General

NAPLAN Online web page

Contact
Marilyn McKee 
(08) 9273 6460
marilyn.mckee@scsa.wa.edu.au

The School Curriculum and Standards Authority (the Authority) has developed a NAPLAN Online web page for all Western Australian schools.  The page can be found on the Authority website at: http://k10outline.scsa.wa.edu.au/home/assessment/testing/naplan-online

The page contains implementation timeline information, information for schools, and frequently asked questions which include contact details for each of the school systems/sector representatives.

The page will be kept up to date with relevant information for Western Australian schools as we transition over the next few years.


Registration of secondary students prior to September Online Literacy and Numeracy Assessment (OLNA)

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

Registration for the OLNA
Schools are reminded to ensure student registration data is correct and up-to-date before 29 August 2016, when the September round of OLNA commences.

It is critical that Year 10, Year 11 and Year 12 students are registered at the school they are currently attending to ensure their inclusion in the compulsory OLNA in September (unless students have pre-qualified through Year 9 NAPLAN performance or prior achievement of the standard).

Demonstrating the minimum standard in the three components of the OLNA (reading, writing and numeracy) is a requirement for students to achieve the WACE in 2016.

Details of how to register students are provided in Section 3 of the Data Procedures Manual 2016 - http://www.scsa.wa.edu.au/internet/Publications/Data_Procedures_Manual. There are also links to assist schools using Reporting to Parents, MAZE, Synergetic and SEQTA as well as MS Excel instructions.

Warning messages
When uploading the Student Registration and Demographic File (SRGDG) to SIRS, schools need to note the warning messages that may be received. If these warnings are ignored, the student may not be registered at your school.

The following warning message may be displayed:
Warning occurred on record: 24 (Student: 12345678: Smith, Sally Ann Date Of Birth 08/09/1995). The following errors were found in the record: 
- This record has been ignored as you are not defined in SIRS as the Main Provider of the Student. Only the Main Provider can update Student Registration details. If you are the Main Provider of the Student, you will need to contact the School Curriculum and Standards Authority to get this changed.

This signifies that the student is either registered at another school or is under a Notice of Arrangements and should be on your former roll.

If the student is currently attending your school, please contact the Data Services team at the Authority by email dataservices@scsa.wa.edu.au and request the student be transferred to your school.

The following warning message may also be displayed:
Warning occurred on record: 95 (Student: 12345678: Smith, Sally Ann Date Of Birth 08/09/1995). The following errors were found in the record:
- This record has been ignored as the academic year of student with student number 12345678 does not match with the current record. Please contact the School Curriculum and Standards Authority for further assistance.

This message may signify the following:

  • the student has come to you from another school where he/she was enrolled in a different academic year
  • you are attempting to move the student into a different academic year at your own school
  • the student has left your school and moved into a different academic year at another school. The new school has already requested a transfer and academic year change.

Please contact the Authority’s Data Services team on (08) 9273 6344 or dataservices@scsa.wa.edu.au for advice on how this warning can be fixed.

Please contact Lynn.Galbraith@scsa.wa.edu.au if you require any further information or assistance with student registrations.


Abilities Based Learning Education, Western Australia (ABLEWA)

Contact
Maureen Lorimer (08) 9273 6397 [Wednesday & Friday]
Patricia Dunnett (08) 9273 6794
ablewa@scsa.wa.edu.au

The School Curriculum and Standards Authority (the Authority) is pleased to announce the introduction of ABLEWA as an integral part of the Western Australian Curriculum and Assessment Outline (the Outline).  ABLEWA supports teachers with the assessment of students with disability and additional needs on the basis of their abilities and provides explicit guidance material and resources to assist teachers to effectively plan and teach students based on their individual learning needs.

The assessment and reporting resources and the professional learning modules are now available in the Resources section of the Outline on the Authority website at: http://www.scsa.wa.edu.au/ablewa/.

Note: Users registering for the online professional learning portal for the first time will require an enrolment key to access the ABLEWA course. The enrolment key for ABLEWA is ABLEWA33.

The ABLEWA Stages A to D curriculum for all learning areas other than Languages is available to teachers within the Outline and is not mandatory for use by schools.

If you have any questions about ABLEWA, please contact the Principal Consultant at ablewa@scsa.wa.edu.au.


Release of Assessment Activities for Pre-primary to Year 10 Humanities and Social Sciences and Health and Physical Education

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

Sample assessment activities have been developed by the School Curriculum and Standards Authority (the Authority), working with classroom teachers, for Humanities and Social Sciences and Health and Physical Education to assist teachers with the implementation of the Western Australian Curriculum for these learning areas.

The sample assessment activities exemplify a broad range of strategies teachers employ to obtain information about their students' skills and understandings. These range from asking questions during a lesson to giving a formal standardised assessment. The activities reflect the Principles of Assessment and the assessment strategies outlined in the Ways of Assessing in the Overview section of the learning area for Humanities and Social Sciences and Health and Physical Education.

A sample marking key has been provided with many of the tasks. These keys vary in their format according to the years of schooling and the assessment strategy, and should be developed by teachers at the same time the assessment activity is being developed. The summative marking keys are detailed and can be used at the end of a teaching cycle to provide additional evidence for reporting purposes.

The marking keys:

  • provide a consistent interpretation of the criteria that guide the teacher's judgement
  • provide the basis for feedback to students
  • enable the fair and valid ranking of student achievement.

The assessment activity and marking key formats are not prescriptive.

The assessment activities will be progressively uploaded to the Western Australian Curriculum and Assessment Outline (the Outline) during Term 3.

The Authority is currently developing the Teacher Support Materials for Technologies and The Arts to support implementation of these learning areas in 2018.


Ways of Teaching Videos

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

The 'ways of teaching' section in the Humanities and Social Sciences, Health and Physical Education, Technologies, The Arts and Languages syllabuses complements the principles of teaching and learning in the Western Australian Curriculum and Assessment Outline (the Outline) on the Authority website at: http://k10outline.scsa.wa.edu.au/. The principles focus on the provision of a school and class environment that is intellectually, socially and physically supportive of learning. The principles assist whole-school planning and individual classroom practice.

The ‘ways of teaching’ videos have been developed to support teachers with implementing the Western Australian Curriculum. Following review of the videos by the Authority’s Primary Principals’ Advisory Forum it was suggested they could be shared with the school community to highlight the purpose of the learning area as well as assisting teachers with familiarisation of the curriculum prior to implementation.

The ‘ways of teaching‘ videos can be found on the Authority website at: http://k10outline.scsa.wa.edu.au/home/resources/ways-of-teaching-videos under the Resources heading of the Outline.

The ‘ways of teaching‘ video for Early Childhood highlights how teachers can effectively connect the content across learning areas to develop teaching and learning programs and can be found at: http://k10outline.scsa.wa.edu.au/home/resources/ways-of-teaching-videos.

The ‘ways of teaching’ video for Health and Physical Education can be found in the Health and Physical Education Learning Overview at: http://k10outline.scsa.wa.edu.au/home/p-10-curriculum/curriculum-browser/health-and-physical-education/health-and-physical-education-overview/ways-of-teaching-video.

The videos for Humanities and Social Sciences, Technologies, The Arts and Languages will be progressively uploaded during the year.