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

Schools are reminded that the due date for completion of the online Student Declaration and Permission is Thursday, 21 June 2018.

The following students are required to complete the online Student Declaration and Permission:

• all Year 12 students
• Year 11 students who are studying ATAR Units 3 and 4 and sitting the 2018 ATAR course examinations
• Year 10 students who have been given approval to study ATAR Units 3 and 4 and sit the 2018 ATAR course examinations.

Please note: students will be required to complete the Student Declaration and Permission when they log in to the portal before they can gain access to other important information such as their examination timetable.

Schools are requested to ensure students are given the necessary information in order to complete the online form correctly, such as:

• the purpose
• login instructions to the student portal: https://www.wace.wa.edu.au opens in new window
• completion of the online form must be discussed with parents/guardians.

Further information about the online Student Declaration and Permission can be found on the Authority website at https://senior-secondary.scsa.wa.edu.au/the-wace/student-declaration.

Schools can monitor which students have completed the online Student Declaration and Permission via the report CSE058 – Student Release Choices by Provider.

The pathway to the report CSE058 is: Reports > Other reports > Report type: Students, Report: CSE058.

The Authority appreciates your assistance in obtaining this important information.

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

Schools are reminded of the final dates to withdraw Year 12 students from courses:

• Friday, 27 July 2018 – final date for withdrawing students from ATAR courses with practical examination components. No changes will be made to student enrolments in these courses after this date.
• Friday, 17 August 2018 – final date for withdrawing students from ATAR courses which do not have practical examination components. No changes will be made to student enrolments in these courses after this date.
• Friday, 17 August 2018 – final date for withdrawing students from General, Foundation, Preliminary and VET industry specific courses. No changes will be made to student enrolments in these courses after this date.

Schools are reminded that students who are enrolled in a Year 12 ATAR courses must sit the external examination in that course. For ATAR course with practical components, students must complete both the written and practical examinations. 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.

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.

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

Teachers are advised that there is an updated Dance Glossary for ATAR and General Dance Year 11 and 12 now available at the back of the relevant syllabuses. The changes provide further clarity on key terminology within the syllabus.

Contact
Jenny Morup (08) 9273 6377
jenny.morup@scsa.wa.edu.au

The 2018 ATAR course examination written and practical timetables can be accessed via the Authority website at 
https://senior-secondary.scsa.wa.edu.au/assessment/examinations/examination-timetables.

The 2018 ATAR course written examinations will be held from Monday, 28 October to Friday, 
16 November.

From Thursday, 6 September 2018 schools will be able to download each of their student’s Personalised examination timetable from the Student Information Records System (SIRS) showing the date, time and location of each examination in which they are enrolled.

Candidates will be able to download a copy of their Personalised examination timetable from https://wace.wa.edu.au opens in new window.

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

In 2018, the Geography and the Psychology ATAR examinations will be marked online. Teachers are advised that there are minor changes to the format of the Question/Answer booklet. These include:

• in Section Three: Extended answer/response, working pages for candidate responses will be inserted immediately following the first question(s)
• in Section Three: Extended answer/response, working pages will automatically follow on from the second question(s)
• supplementary pages will still be available at the end of the Question/Answer booklet.

Teachers are reminded that for examination scripts to be scanned for online marking, the Question/Answer booklet includes the following features:

• a barcode at the bottom of the front page
• a solid 5mm square in each corner of the front page
• a unique identifying number printed on every page within the paper.

The margins of each page will be excluded from the area available for writing and will be marked with the wording ‘DO NOT WRITE IN THIS AREA AS IT WILL BE CUT OFF’.

The front covers of the 2018 examinations will be available on the Authority website in August.

Contact

Kevin Sadler (08) 9273 6332
kevin.sadler@scsa.wa.edu.au

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

Teachers are requested to ensure all students are made aware of the penalties that can be incurred in the Literature ATAR Year 12 examination. There are two breaches that will each incur a penalty of 15 per cent of the total marks available for the examination.

