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

Primary schools using the Brightpath assessment tool, ABLEWA assessment tool or who will be participating in NAPLAN Online in 2017 are required to upload a Student Registration and Demographic File (SRGDG) to the Student Information Records System (SIRS) at the School Curriculum and Standards Authority.

Schools that will be participating in NAPLAN Online in 2017 will be required to register their students by Thursday, 16 February 2017.  Schools already utilising the Brightpath and/or ABLEWA assessment tools will be required to have their registrations completed by Tuesday 28 February 2017. Student registrations for schools new to Brightpath or ABLEWA are required to be uploaded by Friday 31 March 2017.

Details of how to register students will be provided through communication with schools and in the Student Registration Procedures Manual 2017 with links to assist schools using Integris, MAZE, and instructions for creating Excel spreadsheets.  

Online video training will be available to assist with this process.

Western Australian Student Number (WASN)

A number of schools have already issued a student number to their primary students.  This number will stay with the student throughout their school life.  It is imperative that schools recognise the importance of the WA Student Number to avoid duplication of records and maintain continuity of student data.

If your students already have a WA student number, and you have new students enrolling in 2017 – please contact numbers@scsa.wa.edu.au and give details of the student legal surname, legal first name, date of birth and academic year.  It is also useful to include your school code in any correspondence with the Authority.  There are separate instructions on how to request a WASN for your Kindergarten students in the Student Registration Manual 2017, as it is very unlikely they will already have a number at the commencement of the 2017 school year.

If none of your students have a student number – please also contact numbers@scsa.wa.edu.au and advise how many students are in each academic year K – 6.  We will allocate batches of numbers, which you can import into your database/system prior to uploading the SRGDG file to the Authority.

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

All student registrations are recorded in SIRS by the end of March in the current year. After this time you will be able to search for students using the current year.

The Western Australian student number (WASN) is also known as a SCSA student number. There may still be references to the SCSA student number in some documentation. This eight digit number, once allocated to a student, will remain with them throughout their school life.

If a student arrives at your school from another school in Western Australia, or even from overseas/interstate, you have the ability to search in the Student Information Records System (SIRS) for that student’s WASN. All you need is a family name (surname), given name (first name) and date of birth.

This will then give you the student’s previous school and you will know where to send a transfer note if required.

1. Hover over Enrolments in the horizontal blue menu bar.
2. Click on Student Enrolment > Student Maintenance > Find Student Number (see image below).

The Find Student Number directory will appear (see image below). Enter the student’s Family Name, Given Name and Date of Birth.

3. Click Search.If the information you have entered exactly matches the information in SIRS, you will find a result even if the student is not at your school (see image below).

If the details you have requested are different from the information in SIRS (e.g. date of birth is different, Jackie is spelt as Jacky etc.), no information will be found. In this case, please email numbers@scsa.wa.edu.au and provide the student’s:

• family name (surname)
• given name (first name)
• date of birth
• academic year
• previous school (if known).

1.1.1 Troubleshooting: Search WA student numbers

1. What happens if the requested information does not show?Email numbers@scsa.wa.edu.au and provide student name, academic year and date of birth.
2. What happens when only 2016 to 2016 is entered in the date range?Only a result for that year will be returned.
3. What does it mean when the Department of Education (9000) is shown as the student’s main provider?

It means the student is likely to be under a Notice of Arrangements or may have been on the Whereabouts Unknown List (more likely with Years 7, 8, 9 and 10).

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

Limited places are still available for secondary 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 secondary school 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 approximately two and a half hours duration. Participants will log into SIRS using their own school login and password.

Seminar dates and times (2017)

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

Registrations can be made online at

http://www.scsa.wa.edu.au/events/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 and 2016, two sessions were held in Bunbury for South West participants, and if we have enough interest for 2017, 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.

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, 16 February 2017. All other students in Years 7, 8, and 9 must be registered by Thursday, 16 March 2017.

It is critical that Year 10, Year 11 and Year 12 students are registered by 16 February to ensure their inclusion in the compulsory Online Literacy and Numeracy Assessment (OLNA) 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.

Schools that will be participating in NAPLAN Online in 2017 will also be required to register their Year 7 and Year 9 students by Thursday, 16 February 2017.

Details of how to register students will be provided in the updated Data Procedures Manual 2017, with links to assist schools using Reporting to Parents, MAZE, and Excel.

