Years 7–10 and 11–12 English Teaching and Assessment Workshops – Speaking and Listening

Contact
Orietta Stokes (08) 9273 6715
Orietta.Stokes@scsa.wa.edu.au

The School Curriculum and Standards Authority (the Authority) is offering online Teaching and Assessment Workshops during Term 4 to support teachers in using the Achievement standards in Years 7–10 English and the Grade descriptions in Years 11 and 12 to make judgements on Speaking and Listening assessments.

Teachers are invited to attend a workshop to:

• unpack the Achievement standards (Years 7–10) and Grade descriptions (Years 11 and 12) with regards to measuring student achievements in Speaking and Listening
• explore differing ways of assessing Speaking and Listening
• ask clarifying questions.

The workshops are not compulsory and are free to attend. Schools are responsible for any costs incurred (for example, teacher relief) as a result of attendance at the workshops.

Years 7–10 workshops dates 

• Wednesday, 3 December 2025: 2.00–3.00 pm
• Monday, 8 December 2025: 3.30–4.30 pm (Repeat session)

Years 11 and 12 workshop dates

• Monday, 1 December 2025: 3.30–4.30 pm
• Wednesday, 3 December 2025: 12.30–1.30 pm (Repeat session)

The Authority will use Webex as the delivery platform for the workshop. Registrants will need to download the application prior to the meeting to participate.

Register at https://scsa.wa.edu.au/news-and-events/all-events/years-710-and-1112-english-teaching-and-assessment-workshops-speaking-and-listening.

Pre-primary to Year 10: Languages curriculum – planning for familiarisation – Survey

Contact
Chris Kelley (08) 9273 6750
Chris.Kelley@scsa.wa.edu.au

Teachers and school leaders are invited to participate in a brief survey to inform the School Curriculum and Standards Authority’s (the Authority) planning ahead of the familiarisation year for the revised Pre‑primary to Year 10 curriculum for Languages.

Teacher input is greatly appreciated, and the survey can be accessed at https://survey.alchemer.com/s3/8568338/Languages-Curriculum-Familiarisation-survey. It will remain open until 4.00 pm on Thursday, 18 December 2025.

The Authority is continuing its phased approach in adopting and adapting the Australian Curriculum version 9 to the Western Australian context. As part of this process, the Languages learning area will enter the curriculum familiarisation phase in 2026. During this period, schools will have the opportunity to review the revised curriculum and adjust planning documents and resources.

The Authority will provide professional learning opportunities to support schools with curriculum familiarisation in 2026.

Schools must continue to teach the current Western Australian Curriculum during the familiarisation phase. The revised Pre-primary to Year 10 Languages curriculum will be implemented in 2027.

Pre-primary to Year 10: The Arts curriculum – planning for familiarisation – Survey

Contact
Chris Kelley (08) 9273 6750
Chris.Kelley@scsa.wa.edu.au

Teachers and school leaders are invited to participate in a brief survey to inform the School Curriculum and Standards Authority’s (the Authority) planning ahead of the familiarisation year for the revised Pre‑primary to Year 10 curriculum for The Arts.

Teacher input is greatly appreciated, and the survey can be accessed at https://survey.alchemer.com/s3/8568260/The-Arts-Curriculum-Familiarisation-survey. It will remain open until 4.00 pm on Thursday, 18 December 2025.

The Authority is continuing its phased approach in adopting and adapting the Australian Curriculum version 9 to the Western Australian context. As part of this process, The Arts learning area will enter the curriculum familiarisation phase in 2026. During this period, schools will have the opportunity to review the revised curriculum and adjust planning documents and resources.

The Authority will provide professional learning opportunities to support schools with curriculum familiarisation in 2026.

Schools must continue to teach the current Western Australian Curriculum during the familiarisation phase. The revised Pre-primary to Year 10 The Arts curriculum will be implemented in 2027.

Media Production and Analysis General Year 11 and Year 12 – New syllabuses and workshops

Contact
Gemma Wright (08) 9273 6783
Gemma.Wright@scsa.wa.edu.au

The new syllabuses for Media Production and Analysis General Years 11 and 12 are now available on the School Curriculum and Standards Authority (the Authority) website. The new syllabuses have been endorsed for teaching from 2026 for Year 11, and 2027 for Year 12.

