Contact
Trish Dunnett (08) 9273 6794
Patricia.Dunnett@scsa.wa.edu.au

Primary and secondary school principals, deputy principals and curriculum leaders are invited to register to attend a briefing about the School Curriculum and Standards Authority’s areas of emphasis for 2017.

The briefings will be organised to provide updates on the Western Australian Curriculum and Assessment Outline (Pre-primary to Year 10) and the WACE (Year 11 and Year 12).

The briefings will be presented across the State, in February and April, by the Authority’s Chief Executive Officer, Allan Blagaich and senior members of his executive team.

Register now at http://www.scsa.wa.edu.au/events/2017-briefings.

Contact
Trish Dunnett (08) 9273 6794
Patricia.Dunnett@scsa.wa.edu.au

The purpose of the letter is to signal areas of emphasis that the School Curriculum and Standards Authority (the Authority) will be focusing on in 2017 which will support schools’ implementation of the Western Australian Curriculum and Assessment Outline (the Outline – Pre-primary to Year 10) and the Western Australian Certificate of Education (WACE – Year 11 and 12).

http://scsa.wa.edu.au/news-items/2017-areas-of-emphasis

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

Sven Sorenson (08) 9273 6390
Sven.Sorenson@scsa.wa.edu.au

The School Curriculum and Standards Authority (the Authority) has released as part of the Western Australian Curriculum and Assessment Outline (www.scsa.wa.edu.au) the Pre-primary to Year 10: Teaching, Assessing and Reporting Policy.

http://k10outline.scsa.wa.edu.au/home/policy/teaching-assessing-and-reporting-policy

The Policy sets out the mandated minimum requirements for the implementation of curriculum, assessment and reporting on student achievement for Pre-primary to Year 10 students. It is supported by the Policy Standards for Pre-primary to Year 10: Teaching, Assessing and Reporting.

To support the implementation of the policy, an accompanying video, is accessible here:

http://k10outline.scsa.wa.edu.au/home/policy/teaching-assessing-and-reporting-policy.

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

The 2017 Activities Schedule has been revised (updated on 9/1/2017) and can be found on the Authority website at http://www.scsa.wa.edu.au/publications/activities-schedule. The changes to dates relate to the activities around the externally set tasks (ESTs). Anyone who is involved with the ESTs should review these dates and make any necessary changes in their own records and planning. The changes relate to an additional service provided by the Authority to support schools. Any further changes to the activities schedule will be noted in the Circular. Updates to the activities schedule will be replicated in new versions of the calendar. It is the user's responsibility to delete superseded versions of the calendar from their system.

To minimise problems associated with date changes, the electronic calendar will be available on a term-by-term basis. At the beginning of each term, schools will be able to access, at the above website, an electronic calendar in iCalendar (*.ICS) format to download. The electronic calendar for Term 1 is available for downloading into Outlook.

Instructions on how to download the electronic calendar can also be found at the above address.

The 2017 Term Calendar will be available in the near future and the 2017 Term 2, 3 and 4 Outlook calendars will be available at the beginning of each term.

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

The Pre-primary to Year 10 curriculum for Phases 2 and 3 learning areas (Humanities and Social Sciences, Health and Physical Education, Technologies, The Arts and Languages) are now available in Word and PDF format on the Authority’s website: http://k10outline.scsa.wa.edu.au/home/p-10-curriculum/curriculum-browser.

The Authority has listened to feedback from teachers seeking a single curriculum document to download for each learning area. The curriculum document contain the Overview and the Year Level Syllabuses, including the Achievement Standard. For Technologies, The Arts and Languages, a separate document is available for each subject or context within the learning area.

Teachers are advised that the document will be current at the time of publication, however the most up-to-date version of the syllabuses are located in the Western Australian Curriculum and Assessment Outline. Teachers are encouraged to read the K-10 Circular for any notification regarding syllabuses: http://www.scsa.wa.edu.au/publications/circulars/kto10-circulars.

Contacts
Sarah Clough(08) 9273 6396
Sarah.Clough@scsa.wa.edu.au

Sven Sorenson(08) 9273 6390
Sven.Sorenson@scsa.wa.edu.au

The student information record system (SIRS) stores data about providers, courses offered in schools and student registrations, enrolments and achievements. In support of primary teachers and school leaders new to using SIRS, the following site has been created in support of that familiarisation process:

http://scsa.wa.edu.au/sirs-info/primary-schools

On that site, SIRS users can review two PDF guides:

• Guide to Uploading Student Registration and Demographic (SRGDG) File
• Student Registration Procedures Manual 2017 - Primary Students Only.

SIRS users may view three video files and read accompanying transcripts including:

• A Welcome to SIRS (5 minutes, 28 seconds)
• Recording Information in SIRS (15 minutes, 29 seconds)
• The range of SIRS reports available (5 minutes).

SIRS users are reminded there will be a choice of four seminars during February that offer an introduction to using SIRS. Registration can be completed at:

http://scsa.wa.edu.au/events/SIRS_intro

Contact
Dino Manalis (08) 9273 6356
Dino.Manalis@scsa.wa.edu.au

Additional resources have been added for Assessing in Health and Physical Education under the heading ‘Assessment Support Materials’ in the Western Australian Curriculum and Assessment Outline (Pre-primary to Year 10):  http://k10outline.scsa.wa.edu.au/home/assessment/assessment-support-materials

The assessment support materials will assist teachers with the teaching and assessment of the performance component of Physical Education. The materials include advice on assessment strategies for performance skills, including individual and competition skills.

The materials also include support documents for the teaching of Fundamental Movement Skills for Pre-primary to Year 6, as well as ten individual sports for Years 7 to 10.

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

Sample teaching and learning outlines have been developed for Years 7 to 10 Humanities and Social Sciences and Health and Physical Education. The sample teaching and learning outlines exemplify the elements of a teaching and learning program. When developing a program for their students, teachers should consider:

• the timing and sequencing of the year level syllabus content
• the range of learning experiences through which students can apply the knowledge, skills and concepts from the syllabus content
• the selection of resources to support teaching and learning experiences
• the implementation of the principles of teaching and learning as articulated in the ‘Ways of teaching’ in the Overview of the syllabus.

The sample teaching and learning outlines are available for download from:

http://k10outline.scsa.wa.edu.au/home/teaching/teaching-support-materials

Sample teaching and learning outlines for Pre-primary to Year 6 for Humanities and Social Sciences and Health and Physical Education will be progressively uploaded over the coming weeks.

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

The Pre-primary to Year 10 Arts syllabuses have been refined as a result of the Authority’s recent work with teachers to develop the Judging Standards Assessment Pointers and Annotated Student Work Samples for Dance, Drama, Media Arts, Music and Visual Arts.

Teachers should ensure that they are working with the latest version of the syllabus online. The year level syllabuses for each of the Arts subjects were updated online in the week beginning 30 January 2017.

A summary of the syllabus refinements can be accessed below:

http://schoolcurriculumandstandardsauthority.cmail20.com/t/r-l-ykdyudx-duurjldjil-o/