2016 Activities Schedule

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

The Authority’s 2016 Activities Schedule (formerly known as the WACE Activities Schedule*) is available on the Authority website at http://www.scsa.wa.edu.au/internet/Publications/WACE_Activities_Schedule.

An electronic calendar download for Outlook is also available at this address.

Note: some edits to the electronic calendar have been made. To access these changes, please delete any copy of the 2016 electronic calendar you have already downloaded and reload the calendar. Earlier copies of the 2016 Activities Schedule were circulated to Principals on Tuesday, 10 November 2015. These copies have been superseded by the version published on the Authority website on 19 November 2015.

As the Externally Set Tasks (EST) dates are provisional and will be confirmed in February 2016, these dates have not been included in the calendar download for Outlook at this stage. An update will be provided once the EST dates are finalised. The 2016 Term Calendar will be available in the near future.

The dates in this schedule are colour-coded. Orange dates are for items to be received by the Authority. Bluedates are for items that will be available to, or received by, schools/providers. Greendates are significant to both schools and the Authority.

The following changes for 2016 should be noted:

In addition, there are a number of new entries relating to Externally Set Tasks.  It should be noted that all of these dates are provisional and will be confirmed in February 2016. A summary of these details follow below:

As indicated above, these EST dates have not been included in the calendar download for Outlook at this stage. An update will be provided once the EST dates are finalised.

*The name of the schedule has been changed to reflect the inclusion of some pre-primary to Year 10 activities.

Introduction to SIRS 2016

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

Limited places are available for school staff, using the Student Information Records System (SIRS), to attend a familiarisation seminar at the School Curriculum and Standards Authority. The seminar is aimed at new and existing users who have not previously attended a seminar.

Ideally, two staff members should attend; the clerical staff member who may be responsible for maintaining the changes on the school database and the deputy or associate principal who is responsible for timetable changes for students.

The seminar will cover the basic operations and functions of SIRS. This includes data transfer and the generation of reports which enable the information transferred to SIRS to be checked.

The seminar will be two hours duration. Participants will log into SIRS using their own school login and password.

There will be four sessions available prior to school commencing in 2016, which may be preferable for staff in remote and country Western Australia.

Seminar dates and times (2016)

More sessions may be provided if these sessions are fully booked.

Registrations can be made online at
www.scsa.wa.edu.au/internet/Events_and_Forms/Registrations_and_Logins/SIRS_intro.

The seminars will be held in the Mason Bird Building Training Room 1 at 303 Sevenoaks Street, Cannington.  Further details will be supplied to participants once registered.

In 2015, two sessions were held in Bunbury for South West participants, and if we have enough interest for 2016, it may be possible to conduct sessions there again.  Please contact Lynn.Galbraith@scsa.wa.edu.au if you would be interested in attending SIRS familiarisation in Bunbury.

Non-school candidates (formerly known as private candidates) enrolments, 2016

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

In 2016, an individual may enrol to sit an ATAR course examination as a non-school candidate (formerly private candidate) in the event that the individual is:

• seeking entry to university as a mature-age applicant, or
• undertaking language courses through interstate language offerings where the course is not offered by the school, or
• undertaking French, German and Italian Background language courses where the course is not offered by the school.

To enrol as a non-school candidate in an Interstate Languages course, the candidate must be enrolled to sit at least three ATAR course examinations.

A student may not enrol in an external examination for an Interstate Language at the same time as being enrolled in that course with the State that hosts the language.

Enrolments as non-school candidates in ATAR course examinations are due by Wednesday, 6 April 2016. No further applications will be accepted after this date.

Registration of secondary students and early registration of Year 10, 11 and 12 students in 2016

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

Schools and other education providers will be required to register their Year 10, Year 11 and Year 12 students with the Authority by Thursday, 18 February 2016.  All other students in Years 7, 8, and 9 must be registered by Friday, 18 March 2016.

It is critical that Year 10, Year 11 and Year 12 students are registered by 18 February to ensure their inclusion in the compulsory Online Literacy and Numeracy Assessment in March (unless pre-qualified through Year 9 NAPLAN performance or their achievement of the standard in Year 10 or Year 11). Demonstrating the minimum standard in the three components of the assessment (reading, writing and numeracy) is a requirement for students to achieve the WACE from 2016.

Details of how to register students will be provided in the updated Data Procedures Manual 2016, with links to assist schools using Reporting to Parents, MAZE, and Excel.

School Curriculum and Standards Authority (SCSA) student numbers
For information about SCSA student numbers, see the relevant item in this eCircular.

Requests for SCSA student numbers for 2016

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

SCSA student numbers info line(08) 9273 6344
numbers@scsa.wa.edu.au

Effective 12 October 2015, schools can request School Curriculum and Standards Authority (SCSA) student numbers automatically through the student information record system (SIRS) for Year 7 students starting in 2016. Details of how to request SCSA student numbers are in Section 1.2 of the Data Procedures Manual 2015 -http://www.scsa.wa.edu.au/internet/Publications/Data_Procedures_Manual.

