The School Curriculum and Standards Authority is moving

Contact
Janine Nairn (08) 9273 6392
gail.wright@scsa.wa.edu.au

The School Curriculum and Standards Authority will be moving from Osborne Park to Cannington in early June. Please note our new address from Tuesday 3 June 2014 will be the Mason Bird building, Level 2, 303 Sevenoaks Street, Cannington.

Our postal address will be 303 Sevenoaks Street, Cannington, WA 6107.

Our staff telephone and email contact details will remain the same.

Website service interruption

Contact
Murray Jackson (08) 9273 6320
murray.jackson@scsa.wa.edu.au

Please note the Authority’s website – www.scsa.wa.edu.au – and the Western Australian Curriculum and Assessment Outline site – http://k10outline.scsa.wa.edu.au/ – will be unavailable while we move from Osborne Park to Cannington. The service interruption will begin on Friday 30 May with services expected to resume by Tuesday 3 June. We thank you for your patience during this time.

Changes to academic year for students

Contact
Lynn Galbraith (08) 9273 6702
lynn.galbraith@scsa.wa.edu.au

If a school wants to change the academic year of a student and subsequently their enrolments in course units, VET units of competency and/or endorsed programs, one of the following processes will need to be used:

All years (post registration – prior enrolments)
When a school uploads the student registration demographic (SRGDG) file to the Student Information Record System (SIRS), a Processed with Warnings message will appear when there is a mismatch between the upload file and the recorded information in SIRS for the student’s academic year.

The SIRS message means the record for the affected students has been ignored and the school will need to email the officer listed above and ask for the academic year to be changed. This will be noted in the database as a request from the school.

Years 10–12 (post enrolments)
After enrolment data is recorded in SIRS, schools will need to request a change to the student’s academic year and enrolments using the application form titled “Request to change academic year” available atwww.scsa.wa.edu.au/internet/Events_and_Forms/Application_Order_Forms

The form needs to be signed by the student, parent/guardian and the principal (or nominated representative). These requests must be lodged with the Authority no later than 2 July 2014.

The Authority does not collect enrolment details for students in years 8–9, except in the circumstances outlined on page 122 of the WACE Manual 2014-15.

Consequences of not sitting examinations in 2014

Contact
Jenny Offer (08) 9273 6313
jenny.offer@scsa.wa.edu.au

Teachers should remind final-year students enrolled in a Stage 2 or Stage 3 pair of course units that they are required to sit for, and make a genuine attempt at, the WACE examination in that pair of units (unless exempt for a Stage 3 WACE course examination or have opted out of sitting for a Stage 2 WACE course examination).

A student who is required to sit a WACE examination and chooses not to, or chooses not to make a genuine attempt in the examination, will not get a WACE course report in that course or a WACE course score for that course recorded on their statement of results. In addition, the grades for those units in the course will not be counted in the determination of the C grade average for the WACE.

As a consequence, a student may not meet the requirements to receive a WACE.

Online VET exemption applications for Stage 3 WACE examinations

Contact
Jenny Offer (08) 9273 6313
jenny.offer@scsa.wa.edu.au

Schools are reminded that the online VET examination exemption process for Stage 3 WACE examinations closes on Wednesday, 2 July 2014.

Schools are able to repeat the application process multiple times (to allow for new applications as they are received). Schools are reminded to ensure that the report Stage 3 Examination Exemption Application Outcome for VET Students 2014 (Reports > Other reports > External Assessment > CSE 168) should be printed and checked to confirm:

• which students have been exempted from Stage 3 WACE examination enrolment
• which students have not been exempted from Stage 3 WACE examination enrolment.

If a subsequent change to a student’s enrolment status makes a student ineligible for exemption, the Authority will re-enrol that student into the examination/s.

NOTE: No application for a VET examination exemption for a Stage 3 WACE examination will be processed afterWednesday 2 July 2014.

Requests for Year 8 SCSA student numbers

Contact
Lynn Galbraith (08) 9273 6702
lynn.galbraith@scsa.wa.edu.au

Schools are no longer able to request 2014 Year 8 SCSA student numbers automatically through the student information record system (SIRS).

This temporary change in procedure will reduce duplication of Year 8 student records in SIRS. The process will be re-activated in late 2014 in preparation for the 2015 intake of Year 8s.

Schools with any new students are requested to:

• use the search function in SIRS to see if the student has already been allocated a number (see eCircular 03 2014 at www.scsa.wa.edu.au/internet/Publications/Circular_eCircular/eCircular_2014_04_email),
• contact the previous school of the student to obtain the number.

If this proves unsuccessful, then schools are advised to email numbers@scsa.wa.edu.au, giving your school code, student full name, date of birth and academic year. A new number will be issued for the student if one has not already been allocated.

The Authority will contact the school by email when it discovers a student has a duplicate number. The school will need to update its student database accordingly. Failure to make this update will mean that further data uploads to SIRS will produce an error message.

