Assessment Handbooks

The Assessment Handbooks for Years 7-11 have been released. This year we will not be sharing directly with students as we have in previous years. Instead, we have decided to upload the manuals directly to the school website and keep them as ‘live’ documents.

The reason for the change is that it allows us to keep the manuals up to date with any unforeseen changes that need to be made throughout the year for example changes to dates for formal assessment tasks. Students and Parent’s/Carers are encouraged to access and review this information. The handbook contains all the information students need regarding assessment requirements, process to follow for illness/misadventure that may prevent a task being completed as well as the consequences for not submitting tasks without a valid reason. The handbooks also have an indication of when assessment tasks for each subject are scheduled to help students and families to plan and prepare.

Families planning extended leave throughout the year are asked to check the handbook carefully to ensure students are not missing any formal assessment tasks. This is especially important for students in Years 10-12 as missing formal tasks can have a significant impact on final grades/assessments.

Changes to Student Assessment

There have been significant changes to the assessment process in Years 7-11 in 2025. This year we are placing increasing focus on informal assessment to assist in determining student achievement. For some time, we have had concerns students mainly focus on the completion of formal tasks and less attention to the general class learning that contributes to the knowledge and understanding required to demonstrate achievement of course outcomes. As a result, we are working with students to help them realise that ‘everything matters. As a result, teachers will be using a range of informal assessment in class throughout each semester alongside formal tasks to determine student grades in courses.

Teachers use informal assessment throughout the teaching and learning cycle to gather evidence about how students learn and what they know. Informal assessment includes activities undertaken and anecdotal evidence gathered throughout the teaching and learning process in a less prescribed manner than formal assessment.

These activities provide evidence for teachers and inform feedback to students in relation to improving their learning. Informal assessment may include a range of strategies including class work and work in progress, questioning, class discussion, group work, observations and monitoring, student self-evaluation and reflection, and peer feedback.

We hope this will lead to more focussed learning in classes and support students to maximise their achievement of course outcomes.

2025 Elective Classes

Elective classes for 2024 in Years 11, 10 and 9 are now finalised. As we are well into the term the ability to move students across electives is diminished as students will be too far behind in course work and will also struggle to meet the mandatory NESA hours in new courses if they move. Students in Year 11 will be able to look at modifying their pattern of study in Term 4 once the Year 11 course has been completed.

Year 11 2026 Subject Selection

At the end of last year, students in our current Year 10 were given their initial subject eligibility tracking report. The purpose of the report is to provide an indication of where their current level of academic performance compares to the required performance benchmark for eligibility into a range of Stage 6 (HSC) subjects. This process will be completed again as we get closer to the final subject selection process with grades updated based on Year 10 course work. Students concerned about their eligibility for certain Year 11 courses are encouraged to have a discussion with their class teachers or subject specific LoL’s to help develop a plan across the year to support their progression to the subjects they may wish to consider selecting.

As always if there are any issues with anything related to Curriculum feel free to email or call the Curriculum office at any time.

Mr Brett Moran

Curriculum Coordinator