As a student, you must read this handbook carefully. Ignorance will not be a valid excuse for failing to follow instructions. 

NESA expects that each school presenting Stage 6 courses has an assessment policy that details the principles and procedures for assessment, and this is presented to students. All such details for Holy Trinity School are presented on this site. 

Students must review the information on this site regularly to ensure they comply with the course assessment policy and the completion criteria. 

This policy is designed to 

• be equitable for all students 

• prevent students from gaining an unfair advantage over others

• outline students’ rights and responsibilities in the assessment process

• provide the guidelines for assessment

Below are the sections of the Holy Trinity School Assessment Policy that apply to Years 10 (including Stage 5 Electives), 11, and 12.

NOTE: Year-specific Holy Trinity School Assessment Policy features are provided in the Year Levels sections.

Complete all Tasks 

You are expected to complete all tasks, making a genuine attempt at each task with no evidence of malpractice (cheating). A failure to complete set tasks will result in official Warning Letters being sent home to your parents and the possibility of you not completing  the requirements for your award. 

Participate Actively in Each Class 

It is in your best interests to be a proactive learner in each class you attend. Listen intently to the teacher. Question appropriately and discuss with enthusiasm. Be an active learner always. 

Keep Yourself Informed 

You are expected to regularly check COMPASS and Google Classroom and speak with your class teacher after any absence about the learning that you have missed. It is your responsibility to catch up on the missed work. You also need to check the due dates for classwork and assessment tasks. 

Complete Learning Tasks on the Due Date 

You are responsible for completing tasks on the day they are due/scheduled. Failure to meet these requirements due to ‘inappropriate’ absence is unfair and unethical. 

Absence from Tasks 

You are responsible for arranging for tasks to be submitted on the due date. Where illness/ misadventure prevents you from completing or attending school on the day of a task, contact should be made with your teacher and the correct procedures followed. 

Submission of Tasks 

When the submission of learning tasks is electronic (via Google Workspace or email), students must ensure that the upload is completed fully. When students upload or send their tasks electronically, they need to be aware that it is not an acceptable reason for  late submission if it doesn't arrive. Students are advised to keep a copy of all tasks where possible. 

Any unauthorised changes to a task after the submission due date and time (upload, hand in, or exam) are classified as cheating and will receive a mark of 0. The student may be required to resubmit the task. 

NESA clearly states that a student must work with diligence and sustained effort throughout  the course to satisfy the requirements of the course. 

It is important to note: 

● Disruptive behaviour does not demonstrate diligence and sustained effort in the classroom. 

● Repeated failure to complete homework does not demonstrate diligence and sustained effort. 

● Non-serious attempts at assessments do not demonstrate diligence and sustained effort. 

● Unexplained and constant absences from class do not demonstrate diligence and sustained effort.

Please refer to the flow chart below

Below is an outline of the special procedures for Stage 5 Electives, Year 10 and Stage 6 assessment tasks at Holy Trinity School. 

Student is absent because of illness or misadventure on the day of a task.

• Holy Trinity School is notified by phone/email by 9 am on the day. 

• An Illness and Misadventure Form is completed and given to Assistant Principal on return to school. 

• Absence supported by documentation e.g. doctor’s certificate. 

• The task or an equivalent task will be done as soon as practical on return to school, normally the next possible school day. 

There has been disruption by short-term illness or misadventure prior to the due date. 

• Student to submit an Illness and Misadventure Form to Assistant Principal ASAP. 

• Documentation required to support the claim 

• The Assistant Principal/Leader of Curriculum (for tasks involving Yr 10/Stage 5 Electives) or Stage 6 Assessment Team, in consultation with the classroom teacher, will determine if adjustments are required. For example, a change of date or task. 

Student submits the task late without notifying the school on the due date 

• An Illness and Misadventure Form is to be completed and given to Assitant Principal ASAP 

• Documentation required to support the claim 

• The Assistant Principal/Leader of Curriculum (in the case of Yr 10/Stage 5 Electives) or the Stage 6 Assessment Team, in consultation with the classroom teacher, will determine if penalties will apply. 

A student knows in advance they will be away on the due date

• Student completes a Request for Alternate Assessment Due Date and sends to Assistant Principal as soon as the absence is known 

• Documentation required to support the request

• The Assistant Principal/Leader of Curriculum (in the case of Yr 10/Stage 5 Electives) or the Stage 6 Assessment Team, in consultation with the classroom teacher, will determine if adjustments are required. For example, a change of date or task. 

A student wishes to request an extension to the due date or a deferment of the assessment task 

• Student  completes a Request for Alternate Assessment Due Date and sends to Assistant Principal a minimum of two weeks before the due date 

• Documentation required to support the request 

• The Assistant Principal/Leader of Curriculum (in the case of Yr 10/Stage 5 Electives) or the Stage 6 Assessment Team, in consultation with the classroom teacher, will assess the circumstances of the request. 

