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

Schools are advised that 2017 Year 12 students will be able to access their results online at https://www.wace.wa.edu.au opens in new window on Tuesday, 19 December 2017.

To log on, students will need their student number and other personal identification information. It is advisable that students provide an alternate email address via the student portal. This is to avoid issues where school email accounts close prior to the release of results.

Students who experience technical difficulties in accessing their information need to contact the Authority at wacehelp@scsa.wa.edu.au [monitored from Monday to Friday (excluding public holidays) between 8:00am to 5:00pm].

Schools are reminded that the Authority may need to speak with the specified contact person early in January should students question the results reported by schools to the Authority.

Students will receive their folios of achievement (i.e. WACE, WASSA and ATAR course report) during January 2018.

Students who are seeking details relating to university admission (including their ATAR) are advised to contact the Tertiary Institutions Service Centre.

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

This is a reminder that the Year 12 achievement data is due to the School Curriculum and Standards Authority by Wednesday, 1 November 2017 as per the 2017 Activities Schedule.

Information about collecting achievement data was sent to schools Monday, 9 October 2017.

Schools will need to provide the achievement data for:

• Year 12 students for course units (ATAR, General, Foundation, Preliminary and VET industry specific courses), VET qualifications, VET units of competency and endorsed programs
• non-Year 12 students sitting one or more ATAR course examinations.

Contacts
Lynn Galbraith (08) 9273 6702
lynn.galbraith@education.wa.edu.au opens in new window

Rick Browner (08) 9273 6386
rick.browner@education.wa.edu.au opens in new window
dataservices@scsa.wa.edu.au

Schools and other education providers are asked to note the following important dates as the last date for the initial upload of student registration and demographic information to SIRS in 2018.  Please do not leave it until the last date to upload your data.

Thursday 15 February 2018

• Initial 2018 registration and demographic information for Years 10–12 students (required for Online Literacy and Numeracy Assessment (OLNA) student lists and password generation).
• Initial 2018 registration and demographic information for ALL Kindergarten–Year 6 students where these students attend schools either administering NAPLAN online or delivering Brightpath.
• Initial 2018 registration and demographic information for all Year 7 and Year 9 students where these students attend schools administering NAPLAN online.

Thursday 15 March 2018

• Registration and demographic information for Years 7–9 students where these students attend schools not administering NAPLAN online is due to be uploaded on Thursday, 15 March 2018.

Thursday 12 April 2018

• Registration and demographic information for Kindergarten-Year 6 students where these students attend schools not administering NAPLAN online is due to be uploaded on Thursday, 12 April 2018.

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

Details of how to register students will be provided in the updated Data Procedures Manual 2018, with links to assist schools using Reporting to Parents, MAZE, and Excel.  There is also a separate Student Registration Procedures Manual 2018 – Primary Students found at https://www.scsa.wa.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0009/349641/Student-Registration-Procedures-Manual-2017-Primary-Students-web-version.PDF to assist primary schools with creating and uploading their Student Registration and Demographic File (SRGDG).

Schools who have never previously registered their students with the Authority will be contacted during 2018 with instructions on how to request and allocate the WASN and how to upload an SRGDG to SIRS.

Requesting WA student numbers (WASN)

WASNs for Kindergarten students ONLY can be requested directly through SIRS from the commencement of Term 4 2017.  Please see instructions in the Section 3.3 of the Student Registration Procedures Manual 2018 – Primary Students found in the above link.

Schools where most students already have a WASN and new students have enrolled who require a number, please check first using the ‘Search for WASN’ process – explained in ‘How to Search for WA Student Numbers in SIRS’ in this Circular.  If you cannot locate a number, then contact numbers@scsa.wa.edu.au and give details of the student’s legal surname, legal first name, date of birth and academic year.

To request WA student numbers, where you have a large number of students requiring numbers, please send a spreadsheet containing the students’ surname, first name, date of birth and academic year 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.