Accounting and Finance Stage 2: minor syllabus amendment

Contact
Maria Tsovleas (08) 9273 6363
maria.tsovleas@scsa.wa.edu.au

Teachers of Accounting and Finance are advised the following content dot point has been amended in the syllabus for teaching and examination in 2014.

Unit 2A

The updated syllabus is identified with the following footnote:

Accounting and Finance: Accredited April 2008 (updated April 2014)
For teaching 2013 and 2014, examined in 2013 and 2014

The Scope and Sequence for Accounting and Finance has been updated accordingly.

Awards for outstanding achievement in the Workplace Learning course

Contact
Carolyn Hackett (08) 9273 6316
carolyn.hackett@scsa.wa.edu.au
Leanne Meldrum (08) 9273 6746
leanne.meldrum@scsa.wa.edu.au

Information regarding the Authority’s awards for outstanding achievement in the Workplace Learning course will be available to all schools via the Authority website in June.

To be eligible for an award in the Workplace Learning course, a student must, in their final WACE year, complete a minimum of two units of the Workplace Learning course and achieve an A grade in at least two units. Full details of the selection process are available in the information sheet on the website.

Nominations and accompanying materials must be mailed or delivered to the Authority so they are received by 4.30pm on Monday, 8 September 2014. Documents received after this date cannot be accepted. Nominations sent by email or facsimile cannot be accepted.

Workplace Learning teachers are requested to bring these awards to the attention of suitable students. Each school may nominate one student.

Nomination forms, exhibitions and awards policy and guidelines, and details of the selection process are also available on the Authority website at www.scsa.wa.edu.au/internet/Senior_Secondary/Exhibitions_and_Awards.

Awards for outstanding achievement in VET

Contact
Carolyn Hackett (08) 9273 6316
carolyn.hackett@scsa.wa.edu.au
Nicole Gazey (08) 9273 9401
nicole.gazey@scsa.wa.edu.au

Information regarding the Authority’s awards for outstanding achievement in Vocational Education and Training (VET) will be available on the Authority website in June.

To be eligible for an award for outstanding achievement in VET, a student must complete a nationally recognised VET qualification to a minimum of Australian Qualification Framework VET Certificate II in their final WACE year. Students will also have completed their Workplace Learning units in Year 12 in an industry area that is related to the VET qualification. Full details of the selection process are contained in the information sheet on the website.

Awards are available in a total of 13 specific industry areas. Where a school has a student who has made exceptional achievement in a VET industry area that is not listed, they may nominate that student under the category of ‘Other’.

Prior to making a nomination, VET coordinators should carefully check the student’s enrolment details. If these are not correct, the nomination will not upload. Any errors in the student’s enrolment will need to be corrected at school level before the nomination can be submitted. It is suggested that schools start this checking process early to ensure that the strict nomination deadline can be met.

Nominations will also require three separate documents to be attached for each student. It is recommended that these be correctly named and ready for attachment before starting the nomination process.

Nominations will open in Term 3. VET coordinators will require the school’s login and password to access the nomination screen. These details are available from the school administration. The URL for nominations is:http://ccwebsvr01/scsaform/vetnominationform/

All nominations will close at 4.30pm on Monday, 8 September 2014. The online nomination process will be deactivated at that time. There is no facility to submit nominations by any other method.

VET coordinators are requested to bring these awards to the attention of suitable students.

Nomination forms (online), exhibitions and awards policy and guidelines, and details of the selection process are also available on the Authority website at www.scsa.wa.edu.au/internet/Senior_Secondary/Exhibitions_and_Awards.

Career and Enterprise Stage 2 for WACE examinations 2014

Contact
Naidina Avery (08) 9273 6334
naidina.avery@scsa.wa.edu.au
Kerry Cribb(08) 9273 6787
kerry.cribb@scsa.wa.edu.au

Teachers are reminded that candidates cannot take five pages of notes into the WACE 2014 Career and Enterprise Stage 2 examination.

For further information please refer to the Stage 2 examination design brief in the Career and Enterprise syllabus document available on the Authority website atwww.scsa.wa.edu.au/internet/Senior_Secondary/Courses/WACE_Courses/Career_and_Enterprise

Application to sit WACE examinations for students not in Year 12

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

Permission must be obtained from the Authority for a student who is not in Year 12 to sit a WACE course examination in 2014. The student must be exiting the course or special circumstances must exist.

Note that a student who sits an examination for a particular course in Year 11 will not be permitted to sit the examination for the same course in Year 12 unless there are special circumstances which have been approved by the Authority CEO.

An application form for permission to sit an examination for students not in Year 12 is available on the Authority website at http://www.scsa.wa.edu.au/internet/Events_and_Forms/Application_Order_Forms.

Applications close Wednesday, 2 July 2014.

