A summary of the program for students and staff

The NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) has required all students who sit for the HSC to complete a new program called HSC: All My Own Work. Students will only receive the HSC if they have completed this program. Below is an outline of how the program will operate at Woolgoolga High.

Students will have to complete each unit themselves and present the completed quiz to their Year Advisor, who will pass this information on to the Senior Curriculum Coordinator (Mrs Jacqui Harrison).

Students must achieve 80% or greater in each quiz. All units are usually completed and submitted by the end of Year 10. These can be accessed on the website www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au. Click on “All My Own Work” and follow the instructions.

A summary of each unit from a NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) Bulletin follows.

HSC: All My Own Work - A program in ethical scholarship for HSC students

The NSW Premier, Morris Iemma, announced the HSC: All My Own Work program on 26 February 2006 as one of several measures contained in the NSW Government's Respect and Responsibility strategy.

The HSC: All My Own Work program is designed to strengthen the capacity of HSC students to follow the principles and practices of good scholarship, including understanding and valuing ethical practices related to locating and using information as part of their HSC program.

In June 2006, secondary principals were advised that completion of the program would be an eligibility requirement for candidates entering HSC courses from 2008.

An entry and certification facility for the HSC: All My Own Work program will be created in Schools Online. The facility will allow the tracking of students who may complete the program at different times (e.g., in Year 10 or in Year 11).

Life Ready is a mandatory 25-hour course designed to prepare and support senior students as they encounter situations related to health and safety while becoming more independent and gaining more responsibilities. It focuses on offering opportunities for students to build the functional knowledge needed for life after school.

Life Ready aims to help prepare senior students to:

• Confidently and successfully transition to post-school employment, training, or further education, as well as participate in and be independent in the community.

• Lead healthy, safe, and meaningful lives and promote respect, responsibility, enjoyment, inclusion, and social justice for themselves and others.

Life Ready is divided into six relevant and contemporary learning contexts:

1. Independence

2. Mental Health and Wellbeing

3. Relationships

4. Sexuality and Sexual Health

5. Drugs and Alcohol

6. Safe Travel

The Wellbeing initiatives offered by Woolgoolga High School contribute to students meeting the requirements of the Life Ready Program.

The following Wellbeing initiatives offered to our Year 11 and Year 12 students enable all of our HSC candidates to meet the mandatory 25 hours by attending:

• Elevate Education for Year 11 & Year 12 students: Maintaining good mental health with study habits and coming to grips with how to study effectively.

• Rotary Youth Driver Awareness Day (RYDA) for all Year 11 students: Sponsored by Woolgoolga Rotary.

• Getting Out There Day: The traditional conference for Year 12 students about to transition to post-school life. Sponsored by Woolgoolga Rotary.

• Reduce Risk Increase Student Knowledge (RRISK): A road safety, alcohol, and drug awareness day for Year 11 students.

Other programs or talks that may be offered:

• Mental Health Awareness Day at CHEC

• Department of Fair Trading talks

• Motivate Driver Awareness Programs

• PARTY Programs (Prevent Alcohol and Risk-related Trauma in Youth)

• Australian Communications and Media Authority talks

The following course completion criteria refer to Preliminary:
A student will be considered to have satisfactorily completed a course if, in the Principal's view, there is sufficient evidence that the student has:
(a) Followed the course developed or endorsed by the Board; and
(b) Applied themselves with diligence and sustained effort to the set tasks and experiences provided in the course by the school;
(c) Achieved some or all of the course outcomes.

Whilst the NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) does not mandate attendance requirements, Principals may determine that, as a result of absence, the course completion criteria may not be met. Clearly, absences will be regarded seriously by the Principal, who must give students early warning of the consequences of such absences.

If at any time it appears that a student is at risk of being given a "N" (Non-completion) determination in any course, the Principal must warn the student as soon as possible and advise the student, parent, or guardian in writing. This warning should be given in time for the problem to be corrected.