Requesting Year 7 WA student numbers (WASN’s) also known as the SCSA student number

To request Year 7 WASN’s, please send a spreadsheet containing the students surname, first name and date of birth to numbers@scsa.wa.edu.au and a check will be made before returning with allocated numbers and a request made for new numbers where appropriate.

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

Schools are reminded they have until Thursday, 9 February 2017 to verify and confirm the achievement data submitted to the Authority for students in years other than Year 12.

The achievements required include:

• Course units (ATAR, General, Foundation, Preliminary and VET Industry Specific courses) for semester 1, 2 or full year
• VET qualifications
• VET units of competency and
• endorsed programs.

The declaration forms for course units, VET and endorsed programs are to be completed and signed by the principal. The declaration forms were posted to schools on 17January 2017, as per the 2017 Activities Schedule.

Some schools had not finalised the transfer of their data by the end of the 2016 school year. If your school has not uploaded the appropriate data files to the Student Information Records System (SIRS), please do so as a matter of urgency.

A mark and a grade are required for all Year 11 students.

• A student’s school-based achievement for a Year 11 course may be recorded for each pair of units (i.e. one mark and grade), OR
• for each unit completed (i.e. two marks and two grades).

Additionally

• The VET Unique Student Identifier is a requirement for VET achievement intended for contribution towards the WACE requirements.

The results for students who have left your school need to be finalised if they had enrolments. If the students should have been withdrawn from a course unit, this withdrawal will need to be uploaded through the ENCOS file to SIRS. If students have been withdrawn from VET units of competency and endorsed programs, this will need to be uploaded using the correct code through the RSVET and RSEND files respectively.

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

In 2017, 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
• a student who has previously completed Year 12, or
• a Year 12 student undertaking language course examinations through interstate language offerings where the course is not offered by the school, or
• a Year 12 student undertaking French, German and Italian Background language examinations where the course is not offered by the school.

To enrol as a non-school candidate in an Interstate Languages course examination or in the French, German or Italian Background language course examination, the candidate must be enrolled to sit at least three other ATAR course examinations in 2017.

An individual 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, and
• more than one Interstate Language examinations.

An individual enrolled in an ATAR course examination as a non-school candidate is unable to use the mark from that examination to contribute towards the achievement of an exhibition or award.

Enrolments as non-school candidates in ATAR course examinations are due by Wednesday, 5 April 2017. No further applications will be accepted after this date.

Contact
Annette Moon (08) 9273 6789
Annette.Moon@scsa.wa.edu.au

Teachers are reminded the Authority is providing two sets of seminars for senior secondary teachers.

• One for new and/or inexperienced teachers of WACE courses (i.e. graduate teachers, teachers who have not previously taught Year 11 or Year 12, teachers from interstate or overseas). These seminars are Learning Area specific.
• One for teachers involved in small group moderation in 2017 who wish to learn more about this process.

All seminars will be conducted at the Authority (303 Sevenoaks St, Cannington). Details of all seminars and webinars can be accessed when the teacher registers online from the Authority website at www.scsa.wa.edu.au.

Webinars will be provided as an alternative for face-to-face meetings.

The seminars are free to attend, but the school is responsible for teacher relief and any travel and accommodation expenses.

Contact
Mandy Hudson (08) 9273 6755
Mandy.Hudson@scsa.wa.edu.au

The Board of the School Curriculum and Standards Authority has endorsed the re-introduction of the consensus moderation process for the senior secondary years, commencing in 2017.

The process will be conducted for Year 12 courses from 6 June 2017 – 23 June 2017 (Weeks 7 to 9 Term 2) and for Year 11 courses from 24 July 2017 – 11 August 2017 (Weeks 2 to 4 Term 3).

During Term 1 2017, each school will be required to register online, one teacher for each of the courses below that the school is delivering.