NESA regulations do not allow factors which may affect a student’s performance, which occur over an extended period, to be taken into consideration in determining assessment marks, such as illness, misadventure or domestic problems. 

MALPRACTICE 

Malpractice is any attempt to gain an unfair advantage over other students. Malpractice in any form, including misrepresentation, collusion, plagiarism, and breach of assessment conditions, is unacceptable. Holy Trinity School treats allegations of malpractice very seriously, and detected malpractice will jeopardise a student’s award and achievement of the RoSA or the HSC.  

Student conduct amounting to malpractice may range from unintentional failures to  comply with assessment rules and procedures to deliberate attempts to gain an unfair  advantage involving intentional wrongdoing. 

Students who knowingly assist other students to engage in malpractice will be considered  complicit in the malpractice.

Misrepresentation 

Misrepresentation is when a student misleads or deceives others by presenting untrue  information through the fabrication, alteration, or omission of information. 

Misrepresentation can include, but is not limited to: 

• making up journal entries for a project, and/or 

• submitting falsified or altered documents, and/or 

• referencing incorrect or non-existent sources, and/or 

• contriving false explanations to explain work not handed in by the due date.

    Collusion 

Collusion is when a student inappropriately collaborates with another student, group of  students,   person, organisation, or entity to produce work that was meant for individual  assessment. 

Collusion includes but is not limited to: 

• sharing answers to an assessment with other students, and/or 

• submitting work that has been substantially contributed to by another person, such  as a student, parent, coach or subject expert, and/or 

• contract cheating by outsourcing work to a third party, and/or 

• unauthorised use of artificial intelligence technologies. 

Plagiarism 

Plagiarism is when a student pretends to have written, created or developed work that  has originated from another source. 

When using work that has originated from another source, students must acknowledge  the source material in accordance with course-specific requirements. 

Plagiarism includes but is not limited to: 

• copying someone else’s work in part or in whole, and presenting it as their own, and/or 

• using material directly from books, journals, the internet, or any other offline/online resources, without appropriate acknowledgement of the authors and/or source, and/or 

• building on the ideas or words of another person without appropriate acknowledgement, and/or using ideas, designs or the workmanship of others in practical and performance tasks without appropriate acknowledgement. 

• using artificial intelligence (AI) to generate part or all of an assessment task and submit the work as their own. 

• using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to access and retrieve answers or information during an assessment task or exam. 

• Artificial intelligence (AI) is used to perform automated calculations or data analysis and submit the calculations/analysis as their own.

Consequences of Plagiarism

No work or part of any work where there is suspicion of plagiarism, dishonesty or malpractice can be marked. Where there is any doubt, the onus is on the student to prove that the work is theirs. Where part of a work is produced by dishonest means, that section will not be marked, and contact made with families. Where the dishonesty affects a substantial part of a student’s work, a mark of zero will normally be recorded, and an ‘N’ Warning Letter will be sent home. The student may be required to resubmit the task.

In the case of suspected or proven malpractice, students may be required to provide evidence that all unacknowledged work is entirely their own. Such evidence might include, but is not limited to, the student: 

• providing evidence of and explaining the process of their work, which might include diaries, journals or notes, working plans or sketches, and progressive drafts to show the development of their ideas

•  answering questions regarding the assessment task, examination or submitted work under investigation, to demonstrate their knowledge, understanding and skills. 

Penalties for malpractice 

• The penalty for plagiarism will normally be a zero mark for the section or sections of the assessment task in which the plagiarism occurred. 

• The penalty for cheating will be determined by the teacher, the Leader of Curriculum and the Assistant Principal. The issue may also be referred to the Assessment Review Committee.

EXAMINATION RULES

BEFORE AN EXAM

1. Each student is to have his/her own writing materials, stapler, eraser, calculator and any other equipment specific to the exam. Failure to have this equipment may result in the student being unable to answer parts of the exam.

2. Students are not permitted to borrow any equipment from another student at any time during, or upon completion, of an examination. 

3. Only essential equipment, as determined by teachers, is to be taken into the exam room.

4. Students who are found to be in possession of notes or other unauthorised material in an examination room will have their papers cancelled, that is, receive a zero mark.

5. Students must ensure they arrive on time for their exams.

6. Mobile phones, iPads, laptops and digital devices such as smart watches and fitness trackers must remain outside the room (unless required for the task).

DURING AN EXAM

1. Students must not communicate either verbally or non-verbally with one another once they have entered the examination room.

2. Students should ensure that their answers and worksheets are not visible to other students.

AT THE CONCLUSION OF AN EXAM

1. It is the student's responsibility to ensure that all parts of a completed exam are

handed up and clearly labelled.

Breach of assessment conditions

Malpractice occurs when a student breaches the assessment conditions to gain an unfair advantage.

If dishonesty is proven, then:

• A zero result will be recorded for that assessment task

• The letter in 'N' Warning Letter will be sent to parents.

There are set rules relating to behaviour during an examination and the consequences of failing to observe these. See the section below.