For students other than Year 7, schools are encouraged to do an initial search in SIRS for student numbers via Enrolment > Student Enrolment > Find Student Number. If no record is found, schools can emailnumbers@scsa.wa.edu.au and advise the following:

• your school code
• student first name
• student surname
• date of birth
• academic year
• if the student has arrived in WA from overseas or interstate.

This will enable already allocated student numbers to be found prior to the undertaking of a more comprehensive search by the SCSA before a new number is issued.

Teacher Support materials for Year 12 ATAR, General and Foundation courses

Contact
John Newman(08) 9273 6757
John.Newman@scsa.wa.edu.au

Teachers of Year 12 ATAR, General and Foundation courses who are planning for course delivery in 2016 are advised that teacher support materials for each course are available to download athttp://wace1516.scsa.wa.edu.au/
These include:

• a sample course outline
• a sample assessment outline
• sample assessment tasks with marking keys for each course task type.

Career and Enterprise ATAR Year 12: minor syllabus amendment

Contact
Charmaine Ford(08) 9273 6306
charmaine.ford@scsa.wa.edu.au

Teachers of the Career and Enterprise ATAR Year 12 course are advised the following content dot point has been amended in the syllabus for teaching and examination in 2016.

Career and Enterprise ATAR Year 12

Workplace Learning (ADWPL) feedback report

Contact
Leanne Meldrum(08) 9273 6746
leanne.meldrum@scsa.wa.edu.au

In Term 3, coordinators, teachers and other personnel involved in the delivery of the new Workplace Learning endorsed program provided feedback to the Authority on:

• the clarity of the Authority-developed Workplace Learning Program Outline
• the effectiveness of the ADWPL templates (content and format):
  • Logbook
  • Skills Journal
  • Workplace Supervisor’s Information Brochure.

A summary of the feedback and updated ADWPL documents can be accessed by following this link: http://www.scsa.wa.edu.au/internet/Senior_Secondary/Endorsed_Programs

Amendments to the ADWPL Program Outline for 2016
The requirements of the endorsed program have not changed but as a result of the feedback, minor modifications have been made to the Program Outline to improve the clarity and understanding of the program requirements. The changes are as follows:

• Inclusion of a copyright statement
• ‘Real’ replaced with ‘paid/unpaid’ in the description
• ‘Teacher’ replaced by ‘member of the Workplace Learning supervisory team’
• Inclusion of a statement that students do not have to complete the Skills Journal requirement once the maximum of 4 unit equivalents has been met
• Amendments to Duty of Care information with the inclusion of the statement:

  ‘Where workplace learning activities fall outside the direct control of the school, the parent/guardian must determine the degree of risk associated with the activity and must take all reasonable steps to ensure the safety and well-being of the student for the duration of the program.’

• Replaced the phrase’…to demonstrate the student’s application of work skills, knowledge and understandings’ with ‘…to demonstrate the student’s application of knowledge and understanding of the Core Skills for Work.’ on the completion advice.

No amendments to the ADWPL Logbook template for 2016
Feedback from the survey indicated that the template was flexible enough to satisfy most formatting preferences while providing sufficient consistency of content. Schools had contextualised the template to suit their needs and many schools and clusters were in the process of refining their logbooks for 2016.

Some schools had added a safety induction checklist to the front of the Logbook and a last day checklist at the end. Others had added a tick box to the workplace supervisor’s evaluation form or made other minor modifications to their Logbooks.

Several schools requested that the attendance record be moved nearer to the front of the logbook for the convenience of the user. This is an acceptable change that schools can implement if they wish.

Another acceptable modification is to delete the ‘Start lunch’ and ‘End lunch’ columns from the attendance record if it is not required for duty of care purposes.

While these additional pages and minor adaptations suit some schools, it was determined that they do not need to be adopted by all schools and so no changes have been made to the ADWPL logbook template for 2016.

Note:  The checklists mentioned and the supervisor’s evaluation form with tick boxes have been added to the list of resources for ADWPL on the Endorsed Programs webpage and can be accessed by following this link:http://www.scsa.wa.edu.au/Apps/EP/display.aspx

Amendments to the ADWPL Skills Journal for 2016
Feedback from the survey indicated that the template was flexible enough to satisfy most formatting preferences while providing sufficient consistency of content. However, many respondents said the questions demanded a level of literacy beyond their students’ capabilities and required significant scaffolding.

They reported that students had most difficulty answering the questions when there was no class time allocated to ADWPL. Some schools had embedded ADWPL in a qualification or a unit of Career and Enterprise to provide some degree of support for the completion of the Skills Journal.

Many schools had scaffolded the questions to suit the needs of their students but requested that consideration be given to simplifying the language and restructuring some of the questions.

