Memorandum to Schools 59/2008

8 July 2008

Submission Of Enrolment 3 Data

Schools are reminded that Enrolment 3 data is due on Monday 21 July 2008. This data should contain 2008 VCE, VET and VCAL enrolment data that are known and available to schools.

After this date VASS will not allow students to be withdrawn from VCE Unit 4 studies.

Schools should take care in withdrawing students from VCE Unit 4 studies as a late fee will apply if a student is incorrectly withdrawn and needs to be reinstated in the unit.

Schools should be aware that withdrawing from a VCE Unit 4 may affect a students eligibility to complete the VCE in 2008.

1. TRANSFERRING STUDENTS

When a student is transferring from your school to another school for second semester, the following steps MUST be taken:

Prior to transferring the student the original Home School should enter any first semester Unit results, scores for Coursework, School assessed Tasks, VET/FE UoC results, VCE VET Assessment Tasks and VCAL results.
The original Home School should not withdraw the student from any semester two enrolments, particularly Unit 4 enrolments, unless requested to do so by the new Home School.

Once all appropriate results have been entered, the original Home School can transfer the student using the menu: STUDENT ADMIN → Student Transfer.

NOTE: VASS will not allow the transfer of any student who has been exited from your school. To transfer students with an exit date go to: STUDENT ADMIN → Student Exit → Student Exit, remove the exit date and save the record. The student can then be transferred in the normal way.

2. STUDENTS NOT ALLOCATED TO CLASSES

Students will appear on the STUDENT PROGRAM → Student Program Enquiries Report → Students Not Allocated to Classes report for one of two reasons:

The student has been transferred during the year. Transferring a student removes the Home School Class Code for VCE, VET & VCAL classes. It is then the responsibility of the new Home School to enter the new class code and change the assessing school code if appropriate.
VCE Students enrolled at an Assessing school must be allocated to a class by both the Home and Assessing School. Enrolments are not considered to be finalised until this occurs. Therefore, both Home and Assessing Schools, including Single Study LOTE and VSL schools, MUST run the Students Not Allocated to Classes report.

3. CHANGING STUDENT CLASS CODES :- The correct way

Schools are advised that it is NOT appropriate to change student class codes by withdrawing and then re-enrolling students in the same unit, but a different class. A late fee will apply if schools wish to re-enrol students into Unit 4 of a study because they were withdrawn from the unit instead of using the correct procedure to change class code. The correct procedure is:

To change a class code for an individual student when results have not been entered, use: STUDENT PROGRAM → VCE → Enrolment. When the unit enrolments for the required student are displayed on the screen, select the Unit to be changed and click on the [Modify] button. The Modify VCE Unit Enrolment dialog box will appear. Select the required class code from the drop down box. Click on the [SAVE] button and follow the prompts.
To change the class code for multiple students in a class OR if results have been entered, use: STUDENT PROGRAM → VCE → Change Student Class Code. Enter the unit code and click on the [FIND] button. Select the required class and click on the [Change ALL Students] button or the [Change Individual Students] button as appropriate.

4. STUDENT ELIGIBILITY – VCE, VET & VCAL

Schools are reminded that the Eligibility programs MUST be run for those students expecting to complete VCE, VET and VCAL programs this year. This is to ensure that students expecting to complete their programs are able to do so with their current enrolment. The Eligibility programs should be rerun whenever enrolment changes are made or following the entry of results.

Schools are strongly advised to enter Unit results for VCE Unit 3 studies as soon as possible. This is because Year 12 students who have obtained an “N” result for a Unit 3 study may subsequently now be flagged as not being eligible to complete the VCE.

The Eligibility reports may take some time to run from the time they are scheduled until completion. As they are background tasks, it is not necessary to remain logged into VASS while the report is being generated.

4.1 VCE and VET (VES/NAP) Eligibility

VCE and VET (VES and NAP) Student Eligibility is checked using the menu: Student Program → Student Program Enquiries Reports → Student Eligibility.

Please note that VFE certificates are not included in this Eligibility Report.

