VCE students: important SACs reminder

The following is important information for all parents and carers of students studying VCE subjects.

The Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE) is an important part of our education system, used to support students in their transition from high school to tertiary pathways. To ensure that all students have equal opportunities across our school, across our region, and across our state, a component of VCE is the School-assessed Coursework (SAC). All schools in Victoria are checked by the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA) to make sure that they are conducting and marking to the same standard. Fairness and equity are important aspects of the VCE.

With that in mind, recent Year Level assemblies provided an opportunity to remind all students of the policies at Catherine McAuley College for absences from SACs and for SAC rescheduling.

Equity of assessment
The VCAA requires all schools to ensure they have a stringent process for authenticating the work students complete as part of their school-based assessment. This authentication process is vital to ensure that all students complete their SACs in fair and equitable conditions, with equal assessment conditions such as time, resources and supervision.

This is why the College has a process in place to manage the rescheduling of SACs that are missed due to illness (confirmed with a medical certificate or statutory declaration) or an approved College event. Every week CMC organises supervised rescheduled SAC sessions on Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons (3:30-5:00pm) for all VCE students, and Friday afternoons in Periods 6 and 7 for Year 12 students only.

Process for rescheduling VCE SACs

• Approved College event:

If a student is absent from a SAC due to an approved College event, they should complete the ‘VCE SAC Reschedule Form’ that can be found on SIMON under Student Links.

For equity, the SAC will be rescheduled at the earliest possible opportunity. Sometimes, this may mean the rescheduled SAC is organised a few days before the original SAC date.

• Illness:

If a student is absent from a SAC due to illness, families should inform the school of their absence on the day of the SAC and the student should complete the ‘VCE SAC Reschedule Form’ that can be found on SIMON under Student Links.

Families should ensure that they provide a medical certificate or a statutory declaration to validate their missed assessment.

For equity, SACs will be rescheduled to occur at the earliest possible opportunity.

Where there has been more than one SAC missed, SACs may be scheduled for both the Tuesday and Wednesday sessions. It is not possible to supervise two missed SACs in one afternoon.

Why it is important
Where this process is not followed, the College will be unable to authenticate that a school-based assessment was completed equitably. As such, teachers of a student who has an unapproved absence from a SAC will be advised to record an ‘NA’ for the missed assessment, unless there are extenuating circumstances. If students are not able to demonstrate that they have met the outcomes of a unit outside of this missed assessment, an ‘N’ score may be recorded for a given unit.

A student missing a school day to attend a family holiday or attend a non-school-based activity cannot request that school-assessed coursework (SAC) be rescheduled, which will result in the student not being scored for this SAC. Students who elect to participate in a holiday while undertaking VCE place themselves at considerable risk of failing VCE subjects they are undertaking.

Need help?
Noting the above, please be reminded that your child’s Student Advocate and Year Level Leaders are there to provide support where absences are impacting assessment. Particularly where absences have impacted learning, do not hesitate to contact your child’s support person, or the VCE/Pathways Learning Leader, to receive advice on ways we can offer support.

Mr Dylan Mead
VCE/Pathways Learning Leader

Mr Matthew Angove
Director of Teaching and Learning