The use of AI falls under the rules governing academic honesty and the use of external reference materials and sources in student work. Unapproved use of AI in the completion of assignments is a breach of academic integrity. All work presented in assessment tasks and external examinations (including submitted works and practical examinations) must

be a student’s own or must be acknowledged appropriately.

Advice for students

Plagiarism and other forms of academic dishonesty are unacceptable. You should be aware that current rules for cheating and plagiarism still apply to AI. All work should be your own or correctly acknowledged. It is important that you take academic pride and ownership by submitting original work.

AI can also be unreliable and must always be monitored by a human. AI can produce biased and/or toxic content, false information or facts that aren’t based on real data or events and false citations. This could compromise the quality of your submissions.

Here are some techniques to help students know when they are plagiarising and to help them avoid plagiarism in the first place. Students should familiarise themselves with these techniques:

• Learn how to manage time so there is no need to panic and feel that plagiarism is the only alternative.

• Learn the SIX steps of the Information Process: Defining, Locating, Selecting, Organising, Presenting and Evaluating — to break down your assignments into manageable segments.

• Don’t allow others to copy your work, as you will be an ‘accessory to the crime’ and penalised as well.

• Do not hand in someone else’s work as your own — EVER.

• Learn about accepted methods of referencing and constructing bibliographies, and to legitimately use the work of others to enhance assessment work by explaining how to:

• o Properly construct a bibliography of all the sources used in an assignment

• o Properly use direct and indirect quotations in an assignment — called ‘in-text’ referencing.

• Be aware of Australian copyright guidelines.

• When taking notes from any source, always copy down the bibliographic information immediately, so that the source can easily be acknowledged when writing the assignment later.

• When writing a quotation in any note-taking, make sure it has quotation marks around it so it can later be identified as a quote and not your own words.

• Separate your ideas from others as you are taking or making notes. You may use brackets or different coloured pens to separate your comments from the author’s words.

• Learn how to legally paraphrase. Look up note-taking methods. Use a thesaurus.

• Learn how to effectively synthesise information into something that is the student’s own work.

• Students will undertake HSC: All My Own Work at the end of Year 10. The NSW Education Standards Authority program is designed to help Higher School Certificate students follow the principles and practices of good scholarship. This

must be completed before commencing their Preliminary studies.

http://educationstandards.nsw.edu.au/wps/portal/nesa/11-12/hsc/hsc-all-my-own-work

A student who does not satisfy the Course Completion Criteria for any course will be given an “N” Determination for the course. 

If a student is deemed to be in danger of receiving an “N” Determination, a warning letter will be sent to the parents of the student. The warning letter will set out the actions required for the student to remedy the situation and the date by which this situation must be remedied. The effect of the warning is cancelled if the student remedies the situation. 

“N” warning letters will be sent in the following circumstances:

• An assessment task has not been completed within four days and is without the submission of the Illness/ Misadventure Form. 

• The student does not genuinely attempt an assessment task or submit any task containing anything obscene, blasphemous, racist or abusive. 

• The student is in danger of not completing the work placement requirements for a VET course. 

• The student scores a zero mark on the task for any reason. 

“N” Determination can be made in the following circumstances: 

• Work placement is not completed by the scheduled date in a VET course. 

• Two or more warning letters have been sent, and the required actions have not been completed. 

• The student does not complete assessment tasks worth more than 50% of the total mark for any course. 

A student has the right to appeal 

• the marks awarded for a particular assessment task. E.g.: the mark isn't supported by marking criteria or an error in the calculation

• the grade achieved in a course 

• the school’s response to the appeal for disability provisions on the grounds of illness/misadventure

• the decision of an Illness/Misadventure application 

• if they feel that they have been disadvantaged in any way by the assessment task. 

If a student intends to appeal to Holy Trinity School for any of the reasons above, they need to: 

1. Discuss with the classroom teacher OR relevant Leader of Learning, usually no later than three school days of receiving a marked task from a teacher

2. Submit a Student Appeal for School-based Assessment Form within one week to the Assistant Principal (Appeals Review Committee) 

The Appeals Review Committee will determine the circumstances of the appeal and the supporting documentation, then decide if the appeal is rejected or upheld. 

Further details regarding HSC appeals are outlined in the specific Year 11 and Year 12  information (on separate pages). 

The NSW Education Standards Authority requires satisfactory attendance at school for the award of the Record of School Achievement (RoSA) or HSC. Poor attendance at school,  including habitual late arrivals or an absence from school for an extended period of time, is of great concern. The school, acting on guidelines from the NSW Education Standards  Authority, considers that students will find it difficult to achieve outcomes of a course if  their attendance is poor. Holy Trinity School follows up student attendance as per ACS (Armidale Catholic Schools) guidelines and makes every effort to work with students and  their families to support attendance. 

Students must get a Change of Course Request From from the Assistant Principal. The from must be filled in before any change of class takes place.