The new syllabuses and summary of changes document are available on the Media Production and Analysis course page at https://senior-secondary.scsa.wa.edu.au/syllabus-and-support-materials/arts/media-production-and-analysis.

The development of the new syllabus documents was informed by a consultation process initiated in 2023. This process culminated in the completion of the syllabus acceptance and implementation timeline survey, which was undertaken by all schools currently delivering the Media Production and Analysis General course. We thank teachers for their support of the syllabus review process.

The Authority is offering workshops to support teachers delivering the Media Production and Analysis General Year 11 in 2026 during Term 4. The workshops will be:

• Thursday, 20 November 2025: online, 3.45–5.00 pm
• Monday, 24 November 2025: in‑person, 9.00 am–12.00 pm at The Hub, 2 Brodie-Hall Drive, Bentley.

The Authority will use Webex as the delivery platform for the online workshop and registrants will need to have downloaded the application prior to the meeting to participate.

Register at https://scsa.wa.edu.au/news-and-events/all-events/year-11-media-production-and-analysis-general-2026-new-syllabus-workshop.

Mathematics Essential General – Assessment workshops

Contact
Megan Christie (08) 9273 6340
Megan.Christie@scsa.wa.edu.au

The School Curriculum and Standards Authority (the Authority) will be conducting assessment workshops for the Mathematics Essential General course.

The workshops will focus on:

• developing a shared understanding of the assessment requirements and grade descriptions in the syllabus
• developing valid and reliable assessment tasks and marking keys.

The workshops are not compulsory and are free to attend. Schools are responsible for any costs incurred (for example, teacher relief) as a result of attendance at the workshops.

The dates for the workshops are:

• Monday, 24 November 2025: online, 3.30–4.30 pm
• Wednesday, 18 February 2026: in-person, 9.00–10.30 am at Statewide Services, in Conference Room 1, 33 Giles Avenue, Padbury
• Thursday, 19 February 2026: in-person, 3.30–5.00 pm at the School Curriculum and Standards Authority, in Conference Room 1, 303 Sevenoaks St, Cannington

The Authority will use Webex as the delivery platform for the online workshop. Registrants will need to download the application prior to the meeting to participate.

Register at https://scsa.wa.edu.au/news-and-events/all-events/assessment-workshop-for-mathematics-essential-years-11-and-12.

2026 ATAR course examination dates

Contact
Barclay Jones (08) 9273 6309
Barclay.Jones@scsa.wa.edu.au

The 2026 ATAR course written and practical examination dates were published in the 2025 June edition of the Circular and are available on the School Curriculum and Standards Authority website.

The 2026 ATAR course written examinations are scheduled from Wednesday, 28 October to Thursday, 19 November 2026.

The 2026 ATAR course practical examinations are scheduled from Saturday, 26 September to Sunday, 25 October 2026.

Information on principles for setting the dates of the Year 12 course written examinations and projected date ranges for the 2027, 2028 and 2029 Year 12 ATAR course written examinations are available at https://senior-secondary.scsa.wa.edu.au/assessment/examinations/examination-timetables.

This information is also available in the 2025 June edition of the Circular available at https://www.scsa.wa.edu.au/7to12-circulars/edition-5-june-2025.

Small group moderation partnerships 2026 – online registration

Contacts
Partnership registration and statistical moderation queries
Isha Griggs-Cameron (08) 9273 6755
SGMPartnerships@scsa.wa.edu.au

School requirements in relation to a partnership and comparability of school marks
Nick Ognenis (08) 9273 6354 
Nick.Ognenis@scsa.wa.edu.au

Schools are required to register their participation or non-participation in a small group moderation partnership with the School Curriculum and Standards Authority (the Authority) by Thursday, 12 February 2026.

Schools with a projected number of fewer than six ATAR course examination candidates for a Year 12 ATAR course must establish a small group moderation partnership for 2026.

