NSW School of Languages

Learn locally. Communicate globally.

Telephone02 9381 4800

EmailNSWSchoolLang.school@det.nsw.edu.au

Enrolment eligibility

We are keen to place you in the right language course!

Please read the following information about Stage 6 language courses before applying for your course.

NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) Eligibility

  • To be eligible for a course, students are required to meet all of the criteria at the entry point to that course. 
  • For the purpose of determining eligibility, speakers of dialects and variants of a language are considered to be speakers of the standard language.

Which course is right for you?

Before you enrol in Year 11, use these charts to check which course is right for you:

  1. Should I enrol in the Beginners or Continuers course? (PDF 29 KB)
  2. Should I enrol in the Continuers or In Context course? (PDF 28 KB)

Beginners

Students are learning the language as a second (or subsequent) language. Students either have no prior spoken or written knowledge or experience of the language, or their experience is derived solely from, or is equivalent to, study of the language for 100 hours or less in Stage 4 or Stage 5.

  • Students have had no more than 100 hours' study of the language at the secondary level (or the equivalent).
  • Students have little or no previous knowledge of the language. For exchange students, a significant in-country experience (involving experiences such as homestay and attendance at school) of more than three months renders a student ineligible.

Continuers - European Languages

All students not eligible for Beginners courses.

Continuers - Asian Languages

Students are learning the language as a second (or subsequent) language. Students typically have studied the language for 200-400 hours at the commencement of Stage 6. (In language where Extension courses are offered, the Extension courses are available to HSC Continuers course candidates only.)

  • Students have had no more than one year's formal education from the first year of primary education (Year 1) in a school where the language is the medium of instruction.
  • Students have no more than three years' residency in the last 10 years in a country where the language is the medium of communication.

Language in Context

Chinese, Japanese and Korean in Context are offered at NSW School of Languages

Students typically have been brought up in a home where the language is used, and they have a connection to that culture. These students have some degree of understanding and knowledge of the language. They have received all or most of their formal education in schools where English (or another language different from the language of the course) is the medium of instruction. Students may have undertaken some study of the language in a community, primary and/or secondary school in Australia. Students may have had formal education in a school where the language is the medium of instruction up to the age of ten.

Students have had no formal education in a school where the language is the medium of instruction beyond the year in which the student turns ten years of age (typically Year 4 or 5 of primary education).

Language and Literature

Year 12 Indonesian and Literature is offered at NSW School of Languages.

Students have a cultural and linguistic background in the language.

EAL/D - Conditions for enrolling in EAL/D via Distance Education

  • Rural or regional NSW government school students only
  • The student has been educated in English for 5 years or less prior to Year 11, or the student is a refugee and or has had interrupted schooling
  • The student has reached Phase 2 level EAL/D – has completed the New Arrivals Program or has received instruction in English for at least one year with support from an EAL/D teacher
  • EAL/D is not offered at the home school.

Distance Education Enrolment Procedures

NSW Department of Education policy on Distance Education Enrolment Procedures (PDF 347KB) explains eligibility, quotas, acceleration and the responsibilities of home schools, supervisors, parents and students, as well as lists the distance education schools in NSW.