The key features of the process will be the same as when it was last conducted in 2014:

• Participation in this moderation process is compulsory for all schools delivering a course involved in the particular year (see table below).
• All teachers participating are required to provide a student assessment file for a prescribed number of students (typically three students, one at each grade from A to C).
• Each student assessment file must include all the marked assessment tasks for that student (including the Externally Set Task where it has been conducted) up to the time of providing the file.
• In the Perth metropolitan area and larger regional centres consensus moderation occurs at meetings of typically 10-15 teachers.
• Schools more than 100km from the nearest scheduled meeting venue are required to send the materials to the Authority for review.
• All assessment files are reviewed independently, twice by other teachers attending the meeting (or organised to by the Authority to review files sent in by schools more than 100 km from the nearest scheduled meeting venue).
• For each assessment file, feedback from each reviewing teacher in the form of a grade and a supporting comment for that judgement.
• The teachers reflect on the feedback received from their colleagues to help determine any adjustments that may be required so that the school’s marking and grading is comparable with the standard of their colleagues in the group.

The courses involved for 2017 are:

Prior to attending the meeting, the teacher registered to represent the school will be required to download two Authority-selected student work samples and mark these using the marking key provided by the Authority in preparation for discussion about marking and grading standards for the course. Teachers will be required to upload their two marks prior to attending the meeting. Alternative arrangements will be made for those schools more than 100 km from the nearest scheduled venue.

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

Angela Kiely (08) 9273 6751 
angela.kiely@scsa.wa.edu.au

Teachers are advised that from 2017 all workplace hours completed by a student in Year 10, 11 or 12 can be counted towards the Authority-developed endorsed program, Workplace Learning (ADWPL).

This includes the achievement of current work placement VET modules that are required as part of a pre-apprenticeship program, school-based apprenticeship or traineeship and all workplace hours completed by a student undertaking on-the-job training and assessment as part of a VET qualification.

This simplification is as a result of the new WACE requirements for 2016 and beyond, the changes to the Department of Training and Workforce Development funding for mandated work practice modules, and in response to a number of queries from schools about whether to count workplace hours as VET or ADWPL.

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

In 2017, Year 11 and Year 12 students can enrol in ATAR, General, Foundation, Preliminary and VET Industry Specific courses.

Schools are reminded that Year 11 and Year 12 student enrolments in these courses must be uploaded to the Student Information Records System (SIRS) by Thursday, 2 March 2017.

Enrolments in course units

The instructions to assist schools to enrol their students in courses are detailed in the Data Procedures Manual 2017. The manual will be available on the Authority website at the following address: http://www.scsa.wa.edu.au/internet/Publications/Data_Procedures_Manual.

The specific sub-sections for information relating to extracting data of students enrolled in courses, uploading the enrolments into SIRS and verifying these enrolments in SIRS are listed below.  

Details relating to enrolments in course units

Further information relating to the study of courses can be found in Section 5: Enrolments of the Data Procedures Manual 2017.

Contact
Annette Moon (08) 9273 6789
Annette.Moon@scsa.wa.edu.au

Teachers of Ancient History ATAR Year 11 course are reminded to take the following statement from the syllabus into consideration when planning for 2017.

‘Note: The society/time period studied must not be the same as that studied in Unit 1 or planned for  Year 12 (Unit 3 or Unit 4).’

This requirement was included in the syllabus to allow for flexibility whilst acknowledging that some of the Year 11 Unit 2 electives overlap with the Year 12 Unit 3 and Unit 4 electives.

The following combinations of electives are not considered to reflect the intent of the above statement in the syllabus.

For Egyptian electives based on aspects of New Kingdom Egypt:

• Year 11 Unit 2 ‘Egypt in the Ramesside Period 19th and 20th Dynasties’ with Year 12 Unit 3 ‘New Kingdom Egypt to the death of Horemheb’
• Year 11 Unit 2 ‘Egypt in the Ramesside Period 19th and 20th Dynasties’ with Year 12 Unit 4 ‘Thebes – East and West, New Kingdom Egypt’.

For Greek electives based on Sparta:

• Year 11 Unit 2 ‘Sparta c. 700–371BC’ with Year 12 Unit 3 ‘Athens, 481–440BC’
• Year 11 Unit 2 ‘Sparta c. 700–371BC’ with Year 12 Unit 4 ‘Athens, Sparta and the Peloponnesian War 440–404BC’.

For Roman electives:

• Year 11 Unit 2 ‘Early Imperial Rome: Pax Romana 27 BC–AD180’ with Unit 3 ‘Rome 133–63BC’
• Year 11 Unit 2 ‘Early Imperial Rome: Pax Romana 27 BC–AD180’ with Unit 4 ‘Rome 63 BC–AD 14’
• Year 11 Unit 2 ‘Rome 264–133 BC’ with Unit 3 ‘Rome 133–63BC’
• Year 11 Unit 2 ‘Rome 264–133 BC’ with Unit 4 ‘Rome 63 BC–AD 14’.

