for implementation from 2025.

The School Curriculum and Standards Authority (the Authority) will offer online professional learning opportunities for schools during Term 1, revisiting key information from the familiarisation professional learning provided in 2024.

The Authority will facilitate professional learning for curriculum in implementation that:

• guides teachers to deliver the revised curriculum in schools in accordance with the Authority’s timeline (above)
• continues to support teachers in the implementation of the new curriculum
• supports teachers and schools to review and evaluate the implemented programs with the aim to enhance, refine and ensure sustainability of curriculum implementation.

Western Australian curriculum learning areas in the familiarisation phase

The revised curriculum for Pre-primary to Year 10 Humanities and Social Sciences, Mathematics, Science, and Technologies has been released for familiarisation in 2025 before implementation in 2026. Pre-primary to Year 10 Humanities and Social Sciences, Mathematics, Technologies and Science is the second group of learning areas within the Western Australian Curriculum and Assessment Outline (the Outline) to be adopted and adapted to the Western Australian context.

Schools are reminded to continue to teach the current Western Australian curriculum for the four learning areas in the familiarisation phase. The 2025 school year is designated for teacher familiarisation with the revised content, with implementation in 2026. Schools may consider changes required to their teaching programs in preparation for next year. The Authority will support schools by providing in-person professional learning as well as online opportunities for teachers and school leaders.

The Authority will facilitate professional learning for those learning areas in the familiarisation phase that:

• enables teachers to explore aspects of the new syllabus and familiarise themselves with the revised curriculum
• guides teachers through the revisions, including the provision of resources
• supports teachers and schools in preparing teaching programs and lesson plans ready for implementation in 2026.

Professional learning opportunities for curriculum familiarisation in 2025 is planned for Terms 2 and 3 in both metropolitan and regional areas. Further information regarding the availability of these sessions will be published on the Authority website on the Events page and schools will be notified through the Circular.

All other aspects of the Western Australian curriculum, as published in the Outline (https://k10outline.scsa.wa.edu.au), remain unchanged as the mandated curriculum for Western Australia and must continue to be implemented in all schools until advised otherwise.

Early Years Learning Framework for Kindergarten to Year 2 – Term 1 Focus and Reflective questions

Contact
Kristy Howson (08) 9273 6387
Kristy.Howson@scsa.wa.edu.au

Effective implementation of the Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) supports high-quality delivery of the Western Australian Curriculum and Assessment Outline and Kindergarten Curriculum Guidelines. This video illustrates the application of the EYLF from Kindergarten to Year 2.

School leaders, teachers and early childhood educators are encouraged to reflect on their implementation of the EYLF from Kindergarten to Year 2.

To support schools, the School Curriculum and Standards Authority will release support materials focusing on one Principle and one Practice each term in 2025. For leaders and teachers interested in integrating these focuses into their 2025 whole-school or individual planning, the key areas for each term are outlined below.

Term 1
EYLF Principle: Collaborative leadership and teamwork
EYLF Practice: Holistic, integrated and interconnected approaches

Term 2
EYLF Principle: Critical reflection and ongoing professional learning
EYLF Practice: Play-based learning and intentionality

Term 3
EYLF Principle: Develop partnerships
EYLF Practice: Being responsive to children

Term 4
EYLF Principle: Equity, inclusion and high expectations; Consider sustainability in all its forms
EYLF Practices: Creating physical, temporal, intellectual, social and emotional environments; Assessment and evaluation for learning, development and wellbeing

The Principle: Embed Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander perspectives and the Practice: Cultural Responsiveness will be integrated consistently throughout the year in the Principles and Practices listed above.

Additional support materials, including an online professional learning module, will be detailed in the March circular.

Mandated material: Phase of Schooling Statements

Contact
Kristy Howson (08) 9273 6387
Kristy.Howson@scsa.wa.edu.au

The School Curriculum and Standards Authority’s mandated materials include Phase of Schooling statements that provide teachers with guidance about the sorts of curriculum experiences likely to support children and students at each phase of their development.

For the primary years, statements are available for Early Childhood (Kindergarten to Year 2) and Middle to Late Childhood (Years 3–6). The statements support the goals encapsulated in the Alice Springs (Mparntwe) Education Declaration, the Early Years Learning Framework and the Western Australian Curriculum.

While every student will be immersed in a well-balanced curriculum, the different phases of schooling have distinct priorities. The relative emphasis varies across the phases of schooling. Initially, from Kindergarten into Years 3 and 4, literacy and numeracy are integrated across the curriculum as priority areas. As students move through Years 5 and 6 into Years 7 and 8, the emphasis moves to encompass all eight learning areas. Read the full statement at
https://k10outline.scsa.wa.edu.au/home/principles/guiding-principles/phases-of-schooling.

Introduction to Student Information Records System (SIRS)

Contact
Tim Colliander (08) 9273 6386
Timothy.Colliander@scsa.wa.edu.au

The School Curriculum and Standards Authority (the Authority) will be conducting Introduction to Student Information Records Systems (SIRS) information/training sessions which are aimed at new and existing SIRS users in schools.

The sessions will cover the basic operations and functions of SIRS, including SIRS administration, managing SIRS user accounts and provider member information.

Focus topics include:

• logging in to SIRS
• administering SIRS – including managing SIRS user accounts and provider member information
• uploading of various files – including checking and verifying data transfers
• understanding common errors
• generating and finding commonly used reports
• accessing assistance with local databases
• requesting assistance from the Programs and Data team.