To ensure the required comparability of school marks, a partnership should be established with a school with a large cohort in the course early in the academic year to ensure delivery of the Year 12 ATAR course at the same time. A vital part of small group moderation is that partner schools work together to develop identical course and assessment outlines. Schools will register their 2026 small group moderation partnerships via the online registration link.

The requirements for schools in a small group moderation partnership are detailed in Section 3.6 of the WACE Manual.

Partner schools are required to:

• use an identical assessment outline (typically developed collaboratively)
• establish, agree to 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 for selected students across the range of grades (i.e. both teachers independently marking the whole task or particular sections/questions, then discussing comparability, reviewing marks and making adjustments where required)
  • co-marking a task (i.e. each teacher marking particular sections/questions for all students).

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

All schools with one or more small group moderation partnerships must register their partnerships with the Authority by Thursday, 12 February 2026 using the link available on the Authority website at https://senior-secondary.scsa.wa.edu.au/moderation/small-group-moderation.

A Guide for online registration of Small Group Moderation partnerships is available for reference.

2026 Syllabus Delivery Audit of selected General and ATAR Years 11 and 12 syllabuses

Contact
Nick Ognenis (08) 9273 6354
Nick.Ognenis@scsa.wa.edu.au

The School Curriculum and Standards Authority (the Authority) will conduct a Syllabus Delivery Audit (SDA) for selected ATAR and General Years 11 and 12 syllabuses in 2026. 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 available on the Authority website.

Schools are required to submit a separate course outline and assessment outline for each listed course delivered. The course outline and the assessment outline for Year 12 syllabuses must cover both Unit 3 and Unit 4 as a year-long course.

The process will require the upload of documents to SIRS2.

The Syllabus Delivery Audit 2026 School Coordinator Handbook and the Syllabus Delivery Audit 2026 Teacher and Head of Learning Area (HoLA) Handbook will be available in December 2025 on the Authority website at https://senior-secondary.scsa.wa.edu.au/moderation/syllabus-delivery-audit.

Schools are required to complete the task of uploading documents by 4.00 pm Monday, 16 February 2026. The documents can be either in Microsoft Word or PDF format.

Following the Authority’s review of the documents in 2026, 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. The report will specify the action/s that the school needs to take to ensure the document meets the Authority’s requirements.

Courses selected for the 2026 SDA – General and ATAR Years 11 and 12 syllabuses

Registration of students in SIRS in 2026

Contact
Data Services (08) 9273 6352
dataservices@scsa.wa.edu.au

Student registrations for Years 3, 5, 7, 9, 11 and 12 in 2026 are due on Thursday, 12 February 2026.

The National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) tests will be conducted from Wednesday, 11 March to Monday, 23 March 2026. To ensure there are no delays in processing student data for NAPLAN, Online Literacy and Numeracy Assessment (OLNA) or Brightpath, please note the following important dates for the upload of Student Registration and Demographic (SRGDG) files to the Student Information Records System (SIRS) in 2026.

Thursday, 12 February 2026

• 2026 registration and demographic information for students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 (required for NAPLAN) (via SRGDG file)
• 2026 registration and demographic information for Years 11 and 12 students (required for OLNA) student lists and password generation (via SRGDG file)
• 2026 registration information for all teachers where students attend schools using Brightpath (via THREG file).

Note: after Thursday, 12 February 2026, it may not be possible for school data to be transferred to the NAPLAN platform in bulk, and schools may need to enter students into the NAPLAN platform manually.

Monday, 23 February 2026

• OLNA student login details (Years 11 and 12 students) will be available to schools/providers.

Note: students not registered in SIRS and participating in OLNA may have a delay in receiving their user login and password details.

Thursday, 26 March 2026

• Registration and demographic information for all remaining students in Kindergarten, Pre‑primary and Years 1, 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 to be uploaded by this date (via SRGDG file).

Note: the Authority does not issue numbers for Pre-Kindergarten students.

The SRGDG should be updated and uploaded regularly throughout the year. At a minimum, it is recommended that schools upload their student registration file at the beginning of each term. This will ensure any new students to the school are recorded in SIRS, as well as update the status of any students who have left the school.

Details of how to register students via the SRGDG file may be found in Section 4 of the Data Procedures Manual available at https://www.scsa.wa.edu.au/publications/data-procedures-manual.

