Mark Like a Senior Judge. Transform Your Teaching Approach

When: In-person, Friday 20 March, 2026, 10.00am – 5.00pm (with an optional 8.00am breakfast and plenary with Josh Nicholls, First Nations Team Leader, at nearby Sydney Zoo)

Venue: Chifley College Senior Campus Mt Druitt

Purpose:

This full-day, in-person event provides HSC Science Teachers with deep, collaborative professional development that moves beyond 2025 exam-specific analysis. The goal is to fundamentally shift your teaching approach by giving you a simulated marker experience and a macroscopic understanding of the entire HSC assessment process.

Audience:

NSW Stage 6 (Year 11-12) Science Teachers (Biology, Chemistry, Physics, EES, Investigating Science, Science Extension), particularly those seeking to master HSC standards and improve student performance, regardless of their prior marking experience.

Key Components:

1. Understand the Process: Exclusive NESA-focused session on how the HSC exam is built, moderated, and judged.
2. Apply the Standards: Subject-specific, collaborative session where you unpack band descriptors and marking criteria using sample materials.
3. Shift Your Strategy: Learn high-impact teaching methods from expert teachers to prepare students to achieve top bands.

View Program Here

Sydney Zoo Experience (Optional)

In addition, from 8:00am – 10:00am: we will be holding an optional Sydney Zoo Experience ($40, ticketed separately). Join us at the zoo for breakfast plus our Plenary Keynote with Josh Nicholls, First Nations Team Leader.

Josh will welcome teachers to Sydney Zoo, and increase teacher confidence when engaging students in First Nations perspectives via a demonstration to get teachers hands on with culturally safe activities to share back in the classroom.

Keynote
Chifley College Senior Campus

Jen’s 90-minute keynote and collaborative workshop will explore how science teachers can strengthen their assessment practices through a deeper understanding of standards-referenced frameworks, moderation processes, and achievement standards. In an interactive, discussion-driven format, participants will work together to connect these elements and consider how they inform fair, consistent, and meaningful assessments that genuinely reflect student learning and support professional growth.

Participants will:

• Enhance their understanding of the standards-referenced framework and how it informs the design of formal assessment programs and tasks.
• Review and discuss the assessment moderation process, reflecting collaboratively on its implications for assessment practice.
• Engage actively with the standards-setting process to deepen understanding of achievement standards and explore their impact on formal assessment design.

This keynote, along with the workshop sessions that follow, is a not-to-be-missed component of the Meet the Markers program—designed to complement the online science exam analysis sessions and give teachers the opportunity to put their learnings into practice.

View Program Here

2026 Meet the Markers of the 2025 Exam Analysis Online Dates

• Wed 11 March, 4:30 – 7pm – Investigating Science Exam Analysis
• Thu 12 March, 4:30 – 7pm – Chemistry Exam Analysis
• Mon 16 March, 4:30 – 7pm – Science Extension Exam Analysis
• Tue 17 March, 4:30 – 7pm – Physics Exam Analysis
• Wed 18 March, 4:30 – 7pm – Biology Exam Analysis
• Thu 19 March, 4:30 – 7pm – Earth and Environmental Science Exam Analysis

Early Bird Offer: From 1 – 12 December, receive 15% off.

To access member pricing, please log into your member account.

Registration Closes: Friday 6 March, 2026

This event provides 5.5 hours of professional learning and falls under the Priority Area of Delivery and Assessment of NSW Curriculum. As part of NESA maintenance of accreditation requirements, teachers may record this learning in their NESA online account or their own personal log.

Standard Descriptors addressed: 2, 3, 5 and 6

Thank you to our venue partners, Chifley College Senior Campus Mt Druitt and Sydney Zoo.

Updates Venue Partner, Sydney Zoo: 

Sydney Zoo has announced a brand-new suite of science programs designed to support schools and teachers implementing the new Science syllabus. They are introducing new Data Science programs where students will get hands on experience analysing real zoo data to find relationships and patterns. All Sydney Zoo workshops use the zoo as an immersive learning space and allow students to get hands on with science.

Here is the Stage 4 classification workshop in action using thermal cameras to look at thermoregulation.