Curriculum- Teaching and Learning

If you wish to hear more about curriculum, teaching and learning across our school, please contact:

Melinda Rowe

Assistant Principal - Curriculum and Pedagogy

m: 0467 290 948

melinda.rowe@education.vic.gov.au

School Wide Teaching and Learning

In each edition of our school newsletter, we share with our community an insight into the curriculum being taught within our classrooms. This reflects our school's strong focus upon continuous improvement.

Each edition covers a different area of the curriculum, and is supported by our school-wide approaches to teaching and learning.

In this edition we provide you with some information regarding the ICAS assessments offered for students in Year Three through to Year Six. These assesssments will be taking place in Term Three.

What is ICAS?

The International Competitions and Assessments for Schools, or ICAS for short, is an independent, skills-based assessment program. ICAS recognises and rewards student achievement in areas such as English, maths, science, spelling, writing and digital technologies. The series of tests are designed to match and test skills that are learned in the school classroom.

The internationally-recognised gold standard in academic competitions

ICAS is a historic academic competition that has been sat by over 10 million school students from 16,000 schools across 41 countries since 1981.

It recognises academic performance in a way similar to sports or the arts, with engaging, fun questions designed by psychometricians, education measurement experts and experienced teachers to test students’ higher-order thinking skills.

ICAS also provides rich insights into students’ strengths and weaknesses, helping teachers to accelerate learning outcomes and unlock student potential.

Upwey South Primary School offers the following assessments to students in Year Three, Year Four, Year Five and Year Six:

English
Mathematics
Science
Digital Technologies
Writing
Spelling Bee

Prior to the assessments, students have the opportunity to explore the types of questions they may be exposed to and ask any questions they may have regarding the tests.

Each assessment celebrates students’ accomplishments by providing opportunities for recognition and development. Every student will receive a printed certificate and an online results report. Top performers will be eligible for medals and are invited to attend special award ceremonies to have their academic excellence publicly recognised.

Participation is voluntary with each assessment requiring a payment per test.

Payment is completed through the Parent Portal.

Costs are: $24.95 for the Writing assessment.

All other asssessments are $20.95 per test.

Orders for tests close on Friday 25th July, 2025

TEST DATES

DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES - Monday 4th August 9am

WRITING - Friday 8th August 9am

ENGLISH - Monday 11th August 9am

SCIENCE - Monday 18th August 9am

SPELLING BEE - Friday 22nd August 9am

MATHEMATICS - Tuesday 26th August 9am

To order and make payment for ICAS tests, please head to the following link:

Parent Page Link:

https://shop.icasassessments.com/pages/parent-payment/HPJ629

Parent Code:

HPJ629

Please selct the test relevant to the current year level that your child is in. If they are in Year Four, please select the Year Four test and so on.

If your child we will be absent for one of their purchased tests, please let me know so an alternate time can be organised to complete the assessment.

If you have any questions regarding the ICAS assessments, please contact Melinda Rowe on the details at the top of this page.

Opportunities for students to challenge and enrich their learning are available through the Victorian Challenge and Enrichment Series. The Victorian Challenge and Enrichment Series (VCES) provides funded extension activities for high-ability students in Victorian government schools from Prep to Year 12. Within the series, education expert partners are delivering a suite of face-to-face and virtual incursions and excursions, such as workshops, tutorials, conferences, lectures and competitions, across all areas of the curriculum that are free of charge.

For activities available, please see the following link:

https://arc.educationapps.vic.gov.au/channels/VCES

Some of the activities on offer