HUNTER schools are revising their assessment schedules for all grades, after the regional NSW lockdown was extended to August 28.
As previously reported, remote learning has forced schools who have not yet held their trial Higher School Certificate exams to change plans, and all schools to enforce strict guidelines for year 12 students who need to visit campuses, mostly for major works.
Schools are also reviewing assessments for other grades, with Dungog High telling its community on Thursday it would "abandon" the year 11 exam period from September 6, but teachers may still conduct assessments.
It said there would be no further assessments for years seven to 10 during lockdown.
Rutherford Technology High said on Friday it had cancelled its mathematics assessment tasks for years seven to 10, but teachers would continue to "gather data on student's progress and achievements in many varied forms" to allocate grades for reports.
Tomaree High said there would be no formal final exams for year 11, but the possibility of an alternate task.
Schools that have not yet held their trial exams continue to manage them individually.
Callaghan College Jesmond's year 12 students started their "online assessments" this week.
Swansea High said on Thursday it would cancel almost all of its trial exams and finalise school based assessment marks and ranks on completed tasks.
Cessnock High has set assessment tasks for years 11 and 12 in weeks nine and 10, which will be an exam at school if lockdown has lifted, or a one hour online assessment task if not.
An All Saints' College (ASC) St Mary's Campus Maitland staff member who wished to remain anonymous said they had concerns about the school holding online and open book trials, because some remote students had poor Internet access.
They said they believed the school should have recalculated the weightings of the three previous assessments in each course, as is allowed.
They said St Francis Xavier's College Hamilton teachers had set their own one hour assessment tasks to be completed online.
They said ASC teachers could either set their own assessment tasks or purchase full-length papers, which they said have a range of question types, are of varying lengths of time and carried the risk of already being used by other schools and shared.
"I think it's added another layer [of stress] for students," they said.
Catholic Schools Office director Gerard Mowbray said most of the diocese's schools usually undertook similar assessments for trials, but due to current restrictions the diocese had "supported each school to devise a set of modified tasks that respond to the needs and context of their specific year 12 cohort and adhere to the NESA guidelines".
"I am buoyed by our schools' ability to respond to the rapidly changing environment and devise a thoughtful and purposeful action plan," he said.
"Each school is in a position to deliver a set of tasks that will support students' learning outcomes and emotional well-being while also providing the greatest chance of equity and preparation ahead of their final exams."
Meanwhile, Aberdeen Public has asked families to keep children home if they can and essential workers to keep children home when not working.
The school said the lockdown "isn't about learning, it's about reducing movement in the community to keep us all safe".
"You have already taught your child so much in their lifetime, keep teaching them the way you know how."
The school said children who didn't want to do work were probably confused and anxious and "this isn't the time" to send them back to school.
"Give them a hug, choose one activity to do each day and have fun doing it together".
