Memorandum to Schools 51/2008
30 May 2008
2008 June Examination Centre Messages: Delivery Methods
The Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA) will send examination centre messages after the commencement of each of the June examinations and the GAT.
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 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.
Message Delivery
The VCAA will forward examination centre messages via:
- a fax delivery service
- email to the school’s official mailbox.
Collection of Examination Centre Messages
Fax Service
Delivery by this method will occur without intervention by school staff provided the correct fax number has been stored on the fax service 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 schools 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.
A test fax delivery will be run on Tuesday 3 June at 10.30am. No follow-up action will be required of schools.
The time frame for fax delivery for the June examination period is as follows:
Wednesday 11 June - Thursday 12 June
- 9:30am – 9:45am
- 12:15pm – 12:30pm
- 3:15pm – 3:30pm
Friday 13 June
- 10:30am – 10:45am
Occasional problems have been reported with email messages sent by the VCAA to some schools. Therefore emailed examination centre messages will be sent via the VCAA Examination Unit and a backup copy via VCAA VASS Support. Please arrange for the appropriate person/s to log-on and collect the email messages and that the appropriate mailbox is not full..
The email sent via the VCAA Examinations 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 centres for each study. The message will be sent to the school email address recorded in VASS (see SCHOOL ADMIN → MODIFY SCHOOL DETAILS). A copy will also be sent to the VCE Coordinator but only if an email address has 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.
Contact for enquiries
Simon Phelan, 9225 2360, phelan.simon.s@edumail.vic.gov.au
If these delivery methods fail please contact Robert Hunt, Examinations Unit, VCAA on 9225 2351 for the current message.
