Meeting WACE Requirements Seminars 2021

Contact
Adriana Douglas (08) 9273 6784
Adriana.Douglas@scsa.wa.edu.au

Schools are advised that the School Curriculum and Standards Authority (the Authority) is offering Meeting WACE Requirements learning area specific seminars in February.

Meeting WACE Requirements seminars are designed for teachers in:

• schools that are offering a course for the first time in 2021
• schools that are reintroducing a course for the first time since 2015
• teachers delivering one or more WACE courses for the first time in 2021 (e.g. graduate teachers, teachers who have not previously taught Year 11 or Year 12, teachers whose past experience has been interstate or overseas)
• new school leaders (e.g. Heads of Learning Area).

The purpose of these seminars is to provide teachers with information on the Authority’s assessment and moderation requirements that teachers need to follow when delivering senior secondary courses.

An online (WebEx) generic seminar will be conducted for teachers in regional, remote or international schools.

Registration and further information can be located on the Authority’s website using the link below:

https://www.scsa.wa.edu.au/events/meeting-wace-requirements-2021.

Curriculum and Assessment Advice for Mathematics Essential 2021

Contact
Leith Pavlinovich (08) 9273 6718
Leith.Pavlinovich@scsa.wa.edu.au

Teachers are advised that, in addition to the PDFinformation recently published by the Authority opens in new window regarding Curriculum and Assessment Advice – COVID-19, teachers of Mathematics Essential are required to administer all parts at least once for each of the following assessment types over the year/pair of units (rather than twice over the year/pair of units):

• Response
• Practical applications
• Statistical investigation process.

Small Group Moderation Seminars 2021

Contact
Adriana Douglas (08) 9273 6784
Adriana.Douglas@scsa.wa.edu.au

Schools are advised that the School Curriculum and Standards Authority (the Authority) is offering Small Group Moderation seminars in February to assist senior secondary teachers who are delivering Year 12 ATAR courses that require their school to take part in the small group moderation process.

Registration and further information can be located on the Authority website using the link below:

https://scsa.wa.edu.au/events/small-group-moderation-seminar

Small group moderation partnerships for 2021

Contact
Rita Colliander (08) 9273 6378 (partnership registration)
Adriana Douglas (08) 9273 6784 (moderation queries)

Schools planning to run a class with fewer than six examination candidates in an ATAR Year 12 course are reminded of the need to establish a small group moderation partnership for 2021. Note: Year 12 ATAR courses with one student enrolled are still required to form a small group moderation partnership. All schools with one or more small groups must register their partnerships with the School Curriculum and Standards Authority (the Authority) on the required form by Thursday, 11 February 2021.

To ensure the required comparability of marks, a partnership should be made with another school early to ensure delivery of the course at the same time. Establishment of a partnership before teaching commences enables the teachers involved to agree to the sequence and timing of delivery and to plan a common assessment outline.

All schools in a partnership are required to:

• use an identical assessment outline (typically developed collaboratively)
• establish and use identical assessment tasks and marking keys
• conduct all assessment tasks under the same agreed conditions (or conditions that are as similar as possible)
• co-develop and document agreed marking strategies to ensure comparability of marking, which can include:
  • one teacher marking a task from all students in all partner schools (i.e. rotating the marking of tasks between teachers)
  • double-marking a task from all students or from selected students across the range of grades (i.e. both teachers independently mark the whole task or particular sections/questions, then discuss comparability, review marks and make adjustments where required)
  • co-marking a task (i.e. each teacher marks particular sections/questions for all students).

Full details of the small group moderation procedures for 2021 are available in Section 3.6 of the WACE Manual 2021, available on the Authority website at https://www.scsa.wa.edu.au/publications/wace-manual.

A copy of the form required for registering Small Group Moderation partnerships with a Principal’s signature can be found at https://scsa.wa.edu.au/forms/forms under Moderation.

Seminars will be provided in February 2021 for those teachers who have not participated in a small group moderation partnership before, or for those who wish to refresh their understanding of the required procedures.

Registration and further information can be located on the Authority website using the link below:

https://scsa.wa.edu.au/events/small-group-moderation-seminar

2021 Term Calendar availability

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

The 2021 Term Calendar is available on the School Curriculum and Standards Authority (the Authority) website at three locations:

• https://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 Term Calendar is based on the Activities Schedule.

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.

Application for recording of enrolment and achievement in ATAR Units 1 and 2 for Year 10 students, 2021

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

Principals are advised that the Application for recording of enrolment and achievement in ATAR Units 1 and 2 for Year 10 students, 2021 is now available on the School Curriculum and Standards Authority (the Authority) website.

Permission must be obtained from the School Curriculum and Standards Authority for Year 10 students in 2021 to enrol and have achievements in ATAR units 1 and 2 contribute towards the Western Australian Certificate of Education (WACE).