Career and Enterprise previewed sources for WACE examinations 2014

Contact
Naidina Avery (08) 9273 6334
naidina.avery@scsa.wa.edu.au
Kerry Cribb (08) 9273 6787
kerry.cribb@scsa.wa.edu.au

The previewed sources for the 2014 Career and Enterprise Stage 2 and Stage 3 WACE examinations have been sent to schools.

Teachers of Career and Enterprise are required to familiarise their students with these sources in readiness for the 2014 examinations.

The previewed source lists are available on the Authority website atwww.scsa.wa.edu.au/internet/Senior_Secondary/Courses/WACE_Courses/Career_and_Enterprise.

Final dates for changes to Year 12 student enrolments

Contact
Jenny Offer (08) 9273 6313
jenny.offer@scsa.wa.edu.au
Jenny Morup (08) 9273 6309
jenny.morup@scsa.wa.edu.au

Schools are reminded of the following final dates which relate to Year 12 student enrolments and WACE examination enrolments:

• Wednesday, 2 July 2014 – deadline for changes to student enrolments in Stage 2 WACE course units.
• Monday, 21 July 2014 – deadline for enrolment as a private candidate, where late fees apply. No further applications will be accepted after this date.
• Friday, 1 August 2014 – deadline for changes to student enrolments to sit the 2014 WACE examinations inStage 3 course units with practical examinations.
• Wednesday, 24 September 2014 – deadline for changes to Year 12 student enrolments in:
  • Stage 3 course units that do not have practical examinations
  • Stage 1 course units
  • Preliminary course units.

Schools can upload changes to Stage 3 course unit enrolments which do not have a practical examination directly into the Student Information Records System (SIRS) until Wednesday, 24 September 2014, instead of providing the changes in writing to the Authority.

Note: No changes will be made to student enrolments to sit 2014 WACE examinations:

• in Stage 2 course units, after Wednesday, 2 July 2014.
• in Stage 3 course units with a practical examination, after Friday, 1 August 2014.

Food, Science and Technology Stage 2 and Stage 3 examination: special items

Contact
Andrew Sinfield (08) 9273 6369
andrew.sinfield@scsa.wa.edu.au
Kerry Cribb (08) 9273 6787
kerry.cribb@scsa.wa.edu.au

Teachers are reminded that for the WACE 2014 Food, Science and Technology Stage 2 and Stage 3 examinations, candidates are permitted to bring non-programmable calculators into the examination.

For further information, refer to the Food Science and Technology syllabus (updated June 2013), available online atwww.scsa.wa.edu.au/internet/Senior_Secondary/Courses/WACE_Courses/Food_Science_and_Technology

A copy of the examination front covers for Stage 2 and Stage 3 will be sent to schools in August.

Marker applications for 2014 WACE examinations

Contact
Selina Mosbergen (08) 9273 6327
selina.mosbergen@scsa.wa.edu.au
Cristina Caruso (08) 9273 6317
cristina.caruso@scsa.wa.edu.au

Teachers are reminded that applications for marking the written and practical 2014 WACE examinations are currently available online. The application form is on the Authority’s website atwww.scsa.wa.edu.au/About_Us/Employment.

Information about the marking process and how to apply is available on the website and was also outlined in edition 4 of eCircular.

Applications close on Wednesday, 2 July 2014.

Applicants will be informed of the outcome of their applications by:
Monday, 4 August 2014 (practical examinations)
Friday, 19 September 2014 (written examinations)

Multiple-choice answer sheet changed

Contact
Steve Donatti (08) 9273 6359
steve.donatti@scsa.wa.edu.au
Kerry Cribb (08) 9273 6787
kerry.cribb@scsa.wa.edu.au

Changes have been made to the layout of the multiple-choice answer sheet to be used in the Western Australian Certificate of Education (WACE) examinations in 2014.

A sample of the multiple-choice answer sheet is available on the associated course page atwww.scsa.wa.edu.au/internet/Senior_Secondary/Courses/WACE_Courses.

Updated course codes for VET industry specific courses, 2015-2016

Contact
Nicole Gazey (08)9442 9401
nicole.gazey@scsa.wa.edu.au

VET industry specific courses are no longer referred to as a subset of General courses. VET industry specific courses are now a WACE course type.

The structure of course codes is outlined in the following table for ATAR, General, Foundation and VET industry specific courses.

* VET industry specific course codes with a 6th character are unique to a qualification within syllabus.

The course codes for VET industry specific courses have been changed since publication. Please use the following table on the VET industry specific learning area page to determine the updated course codes for the qualifications relevant to your schools offerings for 2015.

Course codes identified in the VET industry specific syllabuses will be updated in Term 4 at the same time as updates are made to the qualifications to ensure they reflect the latest release of the relevant training packages.

VET INDUSTRY SPECIFIC COURSE OFFERINGS FOR 2015–16