1. Prescribed texts lists 
   Texts chosen as primary reference for questions in Section Two must be taken from the prescribed text lists in the Literature ATAR Year 12 syllabus (see Appendix 2). A candidate who makes primary reference to a text not taken from these lists will receive a penalty of 15 per cent of the total marks available for the examination.
2. Three genres 
   The candidate is required to answer three questions in total, each making primary reference to a different genre, so that one question refers to poetry, one to prose fiction and one to drama. A candidate who chooses the same genre more than once as a primary reference will receive a penalty of 15 per cent of the total marks available for the examination.

The front covers of the ATAR course examinations will be available on the Authority website in August, 2018.

Contacts

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

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

Student enrolments and achievements in VET

For Year 12 students in 2018, schools are reminded to include the VET USI in their VET enrolment (ENVET), VET achievement (RSVET and RSQUAL) and student registration and demographic (SRGDG) files which are uploaded into the Student Information Records System (SIRS). The USI field is optional in these four files, however, it is required in the RSVET and RSQUAL files for units of competency and qualifications to contribute towards meeting the WACE requirements.

Students are required to have a USI before they can be issued with a statement of attainment or certificate from their RTO.

If assistance is required regarding the USI, it is suggested that schools contact the Western Australian Department of Training and Workforce Development at usi@dtwd.wa.gov.au opens in new window or refer to the USI help centre at www.usi.gov.au opens in new window, by phone on 13 38 73 or via email at usi@industry.gov.au opens in new window.

Certification consequences of not providing a VET 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 (WASSA)
• have the achievements allocated unit equivalent/s and may not meet the requirements to receive a WACE
• have the achievements recognised in the completion requirement for VET Industry Specific courses.

VET – USI report

To assist schools to identify which students have a VET USI uploaded onto SIRS, the Authority has developed a report in SIRS. The pathway to this report is as follows:

Reports > other reports > Report type: enrolments, Report: CSE195 – VET USI report.

This report will list (either ‘yes’ or ‘no’) to indicate if a VET USI has been uploaded for each student at the school who has VET enrolments in 2018.

Where students already have VET USIs, there is no need to obtain another USI for 2018.

Schools are reminded that the Authority requires Year 12 student enrolments in VET to be uploaded into SIRS as soon as possible, but not later than Thursday, 21 June 2018.

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

Schools are reminded that the Authority requires Year 12 student enrolments in VET to be uploaded into the Student Information Records System (SIRS) as soon as possible, but not later than Thursday, 21 June 2018.

Schools need to ensure that they receive the correct enrolment information from registered training organisations (RTOs) relating to their students’ enrolments in units of competency and qualifications. It is important that schools acquire the appropriate documentation from the RTO to confirm enrolments before submitting the data to the Authority. This will ensure that accurate information is uploaded in SIRS to avoid issues at the time of providing student achievement reports.

Provision of course enrolments

The following sections of the Data Procedures Manual 2018 provide instructions relating to required actions (extracting data of students enrolled in VET units of competency, uploading the enrolments into SIRS and verifying these enrolments in SIRS):

This information is available on the Authority website at: https://www.scsa.wa.edu.au/publications/data-procedures-manual.

It is important to note:

• The VET Unique Student Identifier (USI) is optional in the VET enrolment file (ENVET). However, it is required for units of competency and qualifications that contribute towards meeting the WACE requirements when reporting achievements through the RSVET and RSQUAL. If assistance is required regarding the USI, schools are advised to contact the USI Office on 1300 857 536 or via email USI@education.gov.au opens in new window.
• Schools delivering VET that is integrated into a VET Industry Specific course must enrol the students in the units of competency as VET integrated in the ENVET file. Students who meet VET industry specific course requirements can achieve course unit credit towards a WACE. Further information relating to course credit allocation and WACE credit allocation can be found at: https://senior-secondary.scsa.wa.edu.au/vet/vet-industry-specific.