The default value for the eligibility report is to only include students who are NOT eligible. If the report is to be run for eligible students as well, a tick should be placed in the box next to the ‘Include Eligible Students:’ field on the Student Eligibility Report Parameters screen. Any student expected to complete their program this year appearing on the report as ‘Ineligible to Satisfy the VCE’ and/or ‘Ineligible to Satisfy <<certificate name>>’ must be investigated immediately.

The Eligibility Report MUST be run for all year 12 students intending to complete their VCE Certificate this year and students in any year level who intend to complete a VET (VES/NAP) Certificate this year.

4.2 VCAL Eligibility

VCAL Student Eligibility is checked using the menu: STUDENT PROGRAM → VCAL Reports → Student Eligibility. The Eligibility Report MUST be run for students in any year level who intend to complete a VCAL Certificate this year.

The default value for the eligibility report is to only include students who are NOT eligible. If the report is to be run for eligible students as well, a tick should be placed in the box next to the ‘Include Eligible Students:’ field on the VCAL Student Eligibility Report Parameters screen. Any student expected to complete their program this year appearing on the report as ‘Eligible? N’ must be investigated immediately.

The VCAL Eligibility report displays the following information:

Individual student details.
VCAL Certificate details and an eligibility summary.
VCAL unit, VCE unit and VET Certificate details and whether/how they contribute to the VCAL Certificate.

5. ENTRY OF FOCUS AREAS FOR ART & DESIGN & TECHNOLOGY STUDIES

AR033/4 Art, DT033/4 Design and Technology, FY033/4 Food and Technology, ME033/4 Media Studies, SA03/4 Studio Arts, SE033/4 Systems Engineering and VC033/4 Visual Communication & Design are Reviewed by Visitation and require the entry of a focus area.

At the initial enrolment in these units the focus area for all students is automatically set to ‘non-specified’. These should then be checked and corrected as appropriate using the menu: STUDENT PROGRAM → VCE → Enrolment.

If there is no appropriate focus option or if the students are working in more than one media, it is acceptable to leave the focus code as ‘non-specified’.
Alternatively, the menu STUDENT PROGRAM → VCE → Change Focus Area can be used to change focus codes for individual students or an entire class.

The focus areas are reported for each student on the Student Full Details Report (STUDENT ADMIN → Student Full Details Report) and on the Detailed List on Screen version of the class list (STUDENT PROGRAM → VCE Reports → Class Lists). The Detailed List on Screen version of the class list should be given to the relevant teachers to confirm the focus codes for each study.

6. STUDENTS WITHOUT PROGRAMS

A list of students with no enrolments for 2008 may be produced and checked using the menu: STUDENT PROGRAM → Student Program Enquiries Reports → Students Without a Program. Students appearing on this report who should be enrolled in a VCE or VET/FE or VCAL program for 2008 must have their enrolments finalised by the appropriate closing date.

Year 10 students entered onto VASS as PDO (Personal Details Only) as part of the On Track project should not appear on this report. If any do appear it is because they have been flagged with the wrong course code. To change a students course code go to either: STUDENT ADMIN → Modify Student Personal Details or STUDENT ADMIN → Change Student Course Code. The VASS report Student Admin → Other Student Reports → Personal Details Summary can be run to check that the number of students registered on VASS at each year level is correct.

7. DUPLICATE STUDENTS

The Duplicate Student Report (Student Admin → Other Student Reports → Duplicate Student Search) should be produced to ensure that no students have enrolments under two Student Numbers. If any students are identified by the Duplicate Student Report then the school should contact the Student Records and Results Unit for advice.

The Duplicate Student Report should also be compared to the Students Without a Program Report.

CONTACTS

Schools are encouraged to use the Help button on the appropriate screen for information regarding the use of specific VASS menus and functions.

Any queries regarding enrolments or VCE, VET, VCAL eligibility should be directed to the Student Records and Results Unit on 9651 4402 or 1800 653 045 for non-metropolitan schools or fax details to 9651 4470 or email: student.records@edumail.vic.gov.au

Any queries regarding VASS should be directed to the Administrative Support Unit on 1800 827 721 or 9651 4482. Please leave a message on our Voice Mail service if we are unable to answer your call immediately. Alternatively fax enquiries to 9651 4551 or email to vass.support@edumail.vic.gov.au

Enquires regarding focus areas should be directed to Susan Meadows, Assessment Operations Unit on 9225 2214.