Note: There is no time period overlap in this last combination but all three electives area study of the same society in a very similar time period.

For additional information contact Annette.Moon@scsa.wa.edu.au.

Contact
Buddhini Daluwatta (08) 9273 6761
buddhini.daluwatta@scsa.wa.edu.au

Kerry Cribb (08) 9273 6787
kerry.cribb@scsa.wa.edu.au

Early in Term 1 2017, teachers will be able to attend teacher/examiner forums to provide feedback and ask questions of examining panels about the ATAR course examinations that have been held in 2016.

All teacher/examiner forums will take place from 4–6pm in meeting rooms at the School Curriculum and Standards Authority, 303 Sevenoaks Street, Cannington. Teachers attending the forums are advised to bring a copy of the ATAR course examination.

Teachers intending to participate in these forums are asked to register online at http://www.scsa.wa.edu.au/events/teacher-examiner-forums

Forums are planned for all courses on the dates listed below.

Contact
Graeme Quelch (08) 92736758 
Graeme.quelch@scsa.wa.edu.au

All schools are reminded they are required to submit to the Authority the following documents for each ATAR Year 11 course they are delivering in 2017:

*             a course outline

*             an assessment outline.

These documents are to be uploaded through the Student Information Records System 2 (SIRS2).

The URL for the SDA 2017 page is https://sirs2.scsa.wa.edu.au

Schools are required to upload the required documents by 4.00pm Friday 24 February 2017.

Please note that schools will not be able to upload documents after this date.

All information on the SDA 2017 is located here

http://www.scsa.wa.edu.au/internet/Senior_Secondary/Moderation/syllabus_delivery_audit

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

In 2016, the Breach of Examination Rules Committee found that 75 candidates had breached examination rules. All but 18 of the breaches were for the practical examinations. 11 candidates appealed the committee’s decision. The appeals committee ruled that 10 of these candidates had breached the examination rules. Two of the candidates had their penalty reduced.

The breaches indicated that teachers did not follow the practical examination requirements sent to schools in March and that students were not informed of these requirements, nor had they followed the instructions written in the Year 12 Information Handbook.

The table below summarises the penalties for these breaches of examination rules.

Procedures and guidelines for 2016

The rules for conduct of the Authority examinations will be published in the Year 12 Information Handbook. It is the responsibility of all candidates to ensure that they understand all instructions relating to the examinations. The examination centre supervisor (written examinations) and the chief marker (practical examinations) will report alleged breaches of examination rules to the manager, examinations (logistics) at the School Curriculum and Standards Authority.

Breaches of examination rules and maximum penalties that might apply include but are not limited to:

• Impersonation of a candidate: cancellation of all the candidate’s practical and/or written raw examination marks, exclusion from remaining examinations in that year. The matter will be reported to the police.
• Collusion between candidates: cancellation of that practical and/or written raw examination marks of each of those candidates involved, together with an inspection of prior papers/recordings in any common examination for evidence of collusion.
• Possession or knowledge of examination questions before an examination: cancellation of all the candidate’s practical and/or written raw examination marks. The matter will be reported to the police.
• Possession of unauthorised materials during the examination: cancellation of part or all of the practical and/or written raw examination marks where unauthorised materials are considered to be relevant to the course being examined (whether or not actual use is established).
• Possession of mobile technologies (e.g. smart watch, mobile phone, personal music player) and/or calculator in an examination for which it is not approved: cancellation of all or part of the candidate’s marks for that practical and/or written examination.
• Notes and other markings on authorised materials in the examination room: cancellation of part or all of the practical and/or written raw examination mark where markings in tables, data books or dictionaries etc. are considered to be relevant to the course being examined (whether or not actual use is established).
• Unauthorised removal of examination materials: cancellation of the part(s) of the candidate’s practical and/or written raw examination mark being removed. The matter will be reported to the police.
• Blatant disregard of examination room regulations: removal of the candidate from the examination room.
• Failure to follow examination instructions: cancellation of part or all of the candidate’s practical and/or written raw examination mark where the candidate’s failure to follow the instructions is considered to have given the candidate an advantage over other candidates.
• False declarations: cancellation of part or all of the practical and/or written examination mark where the candidate falsely declares that the work presented for external assessment is their own and/or that it conforms to the specifications of the course.