Students who have not complied with the above requirements cannot be regarded as having satisfactorily completed the course. The Principal will then apply for the "N" determination.

Preliminary Courses 

In cases of non-satisfactory completion, an "N" determination will be submitted on the appropriate form. Courses which were not satisfactorily completed will not be printed on Records of Achievement, and the student may not be permitted to continue to the HSC for that course.

The Principal may allow a student who has received an "N" determination on the grounds of lack of application to proceed to the HSC course provisionally while concurrently satisfying any outstanding Preliminary course requirements. Principals will be required to confirm, at the time of HSC entries, that the student has now satisfactorily completed Preliminary course requirements and that their entry for the HSC course is valid.

Students who have received an "N" determination have a right of appeal.

1.  What is Assessment?
   Assessment is the means by which a school determines the overall performance and rank order of students in each course studied for the Preliminary Year. This mark is based on set assessment tasks.
   These assessment tasks are part of the total range of set tasks and experiences provided in each course.

2.  What will be Assessed?
   The assessment can cover all syllabus objectives other than those relating to the development of subjective values, attitudes, and interests. It will include the content and objectives currently measured by the external examination, as well as others which are inappropriate for testing at such an examination.
   Assessment tasks will consist of essays, tests, practical work, field work, oral presentations, and similar appropriate items to improve the overall measurement of student performance in each course.
   Schools are required to provide assessment for both Board Developed Courses and Board Endorsed Courses.

3.  Information to Students
   The school will provide assessment information so that each student should know:

• What is to be assessed?

• How it will be assessed?

• When it will be assessed?

• The relative value of each task?

Detailed information relating to assessment tasks in each course will be given to students by the subject faculty concerned. Assessment schedules for all Board Courses for the HSC are set out at the end of this policy statement. The schedule indicates the number and broad nature of tasks set, the method of assessment, and the relative value of each task.
Assessment schedules for Board Endorsed Courses are included.
Raw scores for each assessment task will be moderated to the same mean and standard deviation before addition to obtain progressive or final totals. It should be noted that the method ensures each task is given its correct weighting; however, it may differ from arithmetic addition.

4.  Changes to Assessment
   In circumstances where it is deemed necessary to alter the assessment task due date, weight, or task components, teachers will provide two weeks' written notice of a change in the schedule outlining the task and the changes.

5.  Assessment at Woolgoolga High
   Woolgoolga High has developed an assessment program for all the courses offered other than TAFE Courses. Because subjects are different, there is a significant variation in the type, number, and technique of assessment exercises in each. Faculties in the school have developed assessment policies incorporating all courses within their responsibility and which have been based upon:

• • (a)  The General Guidelines, Support Document, and the HSC Manual issued by the NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA).

  • (b)  Relevant syllabuses and subject guides.

The Assessment Program will commence in Term 1, 2024, and will finish at the Final Preliminary Examination.
A 2-Unit Preliminary course will have a maximum of three assessment tasks (including the Final Examination). An extension course in the same subject will have, in addition, a maximum of three tasks (including the Final Examination).

An Assessment Calendar will be collated and available for viewing online. The Final Examination will normally be preceded by a non-assessment period week. The Principal reserves the right to vary this arrangement if teaching programs have been disrupted.

The NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) expects students to undertake all assessment tasks. Tasks not submitted by the due date, or previously, will result in a zero mark and will be noted as a "non-attempt." In the case of significant illness or misadventure, a substitute task OR an estimate MAY be authorized by the Principal.
Students are not permitted to miss lessons from other subjects in order to study for, or complete, assessment tasks that are set during class time.

Oral Tasks
Where a student has an oral presentation within their assessment schedule, the following rules will apply:
A student MUST be present at the FIRST lesson that the task is scheduled. The normal rules of absence will apply, as students are named at random for completion of the task.
If the task continues for more than one lesson, names will be drawn at random. If a student is absent AND their name is drawn, then he/she will receive a ZERO mark, unless normal absentee rules are applied.