Schools should apply only if the studies are part of a longer term program for students who are:

• either gifted and talented; or
• accelerated language students.

To apply for recognition and recording of student achievement in ATAR units for Year 10 students in 2021, the school needs to complete the Application for recording of enrolment and achievement in ATAR units 1 and 2 for students in Year 10 in 2021.

If the students have already been identified we would appreciate the early submission of applications.

The final date is Thursday, 4 March 2021.

Registration of students on SIRS in 2021

Contact
Data Services (08) 9273 6344
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 the Student Information Records System (SIRS) in 2021. Please do not leave it until the last date to upload your data.

Thursday, 11 February 2021

• Initial 2021 registration and demographic information for Years 10–12 students (required for Online Literacy and Numeracy Assessment (OLNA) student lists and password generation (via SRGDG file).
• Initial 2021 registration and demographic information for students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 (required for National Assessment Program for Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) (via SRGDG file).
• Initial 2021 registration and demographic information for all Kindergarten – Year 6 students where these students attend schools using Brightpath (via SRGDG file).
• Initial 2021 registration information for all teachers where students attend schools using Brightpath (via THREG file).

Thursday, 1 April 2021

• Registration and demographic information for all remaining Kindergarten – Year 8 students other than those listed above is due to be uploaded by Thursday, 1 April 2021.

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 are provided in the updated Data Procedures Manual 2021 with links to assist schools using Reporting to Parents, MAZE, and Excel. There is also a separate Student Registration Procedures Manual found at https://www.scsa.wa.edu.au/sirs-info/primary-schools to assist primary schools with creating and uploading their Student Registration and Demographic File (SRGDG).

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

How to Search for a WASN in SIRS

Contact
Data Services (08) 9273 6344
numbers@scsa.wa.edu.au

dataservices@scsa.wa.edu.au

Please refer to the September 2020 circular item regarding registration and enrolment of P – 10 students transferring between schools in Western Australia. By checking a student number, the system will also give you a student’s current academic year.

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 family name, given name and date of birth.

All student registrations are recorded in SIRS by the end of Term 1. 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), 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 (e.g. 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).

WASN requests for 2021

Contact
Data Services (08) 9273 6344
numbers@scsa.wa.edu.au

dataservices@scsa.wa.edu.au

All current students in Western Australia should have been allocated a Western Australian Student Number (WASN), and be registered with the School Curriculum and Standards Authority (the Authority). This number remains with the student throughout their school life. Schools need to recognise the importance of the WASN to avoid duplication of records and maintain continuity of student data.

Schools can only request WASNs through the Student Information Record System (SIRS) for Kindergarten students commencing in 2021. If a student other than Kindergarten arrives at your school from another WA school, please check to see if they have a WASN first using the ‘Search for WASN’ process – explained in ‘How to Search for WA Student Numbers in SIRS’ in this circular.

Please note we do not issue numbers for Pre-Kindy students.

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. It is also useful to include your school code in any correspondence. If schools request a WASN for a student who already has a number, the correct WASN number will be sent back to schools. The Authority will forward to schools new WASNs for those students without a number.

All secondary schools with a Year 7 intake can send a complete list (spreadsheet) of Year 7 students entering their school, including the student’s legal surname, legal first name and date of birth and the Authority will look up the numbers on their behalf.

A reminder that details of how to register students can be found in the Student Registration Procedures Manual 2020 – Primary Students found at https://www.scsa.wa.edu.au/publications/data-procedures-manual with links to assist schools using Integris (RTP), Civica Maze, and Excel. There is also a Guide to uploading Student Registration and Demographic (SRGDG) file found at PDFhttps://www.scsa.wa.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/349636/GUIDE-TO-UPLOADING-STUDENT-REGISTRATION-AND-DEMOGRAPHIC-FILE.pdf opens in new window and some online training videos found at https://www.scsa.wa.edu.au/sirs-info/primary-schools.

Review of the Foundation to Year 10 Australian Curriculum

Contact
Graeme Quelch (08) 9273 6758

Late last year Education Council tasked the Australian Curriculum and Reporting Authority (ACARA) with undertaking a review of the Foundation to Year 10 Australian Curriculum.

ACARA has commenced the review and the School Curriculum and Standards Authority (the Authority) has nominated curriculum and teacher representatives to each of the learning area reference groups to provide feedback.

It is important to note that Western Australian teachers must continue to implement the teaching, assessing and reporting on student achievement requirements as published in the Western Australian Curriculum and Assessment Outline (https://k10outline.scsa.wa.edu.au/home/policy/teaching-assessing-and-reporting-policy).

The Authority will provide Western Australian teachers with the opportunity to contribute to the jurisdictional feedback to be provided to ACARA in 2021. Further information will be communicated in relation to this consultation process via the Authority’s circulars.