Candidates will have the right of appeal against a penalty being imposed on the following grounds:

• a breach of examination rules did not occur, or
• the School Curriculum and Standards Authority procedures used to determine if a breach occurred were not proper.

Such an appeal must be lodged at the School Curriculum and Standards Authority within eight (8) calendar days of the dispatch date of the penalty notification.

Advice for schools

Schools should work with their students to ensure that they understand the instructions relating to the examinations. In particular, schools are asked to:

• ensure that where materials are permitted into the examination centre, they are approved according to the relevant syllabus and/or School Curriculum and Standards Authority 11to12 Circular and the Year 12 Information Handbook
• ensure that all students understand the instructions relating to the ATAR course examinations and that, if they breach these rules, penalties will apply as the onus is on the candidate to ensure that they understand and abide by the published examination rules
• ensure that teachers and students follow the practical examination guidelines published to schools in March
• inform their students that mobile technologies such as smart watches, mobile telephones and iPods must not be taken into the examination room
• inform students that they should not write on their hands or other parts of the body during exams as this may be perceived by supervisors as having been written before the exam and thus constitute unauthorised notes
• inform their students that, should they observe another candidate breaking the examination rules, they should report this action immediately to a supervisor
• ensure that teachers are aware they cannot authorise materials to be used in an examination if the material is not approved by the School Curriculum and Standards Authority
• check the Media Production and Analysis to ensure the work is within the submission Year 12 context. This means that it contains no images of people self-harming, using drugs or violence. The image should only be symbolic and not simulated.

Contact
Jenny Morup 9273 6377 
jenny.morup@scsa.wa.edu.au

The 2017 written ATAR course examinations will run from Wednesday, 1 November to 
Tuesday, 21 November.

The 2017 practical ATAR course examinations will be scheduled as follows:

1. Saturday, 23 September to Sunday, 1 October (Saturday, Sunday and the public holiday included)
   Aviation, Dance, Drama, Music and Physical Education Studies
2. Saturday, 23 September to Saturday, 7 October (Saturday, Sunday and the public holiday included)
   English as an Additional Language/Dialect (overseas schools)
3. Saturday, 14 October and Sunday, 15 October
   Chinese: Second Language, Indonesian: Second Language and Japanese: Second Language
4. Friday, 13 October to Sunday, 29 October (Saturday and Sunday included)
   English as an Additional Language/Dialect (Western Australian schools), French: Second Language, French: Background Language, German: Second Language, German: Background Language and Italian: Second Language, Italian: Background Language

The school will not be able to specify particular day/s for the practical examinations to be held for all of its students. Students from a school must be randomly allocated to examination times throughout all of the days allotted for a course. This process ensures anonymity for all candidates.

Schools are advised to plan activities such as school examinations, final-day assembly, graduation, valedictory dinners and leavers’ breakfast on dates other than those listed above. These activities should be scheduled when there are no examinations for local students, such as between Monday, 2 October and Thursday, 12 October.

Schools are requested to communicate the written and practical examination dates to students, teachers and parents. No allowance in the timetable can be made for holidays, work or personal arrangements.

The written ATAR course examination dates for future years will be:

2018          Thursday, 1 November – Wednesday, 21 November

2019          Friday, 1 November – Thursday, 21 November

2020          Monday, 2 November – Friday, 20 November.

Contact
Jenny Morup 9273 6309 
jenny.morup@scsa.wa.edu.au

Carolyn Hackett 9273 6316 
carolyn.hackett@scsa.wa.edu.au

The Authority is seeking expressions of interest by Thursday, 2 March 2017 from suitably qualified and experienced persons to assist with the assessment of special examination arrangement applications for the 2017 ATAR course examinations. Applications to be assessed will relate to candidates within the specific learning disability, psychological or ADD/ADHD categories.

Assessors will work in pairs with a psychologist and a person with whole-of-school management experience. Work will be outside of business hours on a contract basis, with payment per application. As highly sensitive information will be accessed during the assessment process, all assessors will be expected to have a National Police Clearance Check and to sign a confidentiality declaration.