Assessment Tasks and Computers
Unless specifically requested by the task coordinator, it is an expectation that students use their official department email to send their digital documents.

The default format for all files is ‘PDF’. The task coordinator may request a different format, such as a hardcopy printout. A single assessment task should have all documents merged into one ‘PDF’ document, or combined into a single zip archive. Documents must be sent prior to the due date and time. Students should check their sent items to ensure the documents have been sent.
Students should maintain a digital copy of their document in an unmodified form in case of technical difficulties.

Assessment of Vocational Education (VET) Courses

Vocational Education courses are Board Developed courses based on national curriculum and are designed to meet industry needs. They are written and assessed using competency-based terms.
A competency is a specific knowledge or skill and the application of that knowledge or skill within an occupation or industry level, to the standard of performance required in employment.
To determine whether a student is competent, he/she must be assessed against a set of criteria. Students are not assessed in competition with each other but against standard criteria or benchmarks. Assessment, therefore, focuses on ensuring that students can apply their learning to real work situations. It involves assessing the way students manage and solve problems, as well as actually performing set tasks.

Whenever competencies are formally assessed, a record is made in the Competency Record Book (Student Logbook). As well as being assessed on the competencies in each module, students must complete a 35-hour work placement. Students not completing a work placement will not have completed their Preliminary HSC requirements.

As with all other HSC courses, students undertaking VET courses may be deemed to have either completed or not completed course requirements. It should be noted that if a student fails to undertake any mandatory work placement component, it may be determined that the student has not made a genuine attempt to complete course requirements. In this case, the Principal can indicate that the course has not been satisfactorily completed and the student may be eligible for an "N" determination.

This is a breach of the “HSC All My Own Work” which the student has signed off on as having completed and understood the implications.
If any student is detected committing an illegality in the preparation and submission of an Assessment Task, a Review Committee will investigate all circumstances.

Examples of illegalities are cheating during a test; copying another student's work and claiming it as their own; falsifying an explanation when a task has been submitted late and disrupting a classroom in which an assessment task is being undertaken etc.

Unfair advantage
This is when a student takes time to complete or work on an assessment task when they are scheduled to be in another timetabled lesson or school event. Other students attending their scheduled lesson or school event do not have this extra time, therefore, this is unfair. Likewise, students staying away from school the day before a task is due, without a doctor’s certificate or justified illness/misadventure form, is also unfair. Students who are deemed to have an unfair advantage can receive a zero mark for their task.

The Review Committee will decide what mark, if any, will be awarded for that task.

If it can be seen that collaboration has taken place then both students will be regarded as having committed an illegality.

Students may request a review of their course ranking if they consider that their position in the school's order of merit is inconsistent with their expectations on the basis of performance in assessment tasks.

Reasonable grounds for appeal would include:

• Failure of the school's policy to conform to the NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) component weightings.

• Inclusion or exclusion of tasks causing a result incompatible with the school's stated assessment policy as given to students.

• Computational or clerical errors.

Appeals must be supported by information which would lead the student to have an expectation of ranking significantly different from that awarded.

Requests for a review of marks gained for individual assessment tasks must be made to the class teacher at the time that task is completed and marked. Review committees do not have the power to order re-marking of any work nor is it their function to review results in individual tasks.

A student may subsequently appeal to NESA for a further review but only on the grounds that the School Review Committee did not comply with the NESA’s requirements.

School Reviews will be conducted immediately after the last examination paper and must be concluded before the end of November.

The Review Committee
The Review Committee shall consist of:

• The Principal or Deputy Principal

• One teacher, nominated by the relevant Head Teacher, who has been directly involved with the course, including the preparation of the assessment.

• One teacher from another subject/department, nominated by the Principal

Detailed reasons to support the Review Committee's decision shall be given to all students seeking an assessment review.