Senior Academic

ATAR courses at CMSHS

In Senior School students begin to choose the pathway they want to follow to gain graduation and set themselves up for their future outside of High School. Senior students can choose an ATAR pathway, a General pathway or a mixture of both. All our senior students will complete a Certificate through either TAFE or SIDE regardless of the pathway they choose.

Students who choose an ATAR Pathway will either have small face-to-face classes with our experienced and motivated ATAR teachers, or complete their chosen ATAR courses via SIDE delivery in the library. There is a wide variety of SIDE ATAR subjects that can be chosen by students, and while working in the library, our students are supported and supervised by our SIDE Supervisor.

 

The face-to-face ATAR subjects offered will vary depending on the choices of the senior students who select their course preferences in Year 10. We always aim to offer an ATAR English and Mathematics class face-to-face, although this can still be governed by student numbers. It is also important to be aware that there are minimum entry requirements for students who wish to study ATAR courses in Year 11 and 12 at Central Midlands SHS. These entry requirements offer students studying an ATAR pathway the best possible opportunity for success, they are based on a student achieving above satisfactory results (above 60%) in a subject linked to the ATAR subject they want to choose.

 

Students who choose a General Pathway will complete English and Mathematics General courses, which are focused on the skills students need to develop for the workplace and to achieve their OLNA requirements. Students are also able to choose three more General subjects, covering areas like Visual Arts, Design and Technology, Physical Education Studies, Business Management and Enterprise, Media Production and Analysis, Food and Sciences and Automotives. The General subjects offered will vary depending on the interests and choices of the senior students who select their course preferences in Year 10.

 

All students enrolled in General courses are required to complete an EST. The EST is an assessment task which is set by the Authority and distributed to schools for administering to students. The EST will be administered in schools during Term 2, 2022 under standard test conditions. The EST will take 50 minutes. The EST will be marked by teachers in each school using a marking key provided by the Authority. The EST is included in the assessment table in the syllabus as a separate assessment type with a weighting of 15% for the pair of units.

 

Students who choose a mixture of both ATAR and General, can complete their ATAR subjects either face-to-face or through SIDE depending on their preferences, as mentioned above, and choose from any of the General subjects offered.

 

All senior students are supported by the Curriculum Manager, who has regular meetings with the senior students to monitor their progress towards achieving their WACE.