Assessing applications will present an excellent opportunity for valuable professional development related to the assessment of candidates with disabilities. The role is also ideally suited to recently retired senior school administrators or those on leave.

Interested school counsellors or educational psychologists should have experience assessing and diagnosing senior students with learning disabilities using current, relevant diagnostic tools.

Interested school representatives should have experience working with senior students with learning disabilities in the school environment. Ideally, applicants would have whole-of-school management experience.

Training, to be provided before the start of the assessment period, is expected to occur in late May or early June 2017. Training will be conducted after business hours.

Most assessments of special examination arrangement applications will be completed within a tight timeframe in June and early July 2017. Assessors should be available between late-May and late-July, with the possibility of some work continuing into August.

An expression of interest does not guarantee appointment. Applicants will be advised in Term 2 if their services will be required. Assessors from previous years are encouraged to reapply for 2017.

The Expression of interest form is available on the Authority website at 
http://senior-secondary.scsa.wa.edu.au/assessment/examinations/special-provisions.

Contact
Jenny Morup 9273 6309 
jenny.morup@scsa.wa.edu.au

Carolyn Hackett 9273 6316 
carolyn.hackett@scsa.wa.edu.au

The application form for special arrangements in the 2017 ATAR course examinations will be sent to schools soon. The form is to be used for candidates with a permanent or temporary disability that may disadvantage them in the ATAR examinations. It is the responsibility of schools to complete the form and submit it to the Authority on behalf of each candidate. The form is not to be sent home with students for completion. Completed forms should be submitted to the Authority by 16 May 2017.

Any student seeking any type of variation to the standard examination conditions must have an application form submitted for them. Please ensure this requirement is brought to the attention of all students early in the year to allow them sufficient time to provide the medical evidence to support an application. Illnesses, such as diabetes, are classed as permanent disabilities and candidates will need special arrangements approved to take medication, food and extra drink into any examination.

Special arrangements are available for practical and written examinations.

Application process

The 2017 application form places considerable emphasis on the school’s case management of a student’s disability. In the first instance, there should be a demonstrated history of targeted remediation to assist the student to develop skills needed in examinations. Schools should consider the needs of their students during Years 10 and 11 so they may trial arrangements for timed assessment tasks. Until a decision has been made by the Authority, all special arrangements must be considered temporary and subject to change. As in previous years, specific information will be required relating to the student’s essay writing ability. Students with a reading disability will also be required to provide recent results of a PAT-R reading comprehension test.

Schools must ensure any special examination arrangements offered at school level are in line with arrangements granted by the Authority for the ATAR course examination, as described in the special provisions documents on the Authority website and Section G of the application form. Arrangements offered by schools that are outside the published guidelines will not be approved for the ATAR course examination. Requests for arrangements that cannot be approved will delay the assessment process and response.

The Authority does not automatically adopt a medical/psychological provider’s advice or replicate the special examination arrangements that the school may have put in place for school assessment. Applications are considered on an individual basis and are based on the demonstrated functional impact of that disability in timed assessments. It is essential that no candidate will be advantaged over another candidate in the examinations, except through having more knowledge, understanding and skill relating to the course being examined.

Schools are urged to ensure that all applications for special examination arrangements, along with all supporting information, are submitted to the Authority by 16 May 2017. Schools are encouraged to submit completed applications well before the due date as applications will be processed in order of receipt. Decisions regarding approved applications that are received by 16 May will be communicated to schools in time for implementation in Semester 2. It will be the responsibility of the school to convey the decision to the candidate.

All case coordinators will need access to SIRS to access the decisions and supporting documentation.

Incomplete applications will not be assessed.

Practical examinations

Please also refer to the 11to12 Circular item about special format practical examinations that will be required by any candidate with a long-term injury or illness affecting their participation in standard practical examinations. Failure to apply for special format practical examinations for these candidates will jeopardise their completion of course requirements if they are not able to undertake the standard practical examination.

There will be no sickness/misadventure consideration for candidates on the basis of an injury or illness existing at the start of Term 3.

Late applications for special format practical examinations will be accepted until 28 July 2017.

Contact
Jenny Morup 9273 6309 
jenny.morup@scsa.wa.edu.au

Carolyn Hackett 9273 6316 
carolyn.hackett@scsa.wa.edu.au

Candidates with an injury or illness existing at the start of Term 3 should apply to be examined in an alternative format, if the injury or illness will affect their participation in the standard practical examination of any course.There will be no sickness/misadventure consideration for candidates on the basis of an injury or illness existing at the start of Term 3.