For all schools that have students participating in the Brightpath Program, refer to Section 5 of the Data Procedures Manual available at https://www.scsa.wa.edu.au/publications/data-procedures-manual for assistance with uploading the Teacher Registration File (THREG).

Information on requesting a Western Australian student number (WASN) is available in the Data Procedures Manual available at https://www.scsa.wa.edu.au/publications/data-procedures-manual.

WACE Language course applications – Year 11 or 12 in 2026

Contact
Languages enrolment
languagesenrolment@scsa.wa.edu.au

The WACE Language course application process for new enrolments in Year 11 and Year 12 resumes on Monday, 19 January 2026 and will remain open until Thursday, 2 April 2026.

Applications are to be submitted online via the Student portal
https://studentportal.scsa.wa.edu.au/.

How to check the language course application status of students intending to enrol in a language course

CSE229 – SRMS Language Course Application Status shows the status of all online language course applications submitted via the Student Record Management System (SRMS) student portal.

CSE229 is available via the following SIRS pathway:

• Reports > Other reports > Report type: Enrolments, Report: CSE229 – SRMS Language Course Application Status

After selecting the current calendar year, it is important to select the relevant Academic Year (e.g. Year 10 in 2025 for students intending to enrol in Year 11 in 2026).

If you have any questions, refer to the School guide for online applications for WACE language courses or Student guide for online applications for WACE language courses to assist you/your students in completing the applications, or email languagesenrolment@scsa.wa.edu.au.

Non-school candidates

If a Language course is not offered by the school, a student may enrol as a non‑school candidate, by completing the Non-school Candidate enrolment form 2026, available from January 2026.

An Application to enrol in a WACE Language course must be completed before submitting the Non‑school Candidate enrolment form for Year 12 students wanting to enrol in:

• Chinese: First Language course examination or a Background Language course examination in French, German, Hindi, Indonesian, Italian, Korean, Punjabi or Tamil
  or
• Chinese or Japanese: Background Language course examinations through Interstate Language offerings.

The Non-school Candidate enrolment form 2026 is due at the Authority by Thursday, 2 April 2026.

Email languagesenrolment@scsa.wa.edu.au with any WACE Language enrolment queries.

Collection of other than Year 12 students’ achievement data – 2025

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

Achievement data for students other than those in Year 12 is due to the School Curriculum and Standards Authority by Thursday, 11 December 2025.

Information about collecting achievement data was emailed to schools on Wednesday, 29 October 2025.

Schools will need to provide the achievement data for:

• Year 11 students enrolled in ATAR, General, Foundation, Preliminary and vocational education and training (VET) industry specific courses
• Year 11 students studying VET qualifications, VET units of competency, VET skill sets and endorsed programs
• Year 10 students studying VET qualifications, VET units of competency and endorsed programs.

It is important to check you have no missing achievements by running the CSE009 – Missing Achievements by Provider report in the Student Information Records System (SIRS). This report lists students and their enrolments in course units, endorsed programs and units of competency for which no results have been submitted.

If there are missing achievements, organise for these results to be uploaded into SIRS.

The pathway to generate this report is Reports > Other Reports > Report Type: Missing Achievements > Report: CSE009 – Missing Achievements by Provider.

2026 Activities Schedule availability

Contact
Perpetua Joseph (08) 9273 6771
Perpetua.Joseph@scsa.wa.edu.au

The 2026 Activities Schedule is now available on the School Curriculum and Standards Authority (the Authority) website.

An explanation of the changes to the 2026 Activities Schedule is also available as an accompanying document. Both of these documents are available in 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 2026 Term Calendar will be made available during Term 4, 2025. The electronic calendar will be available to download on a term-by-term basis, with Term 1, 2026 becoming available in January.

The dates in the 2026 Activities Schedule and Term Calendar are coded by coloured icons:

• Pink activity relates to or includes primary schools
• Orange  dates are for items to be received by the Authority
• Blue  dates are for items to be available to or received by schools/providers
• Green  dates are significant to schools and the Authority.

Any updates to the 2026 Schedule and 2026 Term Calendar will be noted in the Kto6 and 7to12 Circulars.