Ideally, two staff members should attend: the clerical staff member who will be responsible for maintaining the changes on the school database and the deputy or associate principal.

There will be four sessions conducted at the Authority and four online. These are repeated sessions; participants only need to attend once. It is recommended that those attending the onsite training, who have a SIRS login account, bring their own device to log in to their school’s SIRS account during the sessions.

Dates and times for the onsite sessions

Dates and times for the online sessions to be conducted via Teams

Register your interest to attend one of these sessions at
https://scsa.wa.edu.au/events/sirs-information-and-training. Further details will be supplied to participants once registered.

2025 Registration of students in SIRS for students in Years K, PP, 1, 2, 4, 6 and 8

Contact
Data Services (08) 9273 6352
dataservices@scsa.wa.edu.au

Student registrations

Schools and other education providers are reminded that registration and demographic information for all outstanding Kindergarten–Year 8 students (via SRGDG file) is required by Thursday, 3 April 2025.

Details of how to register students are provided in the provided in the Data Procedures Manual 2025 with links to assist schools using various school databases.

Western Australian student numbers

All students are required to have a Western Australian student number (WASN) and be registered in SIRS.

If you require new numbers, send a request to numbers@scsa.wa.edu.au. Remember to include the following information for each student:

• family name
• given name
• date of birth
• academic year the student is being registered in at the school.

Note: we do not issue numbers for pre-Kindergarten students.

Regular updates to registration and demographic information

Updates to student registration and demographic information should be uploaded into SIRS on a regular basis via the SRGDG for the remainder of the year.

At minimum, it is recommended that schools update and upload their student registration file (SRGDG) at the beginning of each term to record any student/s who may transfer from and/or to a school.

Schools are requested to include their school code in any correspondence.

Schools participating in Brightpath

Contact
Data Services (08) 9273 6352
dataservices@scsa.wa.edu.au

Maureen Lorimer (08) 9273 6397 [Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday]
Maureen.Lorimer@scsa.wa.edu.au

Schools participating in Brightpath must be registered with the School Curriculum and Standards Authority.

Schools not currently registered for Brightpath, can register their interest by emailing Maureen Lorimer with the following information:

• name of school, school address and telephone number
• school code
• name and email address of principal
• name and email address of Brightpath contact.

If schools decide to discontinue this program, they should email Maureen Lorimer for the Authority’s records to be updated accordingly.

Uploading a teacher registration file

To have data imported to Brightpath, a successful upload of the student registration file (SRGDG) and a successful upload of the teacher registration file (THREG) are required.

The teacher registration file (THREG) must be uploaded into SIRS. Please note that the THREG file must be uploaded only after the student registration file (SRGDG) has been successfully processed without any warnings or errors.

Further details may be found in section 5 of the Data Procedures Manual 2025 with links to assist schools using various databases.

The remaining dates for transferring data to Brightpath in Term 1 are:

• Friday, 7 March 2025
• Friday, 28 March 2025.

Schools are requested to include their school code in any correspondence.

Request to change academic year Pre-primary to Year 10

Contact
Kerry Tarrant (08) 9273 6770
Kerry.Tarrant@scsa.wa.edu.au
dataservices@scsa.wa.edu.au

Schools are reminded of the online form Request to change academic year Pre-Primary to Year 10 when requesting a change to a student’s academic year.

At times, schools may assess a student to be at a higher level than their current academic year and may request a change to a student’s academic year.

The Request to change academic year Pre-primary to Year 10 formand detailed information can be found on the School Curriculum and Standards Authority website at https://www.scsa.wa.edu.au/forms/forms under Registrations.

Before submitting an application, refer to the Pre-primary to Year 10: Teaching, Assessing and Reporting Policy and Policy Standards (https://k10outline.scsa.wa.edu.au/home/policy/policy-standards), which set out the mandatory requirements for teaching the Western Australian curriculum and for assessing and reporting on student achievement.

P–10 students transferring between schools in Western Australia

Schools are reminded that students in Western Australia transferring between schools part way through the calendar year must remain enrolled in their current academic year.

Upon registration, schools should search SIRS for the student’s details to confirm their academic year. This ensures students continue with their current year-level studies within the Western Australian Curriculum and Assessment Outline.

Email dataservices@scsa.wa.edu.au if you have queries.

Brightpath 2025

Contact
Maureen Lorimer (08) 9273 6397 [Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday]
Maureen.Lorimer@scsa.wa.edu.au

School leaders are advised that in 2025 they may register for Brightpath throughout the year by contacting Maureen Lorimer, Principal Consultant – Strategic Projects.

Regular data transfer dates allow all schools to update their Brightpath student and teacher information through the registration process in SIRS throughout the year.

Data transfers to Brightpath will occur on the following dates in 2025:

• Term 1 – Friday of Weeks 2, 5 and 8 – 14 February, 7 March and 28 March
• Term 2 – Friday of Weeks 2, 5 and 8 – 9 May, 30 May and 20 June
• Term 3 – Friday of Weeks 2, 5 and 8 – 1 August, 22 August and 12 September
• Term 4 – Friday of Weeks 2, 5 and 8 – 24 October, 14 November and 5 December.

Please ensure that the relevant school officer and the Brightpath Coordinator are aware of this information and have data uploaded into SIRS the day prior to transfers.