Memorandum to Schools 100/2007
12 October 2007
2007 October/November Examination Centre Messages Delivery Methods
The Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA) will send examination centre messages after the commencement of each of the October/November written examinations.
The message is sent after the commencement of the examination so that students have time to read the examination paper thoroughly. Should they have a concern about a possible error on the paper there is an opportunity for the VCAA to investigate this and then provide advice to all students should this be necessary.
The Examination Centre message should be given to the Chief Supervisor and ultimately filed in the VCE Examination Document Register.
Usually the examination centre message ‘Subject’ will be: PROCEED NORMALLY.
If an examination error has been identified, instructions will be provided for supervisors about the announcement to be made to students. In these circumstances the message ‘Subject’ will be: SPECIAL MESSAGE RE EXAMINATION.
1. MESSAGE DELIVERY
The VCAA will forward examination centre messages via:
- a fax delivery service
- Email to the School’s official email mailbox as displayed in VASS.
2. COLLECTION OF EXAMINATION CENTRE MESSAGES
2.1 Fax Service
Delivery by thi s method will occur without intervention by schools taff provided the correct fax number has been stored on the fax s ervice, and the school’s fax machine is not engaged or off-line.
If the fax machine is busy, one additional attempt will be made to deliver the message.
The agreement with the service provider requires the transmission of the fax to school s within a 15 minute time frame. Please note, on occasion, some faxes have arrived later than the specified time. School staff should continue to observe the fax beyond these times if the message has not arrived.
EVEN IF YOU RELY PRIMARILY ON THE FAX SERVICE, IT IS STRONGLY RECOMMENDED THAT YOU ARRANGE FOR THE APPROPRIATE PERSON/S TO LOG ON AND COLLECT THE EMAIL MESSAGES. (See below)
A test fax delivery will be run on Monday 15 October. No follow-up action will be required of schools .
The time frame for fax delivery for the October / November written examination period is as follows:
Thursday 18 October
- 2:30pm – 2:45pm
Friday 2 November
- 9:30am – 9:45am
- 3:30pm – 3:45pm
Monday 5 November - Thursday 22 November
- 9:30am – 9:45am
- 12:15pm – 12:30pm
- 3:30pm – 3:45pm
2.2 Email
Occasional problems have been reported with messages sent by the VCAA to some schools. Therefore emailed examination centre messages will be sent via the VCAA Examination Unit as well as a backup copy via VASS Support. Please ensure that the relevant mailbox is cleared so that these messages can be delivered.
The email s ent via the VCAA Examination s Unit will be sent to all schools.
The email sent by VASS Support will only be sent to schools with an interest in a particular examination. This will be all home schools, assessing schools and examination for each study. The message will be sent to the school email address as recorded in VASS under the menu SCHOOL ADMIN → Modify School Details .
A copy will al s o be s ent to the VCE Coordinator but only if an email addre s s ha s been entered for that person in VASS.
Please ensure that the log-on occurs at the times listed above as the VCAA may only send the message minutes before these nominated times.
Note: Schools should consult their IT Network Administrators / Technicians to ensure that network / email outages are NOT scheduled during the examination period and that email facilities are in working order.
CONTACT FOR ENQUIRIES:
If these delivery methods fail please contact Robert Hunt, VCAA, Examinations Unit, on 9225 2351 for the current message.
For other enquiries please contact Dan Vine, Project Manager, VCE Examinations, on 9225 2360 or email vine.daniel.d@edumail.vic.gov.au
