Transcript of video: “A day in the life of an OC student – Dural Public School” (duration 2.44)

[Nick]

Hi everyone. I'm Nick.

[Jaden]

And I'm Jaden.

[Nick]

Today we'll present to you the day in the life of an OC student.

[Jaden]

We wake up nice and early. Then we do our morning routine and head to school. We chat with our friends for a bit.

[Student 3]

Yeah. Also, do you know that science has proven that people who walk backwards live a longer life.

[Nick]

What? I must do that right now.

[Jaden]

But then the bell rings and we head to class.

We start the day with current affairs. It's a part of our homework and it's where we summarise recent news events and stories and then present it to the entire class on a given day. Here we have Elijah presenting.

[Nick]

Afterwards, we write our own headlines based on the story.

[Jaden]

And then we mark the roll as quickly as we can. In fact, it's a competition. I've got the best score, by the way.

Now it's the time for us to learn some new vocabulary. That's right, it's spelling. We go to our local arcade and play Pacman.

[Nick]

Just kidding. Instead, we play spelling Pacman. Here’s a little clip of how that turns out.

[Students cheering each other]

[Nick]

On Mondays, we do PE. Our first weekly exercise. We play fun games with all of the teachers and rotations.

[Jaden]

Recess time! Now we go outside and eat a small snack.

[Nick]

Afterwards we have a maths lesson. We do a mental quiz, then three problem solving questions. First we attempt them ourselves and then we're encouraged to work with our table and go over each question, helping our teammates fix mistakes and learn.

[Jaden]

Then we have the main lesson which is shown here.

[Nick]

Lunchtime!

[Jaden]

Time for an eating montage. A great time to play and hang out with your friends before going back to class.

On Wednesday afternoons, we usually do recorder. However, we decided to do it on Monday this time.

We started the new curriculum early and we are reading the book The Wild Robot for our English unit. We are studying narrative structure and we are writing our own sci-fi short story.

[Student 4]

I was climbing those cliffs when the rocks started to fall.

[Jaden]

Here are some more clips of us writing our short stories.

For geography this term we're learning about Asian culture and politics. We do this every Tuesday and once we finish geography, we end the day with another game.

Once we get home, we do some of our homework and work on some fun projects.

So, this is what life is like as an OC student in 6H. The opportunity class is a great experience, and we hope you can join our OC family here at Dural. OK. Bye for now.

[End of transcript]

Schools with 15 places have one composite opportunity class catering for Year 5 and Year 6 students. Fifteen new students are accepted in Year 5 each year, with fifteen students continuing in Year 6. There are 30 students in the class.

Location of the placement test

The placement test is held in test centres in NSW only.

Students living interstate or overseas should travel to NSW to sit the test, where possible.

Students have a better chance of placement if they sit the test. Only 5% of places are reserved for students who could not sit the test but qualify based on alternative evidence of academic merit.

Travelling to NSW to sit the test

Parents who live interstate or overseas should enter in their application a suitable NSW suburb so that a nearby test centre can be allocated for their child.

If you intend to travel to NSW for the test but realise before the test date that you will not be able to, please let the Selective Education Unit know immediately.

Unable to travel to NSW for the test

If your child cannot be in NSW to sit the test you should:

• submit the online application by the closing date
• submit the Report of academic merit form for interstate and overseas applicants by the placement test date by sending a message in the application dashboard – see Key dates.

Report of academic merit requirements

• A recent, reliable, full scale Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children 5th Edition (WISC V) IQ report in English (conducted within the last 2 years). The test must be administered and signed by a registered psychologist, sourced and paid for by the parent.
• Standardised test results in reading and mathematics. These can be administered by a psychologist or certified teacher. The specific test depends on what is available to the person administering the tests. Examples of standardised tests are the Wechsler Individual Achievement Test (WIAT-III and WIAT-IV) or Progressive Achievement Tests (PAT) Maths and Reading. The psychologist or teacher should be able to advise which standardised tests would be available.

Interstate and overseas students do not need to submit any other school reports.

If your child is outside the usual age range or school Year when applying, you should explain the reasons for this in your application.

If your child is in Year 5 at the time of the test, they can only be considered for placement in rare cases. You must provide a full explanation why they are repeating with supporting documentation including from your child's principal.

If you want your child to be accelerated from Year 3 to Year 5 in the following year, you must provide evidence of support from the school principal.

The selection committee will determine whether applications for students outside the usual age or Year range will be accepted.

The selection committee may:

• request further information and evidence
• decide not to accept students who are much older than the usual age range set out above
• decide not to accept students who are seeking to repeat Year 5 in an opportunity class.
  
• request an interview if the student is very young to determine any special requirements
• decide that acceleration (skipping a school year) is not appropriate after considering the student's circumstances, including the consultation between the school, family and student, and section 1.4.4. of the High Potential and Gifted Education policy.

Entry to opportunity classes is based on a student's academic merit. Therefore, the placement of one sibling does not guarantee the placement of another. Each sibling needs to meet the test performance requirements to receive an offer.

Siblings of students placed in an opportunity class are not guaranteed a non-selective place at the same school, unless they are living within the school's intake area.

Parents may apply to the school for out-of-area enrolment, but are subject to enrolment eligibility and the schools' capacity to accept non-local students. Parents should consider this when choosing schools. For more information, please refer to the Selective high school and opportunity class placement procedures.