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

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

The 2018 Activities Schedule is available on the Authority website at three locations:

• http://www.scsa.wa.edu.au/publications/activities-schedule
• https://k10outline.scsa.wa.edu.au/home/resources/activities-schedule
• https://senior-secondary.scsa.wa.edu.au/further-resources/activities-schedule

The 2018 Term Calendar and 2018 Term 1 Outlook calendar will be available in Term 1 2018.

As in 2017, the Outlook calendar will be available to download on a term by term basis. Any updates to the activities schedule will be noted in the Circular and replicated in new versions of the calendar.

The dates in this schedule are colour-coded:

• Orange dates are for items to be received by the School Curriculum and Standards Authority
• Blue dates are for items that will be available to, or received by, schools/providers
• Green dates are significant to both schools and the Authority
• ✱indicates activities relating to primary schools (new addition).

Contacts
Lynn Galbraith (08) 9273 6702
lynn.galbraith@scsa.wa.edu.au opens in new window

Rick Browner (08) 9273 6386
rick.browner@scsa.wa.edu.au

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

Limited places are 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.

There will be four sessions available prior to school commencing in 2018, which may be preferable for staff in remote and country Western Australia.

Seminar dates and times (2018)

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

Registrations can be made online at

https://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 previous years, two sessions were held in Bunbury for South West participants, and if we have enough interest for 2018, 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.

Sessions were also funded in 2017 by schools in Port Hedland, Kalgoorlie and Geraldton – and any future sessions in these areas would include a session dedicated to primary schools only.

Contact

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

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 Western Australian Student Number (WASN) using a surname, given name and date of birth.

All student registrations are recorded in SIRS by the end of March. After this time, you will be able to search for students including the student’s previous school/s. You will know where to send a transfer note, if required.

1. Hover over Enrolments in the 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).

Troubleshooting: Search WASN

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 a single year (for example, 2012 to 2012) 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 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
Maureen Lorimer (08) 9273 6397 [Tuesday, Wednesday & Friday]
maureen.lorimer@scsa.wa.edu.au

Secondary Deputy Principals and senior administrators are advised that that the Authority will be hosting a series of briefings in Term 4, 2017.

The briefings will assist Deputy Principals and Senior Administrators in managing curriculum and assessment related activities at their school in Years 7 – 12.

Matters to be discussed include implementation of the Western Australian Curriculum and Assessment Outline, updated information regarding moderation activities for 2018 and tools to assist schools with assessment practices and policy specific to senior schooling.  The briefings are not subject specific and as such are not aimed at Heads of Learning Areas/curriculum leaders.

The briefings will be held at venues throughout metropolitan and regional WA in the period 13 November to 27 November 2017. For those unable to attend, a video presentation will be made available on the Authority’s website: www.scsa.wa.edu.au.

If you require further information please contact Maureen Lorimer, Principal Consultant on

9273 6397 (Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday) or email: Maureen.Lorimer@scsa.wa.edu.au.

To register please follow the link below:

https://www.scsa.wa.edu.au/events/secondary-deputy-principals-and-senior-administrators-briefings

Contact
Roshan Perera (08) 9273 6707
Roshan.Perera@scsa.wa.edu.au

Schools should note that a letter with important updates was sent to Principals and is now available on the School Curriculum and Standards Authority (the Authority) home page. The letter addressed three areas:

• eligibility for Foundation courses in 2018
• briefings in Term 4, 2017 for Secondary Deputy Principals and senior administrators
• a reminder about requirements for students to sit the upcoming Year 12 ATAR course examinations.

A copy of the letter may be downloaded from the Authority home page (www.scsa.wa.edu.au) under News and under Publications and Communications sent to schools (https://scsa.wa.edu.au/publications/communication-to-schools).

Contacts
Nadia Civa (08) 9273 6355
nadia.civa@scsa.wa.edu.au

Lisa Djanegara (08) 9273 6382
lisa.djanegara@scsa.wa.edu.au

First Language courses affected by this update:

• Chinese: First Language ATAR Year 11 and Year 12
• Indonesian: First Language ATAR Year 11 and Year 12
• Japanese: First Language ATAR Year 11 and Year 12.

