Rose Bay High School employs a range of assessment and reporting procedures.

School Assessment involves the identification of learning objectives and assessment outcomes.  These describe knowledge, skills and experiences that students must address.  Students are assessed in relation to their ability to meet these outcomes, not in comparison to the abilities of other students. 

Assessment is carried out by teachers primarily to:

• Assess the effectiveness of their teaching in regard to student learning and to plan future learning activities

• Assist students’ learning, goal setting and awareness of their strengths and weaknesses

• Enable students, parents and employees to understand the achievement of individual students across the wide range of learning areas they participate in at school.

Students are assessed using a wide variety of assessment techniques including: oral, written and practical tasks.  Student self-assessment, where appropriate, is also a valuable assessment technique.  Grade 10 students complete examinations in core subjects in August.

The National Curriculum

With the introduction National Curriculum in 2012, Rose Bay High School has National Curriculum units in English, Mathematics, Society and History and Science.  Further information regarding the content of these new curricula can be found on the ACARA (Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority) website. www.acara.edu.au

The Tasmanian Curriculum

The Tasmanian Curriculum explains the scope and sequence of learning opportunities for students as they progress from Kindergarten to Year 10. Assessment of  NON_ACARA subjects is still against the Tasmanian Curriculum standards.

Five standards have been applied to describe student achievement from Kinder to Grade 10.  Within these standards are 15 stages which are further divided into two divisions within each stage – “proficient” and “advanced”.

Students can take up to a year to consolidate ideas and to demonstrate understanding following the teaching of new concepts. More able students will understand ideas quickly. Others will take up to two years to reach the same level of understanding.  So that students are challenged to improve their learning, they should be provided with opportunities to learn that are in advance of their expected assessment ratings.

It is expected that, given appropriate opportunities to learn, the spread of assessment ratings would be as shown in the table below. Very few students in the year groups would be expected to be assessed outside this range by the end of the year.

The following subjects are assessed according to this system:

• Health and Wellbeing

• Arts

Vocational and Applied Learning will not be assessed by standards but students will receive a comment based report which describes their achievement in this learning area.

Thinking and Information Communication Technologies are embedded in all learning areas.

T

Reporting To Parents

Rose Bay staff believe that each student and his/her parents ought to have access to three reports in a school year.

The school utilises three types of reports; a 'quick-tick' single sheet, interim report and a more detailed report.

The interim report form does not include assessment awards and is issued on request by a parent or when a particular need arises.

Term One

A 'Tick Report' (Progress Report) is issued about the middle of Term 1.  Where appropriate this will either precede or follow the Easter break.  This is a brief safety net, designed to give a quick impression of how well students have settled into the new school year. 

Parent/Teacher interviews are also available by appointment with all staff on an allocated afternoon/evening.

Term Two

Detailed reports are issued in the middle of the year to all grades.  These are comprehensive reports which cover the full program studied by students at school.  Parent/Teacher interviews are also available by appointment with all staff on an allocated afternoon/evening.

Term Three

Subject-based reports will be issued in December.  These will contain an assessment and a short comment on the student's achievement.

Parents of children in Grade 7 and 9 will also receive copies of Literacy and Numeracy test results conducted by the Education Performance Services.

Other Contact

Parents with concerns about their child’s progress at school are strongly encouraged to contact staff at any time throughout the year.