ICAS (International Competitions and Assessments for Schools) are Australian examinations created by EAA (Educational Assessment Australia). They are not based on the New Zealand curriculum and are independent tests that sit outside of our learning programs. We recognise that students who wish to sit any ICAS exams need to access them through a school, and therefore we provide the opportunity for students to do so if they wish.
ICAS exams are paid assessments for year 4-6 students, and students can opt into any number of them. There is a cost involved in sitting each exam. ICAS also offer an 'Introductory Paper' that year 3 students can choose to sit.
Amesbury School will be offering 4 ICAS/Introductory exams for year 3-6 students this year: Science, Maths, English (reading), and Digital Technology. We will not be offering the Writing and Spelling ICAS exams this year, as they require a locked down browser on the device of each student sitting the exam, and this can cause some issues for students when completing other learning on the day of exams. We generally have very low numbers or no students choosing to sit these exams, and therefore we are taking these two exams off our schedule.
ICAS exams will be running running in the middle weeks of term 3 (August 2021). All exam dates and times are in the school calendar on our website and on HERO. Registering for ICAS through Amesbury School needs to be completed by Friday, June 25th. Any registrations received by the school after this date will not be accepted, as this incurs additional admin time and expense for the school. Please note that ICAS have increased their prices for all exams. There will be a standard fee of $18.40 for each ICAS exam, and this must be paid before sitting the exam.
We require parents who are interested in entering their child for any ICAS exams to attend a short meeting at school to discuss the content of exams and the role of the school in these exams. If you have attended this meeting in the past, you do not need to attend again. Even if parents are well informed about ICAS exams generally, it is still mandatory to attend this meeting before registering, as the meeting outlines Amesbury School's approach to ICAS exams. During this meeting, we will cover what the school will and won't do in terms of ICAS exams. If parents agree with these expectations, students can then be entered for the exams. If you have already attended this meeting in previous years, you do not need to attend this meeting as you are already aware of the school's expectations. This meeting will be held at 4pm on Friday 28th May in the library.
During the information meeting, we will also cover admin issues around the exams, such as cost, dates, general schedule, and ICAS rules around examinations (they have a strict code of conduct around administering the exams). If you have attended this meeting in previous years and will not be attending the meeting this year, we will send out 2021 ICAS information once you email me to register or express interest in entering for any exams this year.
Click here for the link to the ICAS website if you would like further information regarding ICAS exams.
If you are interested in entering your child/ren for any ICAS exams this year, please email me (urs@amesbury.school.nz) to let me know. To confirm your registration please email me by Friday 25th June to let me know which ICAS exams you would like your child to enter.
Warm regards,
Urs Cunningham