Teachers of these courses are advised that for each of the above courses a document is now available that provides course information related to new course prescriptions:

• themes
• contemporary issues
• texts.

These documents can be found under the Syllabus expanding menu on the relevant course page.

The new course prescriptions are applicable as follows:

A revised version of each ATAR syllabus that includes the new course prescriptions will be made available on the relevant course pages during Term 4. Schools will be advised of this.

The ATAR syllabuses for the three courses are adapted from the NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) Stage 6 courses for:

• Chinese and Literature course (formerly Stage 6 Chinese: Background Speakers)
• Indonesian and Literature course (formerly Stage 6 Indonesian: Background Speakers)
• Japanese and Literature course (formerly Stage 6 Japanese: Background Speakers).

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

The School Curriculum and Standards Authority (the Authority) invites applications from suitably experienced and qualified teachers to be a reviewer for the Syllabus Delivery Audit for ATAR Year 12 courses in 2018.

Please note that applicants who are selected for employment must have a current screening clearance status obtained by consenting to the Department’s National Police History Check (NPHC). The NPHC on-line application form can be found at the following link:

http://www.det.wa.edu.au/screening/detcms/navigation/screening-for-criminal-history/national-police-history-check--application-package/ opens in new window

Applications open on Monday, 23 October and are to be submitted online at the Authority website: https://scsa.wa.edu.au/about-us/employment

Applications must be received no later than midnight on Sunday, 19 November 2017.  Applicants will be notified of an offer of employment by Friday, 24 November 2017.

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

Heads of Department and Teachers of Year 12 General and Foundation courses are advised they can now access student samples from the 2017 Externally Set (EST). The samples are available on the relevant course page under General and then the Externally Set Task Materials tab. Please note: teachers will need to be logged into the Extranet to access these samples. For more information on the Extranet, see this link: https://senior-secondary.scsa.wa.edu.au/extranet/login.

There are two samples for each course. The samples are at the Strong and the Satisfactory level. The marks allocated by the external reviewers for each student response are also provided. To support teachers in each course, the reviewer’s marks breakdown is provided question by question, and where applicable, by question part.

Courses where only one sample or no samples are available because of lack of appropriate responses or because no students study the subject in 2017 will have a statement in their course page; for example, ‘No student sample responses available for 2017 EST’.

Principal Consultants - Curriculum contact details for Year 11 and Year 12 in 2017

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

Schools are advised that in 2018 the School Curriculum and Standards Authority (the Authority) will conduct a syllabus delivery audit for all ATAR Year 12 courses. This moderation activity is designed to ensure that all schools are teaching and assessing the current syllabus in line with the requirements of the WACE Manual 2018, available online later this year.

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

For courses with defined contexts in ATAR Year 12, schools are required to upload a separate course outline and assessment outline for each defined context.

Schools are reminded that for ATAR Year 12 courses, the course outline and the assessment outline must cover both Unit 3 and Unit 4 (yearlong).

The process will require the upload of documents to SIRS2.

The School Coordinator Handbook for 2018 has been made available to principals via SIRS. It is also available on the Authority’s website:

https://scsa.wa.edu.au/sirs-info/syllabus-delivery-audit
https://senior-secondary.scsa.wa.edu.au/moderation/syllabus-delivery-audit.

Schools are required to complete this task between 9.00 am Friday 3 November 2017 and
4.00 pm Friday 23 February 2018.

The documents can be either in Microsoft Word or PDF format.

Following the Authority's review of the documents in 2018, 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 2018. The report will specify the action/s that the school needs to take to ensure the document meets the requirements of the Authority.

Schools are asked to ensure that each file is correctly named according to the following naming convention

:

SIRS2 will not accept a document if an incorrect file name is used.

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.

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

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

Schools are provided with advance notice that the deadline for Applications for Special Examination Arrangements for 2018 will be brought forward to 5 April, 2018. The Activities Schedule will contain this new date.