The alternative format examination will be designed to assess the same aspects as the standard practical examination. An alternative, but equitable, marking key will be developed for these candidates.

Application is to be made on the standard special examination arrangements application form, distributed to all schools in February. The application is to be supported by appropriate medical information. The school will be advised of the outcome of the application. It will be the responsibility of the school to convey the decision to the candidate.

Candidates will be expected to report at the designated time and location for completion of this alternative format practical examination. The scheduling of these examinations will coincide with the standard practical examinations for that course.

Candidates studying Physical Education Studies or Dance are the most likely to need special arrangements; however candidates in any course with a performance or interview component may be eligible.

Where the nature and duration of the candidate’s condition is definite and known early (e.g. an elective knee reconstruction), the application should be made by the deadline of 16 May 2017. Where the injury or illness occurs after that date, application should be made as soon as it is known that the candidate will be unlikely to participate in the standard format of the practical examination. Unless a candidate with an injury or illness existing as of the start of Term 3 can be guaranteed to recover sufficiently to sit the standard practical examination, the school should apply for the student to sit an alternative format practical examination. The last date for application is 28 July 2017.

Failure to submit an application will jeopardise the candidate’s completion of the examination requirements for that course. It may also impact on their achievement of the WACE and affect their ATAR. Completion of the alternative format practical examination by a candidate with a long-term injury or illness is not discretionary. Failure to complete the practical examination due to long-term injury or illness will mean that the candidate will not have their school grade for that ATAR Year 12 course count towards meeting any of the WACE requirements.

As this is the seventh year of operation for this requirement, no leniency will be provided for candidates or schools not following the required process. In recent years a number of candidates did not achieve a WACE as a direct result of ignoring this requirement.

Relevant staff should note this information and plan a reminder for the end of Term 2 to allow applications to be prepared in time for submission to the Authority by the deadlines.

It is advisable that this information be included in the school newsletter for parents and students at the start of Term 3.

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

Schools are reminded that students who are enrolled in a Year 12 ATAR course pair of units are required to sit the ATAR course examination. There are both written and practical examinations for some ATAR courses.

From 2017, students who do not sit an ATAR course examination and do not have an approved sickness/misadventure application for that course, will not have the grades for the pair of units completed in that year contribute to the calculation of the Western Australian Certificate of Education (WACE).

This means, the grades for the ATAR Year 12 course will not contribute to the:

• completion of a minimum of 20 units, including 10 Year 12 units
• completion of at least one pair of Year 12 units from an English course (if the ATAR Year 12 course was either English, Literature or English as an Additional Language or Dialect)
• completion of one pair of Year 12 units from List A (arts/languages/social sciences) or List B (mathematics/science/technology) {depending on the list of the ATAR Year 12 course}
• achievement of at least 14 C grades or higher, including at least six C grades in Year 12 units
• completion of at least four Year 12 ATAR courses.

Previously, the grades for the pair of units completed in that year did not contribute to meeting the achievement standard, but they could count in the breadth and depth requirement. This is no longer the case.

Students who do not sit the ATAR course examination will not have a course mark or grade recorded on their Western Australian Statement of Student Achievement (WASSA), nor will they receive an ATAR course report.

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

The Authority advises consultation with students who may be enrolled in ATAR course/s but who are not requiring an ATAR to confirm that they must sit the examination for that course for it to contribute to their WACE.

Contact
Kerry Cribb (08) 9273 6787
kerry.cribb@scsa.wa.edu.au

The following booklets are available on the School Curriculum and Standards Authority website at the links indicated. Each booklet is for teaching and examining in 2017.

Contact 
Kerry Cribb (08) 9273 6787 
kerry.cribb@scsa.wa.edu.au

The Externally set tasks handbook 2017 is available on the School Curriculum and Standards Authority website at http://senior-secondary.scsa.wa.edu.au/assessment/externally-set-tasks.

The handbook contains the 2017 timeline for conducting the ESTs and information related to the processes and procedures associated with the EST.

Based on requests from schools the total mark allocated to each General and Foundation EST in 2017 is provided in a separate document located at http://senior-secondary.scsa.wa.edu.au/assessment/externally-set-tasks.