ADWPL Teacher’s Guide
Many teachers indicated the need for some guidance with instructing students to respond to the questions from the Skills Journal. A ‘Teacher’s Guide’ will be developed for this purpose. This resource will be available for the start of the 2016 school year.

Year 12 Drama ATAR Draft practical (performance) marking key for 2016

Contact
Sven Sorenson (08) 9273 6390
Principal Consultant – Curriculum (Drama)
sven.sorenson@scsa.wa.edu.au

Kaylene Power, 08) 9273 6777
Principal Consultant – Examinations
kaylene.power@scsa.wa.edu.au

The Drama ATAR WACE Examination 2016 Draft practical (performance) marking key has been published on the Drama ATAR course page under Examination materials at http://wace1516.scsa.wa.edu.au/syllabus-and-support-materials/arts/drama. This marking key has been developed to assist teachers with the transition in 2016 to the ATAR Drama syllabus for Year 12 and the Practical (performance) examination design brief – Year 12. Please note that this marking key may be further refined by the incumbent Drama examination panel. The provisional marking key that results from this process will be published in March 2016.

Student enrolments in course units, 2016

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

For the first time in 2016, Year 12 students will enrol in ATAR, General, Foundation, Preliminary and VET Industry Specific courses.  For ATAR, General and Foundation courses, the two Year 12 units must be studied and reported to the Authority as a pair (i.e. as a single mark and grade for each course).

Year 11 students in 2016 will continue to enrol in the ATAR, General, VET Industry Specific, Foundation and Preliminary courses.  For ATAR, General and Foundation courses the two units are typically studied and reported to the Authority as a pair, but may be studied and reported separately.

Sequencing of courses
While it is expected that students study Year 11 units before studying Year 12 units, the Authority does not formally require that Year 11 units are pre-requisites for study of Year 12 units. Students may enrol in Year 12 units without having studied Year 11 units in the same course.  However, enrolment in Year 11 units after completing Year 12 units in the same course pathway will not be permitted. Year 11 units may also be studied in Year 12 but students need to be aware of the WACE requirements before selecting Year 11 units.

Enrolments are due
In 2016, enrolments for Year 11 and Year 12 students studying courses are due by Friday, 4 March 2016 (earlier in the year than in previous years).

Changes to enrolments for Year 12 students
The last date for upload of changes to enrolments in courses for Year 12 students is Wednesday, 6 April. After this date, the SIRS facility will be locked and no further changes (except withdrawals) will be accepted.

Year 12 students will still be able to withdraw from:

• ATAR courses with practical examination components up until Friday, 29 July and from ATAR courses which do not have practical examination components up until Friday, 26 August
• General, Foundation , Preliminary and VET industry specific courses up until Friday, 26 August.

New requirements for the WACE come into effect for Year 11 and Year 12 students in 2016.

Syllabus delivery audit 2016: Year 12 General and Foundation courses

Contact
Graeme Quelch(08) 9273 6758
Graeme.quelch@scsa.wa.edu.au

Schools are advised that in 2016 the School Curriculum and Standards Authority (the Authority) will conduct a syllabus delivery audit for all Year 12 General and Foundation syllabuses. This moderation activity is designed to ensure that all schools are delivering and assessing the current syllabus in line with the requirements of the WACE Manual 2015–2016.

Schools are required to submit a separate course outline and an assessment outline document for each Year 12 general and Foundation course delivered.

For courses with defined contexts in Year 12 (i.e. Design, Materials Design and Technology), schools are asked to upload a course outline and an assessment outline for each context.

Schools are reminded that for Year 12 courses, the course outline and the assessment outline should cover both Unit 3 and Unit 4.

The process will require upload of documents to SIRS2, as in 2015.

Schools are required tocomplete this task between 8.00 am Thursday 19 November 2015 and 4.00 pm Friday 26 February 2016.
The files can be either a Word document or in pdf format.

For 2016, schools are asked toensure that each file is correctly named according to the following naming convention.

NB: the SDA 2016 software will not accept the document if an incorrectly named file is uploaded.
Following the Authority's review of the documents in 2016, a report for each course will be available to schools. Schools will be informed if a document does not meet the requirements of the syllabus and/or the WACE Manual 2015–16. The report will specify the action/s that the school needs to take to ensure compliance.

2016 Dance set solo materials in schools

Contact
Lisa Honczarenko (08) 9273 6763
lisa.honczarenko@scsa.wa.edu.au

Mark Leigh (08) 9273 6795
mark.leigh@scsa.wa.edu.au

The set solo materials for the Dance practical (performance) examination for 2016 was sent to all schools offering Dance in 2015. The package, comprised a DVD and a CD, addressed to the teacher-in-charge of Dance.

The DVD contains the set solo. The CD contains the music track for the set solo and the technical notes, including the choreographer’s intent. Candidates will be required to learn the set solo for Performance two of the practical examination in 2016.