School Assessed Coursework (SACs)
To ensure the integrity of VCE assessment and maintain compliance with VCAA expectations, the school has established clear processes for the development, storage, delivery, and retention of School‑assessed Coursework (SACs). These procedures apply to all VCE teachers and form part of the documentation required during VCAA audit.
1. Storage and Security of SAC Tasks
SACs must be finalised at least one week prior to the scheduled assessment date. Once finalised, the SAC should be shared with all members of the teaching team to ensure consistency across classes, and it must be stored electronically in a location that is not accessible to students. Draft or incomplete SACs must not be uploaded to Compass or any platform where students may inadvertently access them.
When SACs are printed, they must be stored securely in a staffroom as students are not permitted to enter these spaces. Printed SACs should be clearly labelled with the subject name, a class list, and the assessment conditions required in the event of teacher absence. If a teacher does not have access to secure storage, they must approach a member of the Senior School Team to arrange storage in the VCE exam cupboard.
Students must receive either a hard copy or electronic SAC notification using the Norwood outlining the assessment details at least one week prior to the scheduled SAC date. This ensures transparency, supports student preparation, and maintains consistency across all VCE subjects.
2. Use of Publicly Available Assessment Resources
VCE teachers may draw on publicly available resources such as previously used SACs, commercial tasks, subject association materials, and past VCE examinations when designing assessments. However, any resource used must be substantially modified to ensure the final SAC is unique, secure, and cannot be recognised or reproduced by students. This includes tasks used in previous years at our school, as well as tasks that may be circulating among students through tutoring centres, online forums, or commercial providers.
To maintain assessment integrity, SACs must be updated each year. Reusing tasks without significant modification increases the risk that students may have prior access to content, which compromises fairness and breaches VCAA expectations. Annual redevelopment also ensures that SACs remain aligned with current study design requirements, reflect the specific learning sequence of the cohort, and respond to any emerging issues in student performance or curriculum delivery.
These expectations apply to all VCE subjects and all SACs, regardless of whether the task is teacher‑designed, adapted from a commercial source, or based on a past VCAA examination.
3. Delivering SACs Across Multiple Classes
For subjects with multiple classes, teachers must take deliberate steps to minimise the risk of students sharing information about SAC content. To maintain equity and consistency across all groups, these SACs are scheduled in one or more after‑school sessions, depending on the number of classes and the nature of the assessment.. This ensures that all students complete the assessment under the same conditions and prevents any advantage that could arise from staggered delivery.
Where it is not possible to run a combined after‑school session, teachers must either minimise the time lag between classes when delivering the same SAC or modify the task so that each class receives a version that differs in meaningful and academically valid ways.
For subjects with only one class, teachers may choose to administer the SAC during class time or opt to run it after school to preserve teaching time and maintain the flow of their instructional program. This flexibility allows teachers to balance curriculum delivery with assessment requirements while still ensuring that SACs are administered in a consistent, secure, and well‑managed manner.
Teachers delivering practical subjects must ensure that written or theory‑based SACs are relocated to an appropriate classroom in M Block. Practical learning spaces are not suitable for written assessments due to equipment and safety considerations.
4. Retention of SACs (Units 3 & 4)
All SACs completed in VCE Units 3 and 4 must be retained by the school until the end of the academic year, as required by the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA).
After this period, SACs may be returned to students or disposed of using the school’s secure disposal bins.
If a student has received an ‘N’ result or has been involved in a VCAA Panel for an Assessment Breach, teachers must scan the SAC to retain a digital copy before returning or securely disposing of the original. Alternatively, the original SAC may be forwarded to the Senior School, where it will be stored in the student’s file.
Redeeming Outcomes
When a student receives an N result for an outcome, teachers must provide the student with at least two further opportunities to redeem the outcome. These opportunities must allow the student to demonstrate the required key knowledge and key skills in an alternative way. As the classroom teacher, you are responsible for supporting the student through this process and determining the most appropriate method of redemption. Because subjects differ in structure, assessment design, and learning demands, the approach to redemption may vary between subjects; however, where a subject has multiple classes, the redemption process must be applied consistently across all groups.
To maintain fairness and assessment integrity, any opportunity to redeem an ‘N’ result must involve tasks that differ from the original School‑based Assessment. This may include supplementary activities, alternative tasks, or other forms of evidence that allow the student to demonstrate achievement of the outcome. Teachers should delay making a final decision about satisfactory completion until the student has been given reasonable time to complete or submit this further evidence; however, all final decisions must still align with VASS unit deadlines, which are communicated to staff as soon as they are confirmed at the beginning of the academic year.
Whenever an N result is awarded, the Head of Year Level must be notified. Families must also be informed through the school’s Letter of Concern, and this communication is chronicled on Compass to ensure accurate documentation and transparency.
Please note that students may only submit further work for the purpose of redeeming an N result. The original SAC or SAT score must remain unchanged and cannot be improved through resubmission. The redemption process is used solely to determine whether the student has met the outcome for satisfactory completion.