Candidates who have a permanent or temporary disability that could disadvantage them in the ATAR course examinations may have their school apply for them to sit under special conditions. It is the responsibility of the school to complete the form on behalf of each candidate. Forms will be sent to schools ready for the start of the 2018 school year. The form will also be available on the Authority website late this year for reference.

This change in deadline is the result of requests from schools to receive the outcome of their applications early enough in the year for students to adjust to any changes in the approved conditions under which they will sit their ATAR course examinations. All review processes and appeal dates will also be brought forward.

Students 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 and parents 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.

It has come to the attention of School Curriculum and Standards that some schools are implementing special arrangements outside those permitted within the Guidelines for disability adjustments for timed assessments and other special provisions support documents available on the website (https://senior-secondary.scsa.wa.edu.au/assessment/examinations/special-provisions). This includes giving multiple or maximum allowable accommodations without suitable documentary support, rather than choosing only those accommodations that address the demonstrated level of impediment to accessing the examination, as caused directly by the disability. Such practices lead to unsuccessful applications and the need to change assessment conditions for students.

The School Curriculum and Standards Authority does not automatically adopt a medical/psychological provider’s advice or replicate conditions provided by the school. Each application is considered individually, with decisions based on the nature of each examination to be sat by the candidate.

Students and parents should be clearly informed that any special arrangements in place for school assessments must be considered temporary and subject to change once the application has been assessed by School Curriculum and Standards Authority. The extended timeframe for students to adjust to the provisions approved for them in the ATAR course examinations will mean that schools will not need to seek a review of their applications where requested accommodations have not been approved.

Schools should examine their internal processes and make any adjustments needed to accommodate the new deadline. This may include scheduling of any professional appointments to ensure updated reports are available early in the year to substantiate requests. No request should be submitted without the relevant documentation as described on the application form.

Only applications of a medical nature should be submitted after 5 April, 2018. This will include applications for alternative format practical examinations in Physical Education Studies and Dance which can be received until 27 July, 2018.

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

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

For units of competency and qualifications to contribute towards meeting the WACE requirements, a VET Unique Student Identifier (USI) is required.

Consequences of not having a USI

Students who achieve VET units of competency or VET qualifications without a VET USI will:

• not have the results reported on the Western Australian Statement of Student Achievement
• not have the achievements allocated unit equivalence and may not meet the requirements to receive a WACE
• not have the achievements recognised in the completion requirement for VET Industry Specific courses.

Monitoring the effect of not having a USI

Schools are able to identify whether or not a Year 12 student enrolled in VET in 2017 without a USI would achieve the WACE if he/she had a USI, by running the report CSE201 in the Student Information Records System (SIRS).

This report lists, for Year 12 students enrolled in at least one VET unit of competency, whether or not they would achieve the WACE if a USI was provided to the Authority. It is suggested that once a school has uploaded all of its Year 12 students’ achievements (course units, VET and endorsed programs) into SIRS, schools run the report via the following pathway:

Reports > Other reports > Report type: Certification, Report: CSE201 – Year 12 Students With VET Enrolments.

The report would alert schools to those Year 12 students who could possibly achieve the WACE if they had a USI.

Caution when using the report

Data contained in the report accurately reflect the status of students at the time of the last upload of information to SIRS from schools. Caution needs to be used when interpreting the data for the following reasons:

• the WACE cannot be calculated for a student until all achievement data have been uploaded into SIRS
• the data have not taken into account those students who have not sat an ATAR course examination and do not have an approved sickness/misadventure application for that course
• the achievement of the WACE could change if a school uploads changes to students’ achievements.

Assistance relating to USI

If assistance is required regarding the USI, schools are advised to contact the Western Australian Department of Training and Workforce Development via email at usi@dtwd.wa.gov.au opens in new window or to contact the USI help centre at: https://www.usi.gov.au/ opens in new window or email usi@industry.gov.au opens in new window or telephone 13 38 73.