Find out more about what your child will learn at our school.
The NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) is responsible for the curriculum, Kindergarten to Year 12, for all NSW schools.
For the high school years, NESA develops syllabuses for all subjects in 8 key learning areas:
- creative arts
- English
- human society and its environment (HSIE)
- languages
- mathematics
- personal development, health and physical education (PDHPE)
- science
- technological and applied studies (TAS).
NSW schools also offer special religious education and special education in ethics via approved providers, where available.
Like all NSW schools, we have developed teaching and learning programs to suit our local context and the needs of our students.
To learn more about the curriculum in NSW, visit:
- NSW Department of Education – key learning areas
- NESA’s Parent Guide – Schooling in NSW which provides information about learning stages, key learning areas and syllabuses
- NSW Department of Education policy – Curriculum planning and programming, assessing and reporting to parents K–12.
Stages of learning
There are 6 stages of learning from Kindergarten to Year 12. High school covers Stages 4 to 6.
- Stage 4 includes Years 7 and 8.
- Stage 5 includes Years 9 and 10.
- Stage 6 includes Years 11 and 12.
Curriculum structure
West Wallsend High School operates on a fornightly timetable with 24 periods in every week. On Thursday afternoon, the last two periods are designated for sport.
The last period of the day on Mondays is set aside for staff meetings. Students are able to go home at 1:45pm and minimum supervision is provided until 3:20pm if necessary.
Teachers will provide students with a class timetable and discuss it with them on the first day of attendance at high school. The timetable will show for each period, the class, the teacher, and the room for that lesson. Parents/carers can access their young person's timetable in the Sentral Parent Portal.
Note: All students in Year 7 will have the option of being involved in 1 lesson per cycle of special religious education (SRE)/scripture. Please visit Religion and ethics for information on opting into this program.