This page contains past curriculum documents. For current curriculum resources, visit the P–10 Australian Curriculum section.
Standards
Standards are integral to the alignment of curriculum, assessment and reporting. For teachers, parents and students, they provide a shared language for describing the quality of student achievement.
The Standards are achievement standards linked to the Essential Learnings. Using a 5-point scale, the Standards describe how well a student has demonstrated their learning based on a collection of evidence. They can also be used to report student progress and achievement.
The Standards are the same for all key learning areas:
Assessable elements and descriptors (AEDs)
The assessable elements and descriptors of quality ( AED s) are used to link to the Essential Learnings and Standards, and help teachers make judgments about student achievements.
Sample assessments
Dance
Years 1 & 2: Shape dance
Students create and reflect on dance that responds to mathematical shapes and objects.Year 2: Ready, set, action!
Students create, perform and respond to dance works that use action words and pictures as stimulus.Year 3: Earth, wind, fire and water
Students create a dance piece about one of the stimulus elements — earth, wind, fire or water.Year 4: Dancing poems
Students create, perform and respond to dance works that use a given poem as a stimulus.Year 5: Dance maps
Students construct, choreograph, perform and interpret dance sequences based on dance maps.Year 6: Dance moves
Students modify a set movement sequence then perform this sequence for their class.Year 6: I'm the critic!
Students analyse and evaluate a live or recorded show, then respond in the role of a theatre critic for a local radio station.Year 8: Vocal choreography
Students choreograph and perform a vocal sequence for a song, including program notes to support their dance work.Year 9: Creating dance works
Students choreograph and reflect on a contemporary dance that expresses emotions connected to social situations.
Drama
Year 3: Our special place
Students create, present and respond to a drama story that expresses their ideas and feelings about a special place in the school.Year 3: Story book drama
Students create and perform roles as they participate in a story book drama based on a text.Year 3: The artistic audience
Students respond to a drama performance.Year 4: Freeze it
Students create, present and respond to a freeze frame story around a given theme.Year 5: Spacetroopers
Students enrol as spacetroopers in a process drama, making decisions and problem solving in response to a mission brief.Year 6: I'm the critic!
Students analyse and evaluate a live or recorded show, then respond in the role of a theatre critic for a local radio station.Years 6 & 7: Theatre sportz
Students participate in and reflect on improvisation games in a theatre sports competition.Year 7: So you want to write a script
Students write, perform and respond to a drama script choosing ideas from the stimulus of — Who, When, Where and What.Year 7: The puppeteers
Students create, perform, respond and reflect on a puppet performance for young children based on a fairytale or a traditional story.Year 8: Responding to physical theatre
Students create, perform, respond and reflect on physical theatre works.Year 9: Child's play
Students create, perform and evaluate a Theatre for Young People drama work for a target audience.Year 9: Get presenting
Students prepare, rehearse and present a short piece of scripted text.
Media
Year 3: Telling digital stories
Students create and reflect on a digital photo production that tells the story of someone special to them.Year 4: Making meaning through media
Students create a digital greeting card, invitation or postcard that presents ideas and feelings in response to a particular event.Year 7: Broadcasting my news
Students create and analyse a television news story suitable for a young audience which challenges stereotypes and presents positive representations.Year 9: Documenting me
Students create and reflect on a micro documentary production for their peers in an international sister school.
Music
Year 1: Music detectives
Students sing and play a known game song using their listening skills to identify different voices and instruments.Year 2: Rhythmic ostinatos
Students create and perform a rhythmic ostinato using simple hand-held percussion instruments to accompany a known class song.Year 4: Writing music like a master
Students create and perform their own theme and variation using the second movement of Haydn’s “Surprise” Symphony No. 94 as inspiration.Year 5: Harmony in the House
Students create a harmony part for the known song “Dinah” and perform it for their peers.Year 5: Soundscapes
Students create and perform a soundscape to tell a sound story about a particular event or environment.Year 6: Beats from the box
Students convert a beat boxing style vocal percussion score into a tuned percussion composition and perform their composition for their peers.Year 6: I'm the critic!
Students analyse and evaluate a live or recorded show, then respond in the role of a theatre critic for a local radio station.Year 8: Jammin' with junk
Students explore everyday objects as sound sources to create rhythmic compositions for performance.Year 9: Digital composing
Students use electronic audio loops to compose a piece of digital dance music.Year 9: Feelin' blue — Analysing
Students analyse a blues song to make informed opinions about a blues performance.Year 9: Feelin' blue — Composing
Students compose and publish a blues song for voice and accompaniment.Year 9: Feelin' blue — Performing
Students rehearse and perform a blues song, then critically reflect on and evaluate their performance.
Visual Arts
Year 1: In the gallery
Children create, display and reflect on a 2D portrait using the visual arts elements of colour and line to express feelings.Year 1: Let's create a picture!
Children use visual arts elements to create a 2-D illustration of a descriptive sentence.Year 3: Colour my world
Children use colour to create and interpret visual art works that express a feeling.Year 5: Art journey
Students create an artwork using visual arts elements and concepts to express an idea about a journey.Year 5: Imachinations
Students design, construct, display and reflect on an “imachination” based on the book The Arrival.Year 7: Beyond observation
Students create, display and respond to a series of observational drawings, abstracting one drawing using a grid drawing exercise.Year 9: All at sea
Students create, display and respond to a sculpture for a school or community space using the sea as a stimulus.
Literacy and Numeracy short assessments for The Arts
Year 8: Example short assessments
- Last updated:
- 25 July 2018
