WACE and ATAR for Homeschoolers in WA: What's Actually Possible and How to Plan

The short answer: home-educated students in Western Australia cannot receive a WACE (Western Australian Certificate of Education) or generate an ATAR while remaining registered solely as home educators under Part 2, Division 6 of the School Education Act 1999. This is one of the most significant practical constraints in the WA system, and it catches families off guard when their children reach Year 10.

The longer answer is that there are several structured pathways that allow WA home-educated students to access WACE subjects, build ATAR-eligible credits, and gain university entry — they just require deliberate planning, usually starting in Year 9 at the latest.

Why Home Educators Cannot Generate a WACE Directly

The WACE requires a student to complete 20 units of study, achieve at least 14 C grades, and meet the Literacy and Numeracy Standards. These standards are assessed through examinations and school-based assessments administered by SCSA. Because home educators are not enrolled in a registered school, they are outside the system that generates WACE credits and the ATAR scaling formula.

This is not an oversight or a gap that can be worked around informally. SCSA does not award WACE credits to students on the home education register. The pathway to WACE requires enrolment in a registered educational institution — either a school or an approved distance education provider.

SIDE: The Most Common Bridge

The School of Isolated and Distance Education (SIDE) is the state's distance education provider and the most commonly used bridge for home-educated students seeking formal WACE credentials.

SIDE offers two relevant options for home educators:

Full enrolment: A student formally deregisters from home education and enrols in SIDE as a full-time distance student. SIDE then delivers the full WACE program through online coursework, with teachers, assessments, and school-based marks. This is public school delivered remotely — it is not home education.

Single-subject enrolment (Referral Program): A student who remains registered as a home educator (or who is nearing Year 11) can sometimes access individual WACE subjects through SIDE without full enrolment. Eligibility and availability vary by subject and by year. This option allows a student to complete, say, ATAR Chemistry or ATAR Literature through SIDE while their family continues directing other areas of their education. Families should contact SIDE directly each year to confirm which subjects are available under this arrangement and what prerequisites apply.

The single-subject pathway is valuable but limited. It does not give a student access to the full suite of ATAR subjects, and it does not resolve the challenge of building 20 WACE units without formal enrolment.

OLNA: What Home Educators Can Do Independently

The Online Literacy and Numeracy Assessment (OLNA) is one of the few SCSA assessments that home-educated students can sit as external candidates. OLNA measures the Literacy and Numeracy Standards required for WACE. A student who passes OLNA as an external candidate has met those benchmarks, which would carry over if they later enrol in a school or SIDE to complete WACE.

NAPLAN, by contrast, is entirely optional for WA home-educated students. There is no legal requirement to sit it, and results do not feed into the WACE system in any direct way. Parents who wish their child to sit NAPLAN for comparison purposes can arrange external candidacy through the Department, but this is a parental choice, not a compliance requirement.

SCSA External Provisions: Examinations

Home-educated students who deregister and enrol in a school or SIDE can then sit SCSA external examinations as part of their WACE program. Once formally enrolled, the normal ATAR-generating mechanisms apply — school-based assessment marks, external examination results, and the standard scaling formula.

A student who completes even one semester of SIDE full enrolment in Year 11 before transferring to a school for Year 12 is in the WACE system and can generate ATAR results. The transition requires planning but is logistically manageable.

What WA Universities Actually Accept

Critically, an ATAR is not the only entry mechanism at any of the four major WA universities. UWA, Curtin, Murdoch, and ECU all offer portfolio-based, experience-based, or mature-age entry pathways that do not require an ATAR. For home-educated students who choose not to pursue WACE, these alternative pathways are the primary route to undergraduate study.

The practical implication is that many WA home-educated families deliberately choose not to pursue WACE or ATAR at all, instead building a strong portfolio during Years 11 and 12 that supports university portfolio entry applications. This is a legitimate and increasingly common strategy, and the universities' admissions offices are familiar with it.

Planning the Senior Secondary Years

If WACE and ATAR are the goal, the planning timeline looks like this:

• Year 9: Identify target ATAR subjects. Begin building foundational skills in those areas. Contact SIDE about single-subject options for Year 11.
• Year 10: Complete OLNA as an external candidate if desired. Decide whether to deregister for SIDE or a school in Year 11, or pursue the alternative university entry route.
• Year 11: Either enrol in SIDE (full or single-subject) and enter the WACE system, or continue home education and build a portfolio entry application.
• Year 12: Complete WACE requirements if enrolled, or finalise portfolio documentation for direct entry applications.

If the university portfolio pathway is the goal instead, the documentation strategy shifts. You are no longer building WACE credits — you are building a portfolio that demonstrates academic capability, project depth, relevant experience, and self-direction. See the post on WA university admissions for homeschoolers for how each university approaches this.

The Portfolio Through the WACE Years

Even for students who do pursue WACE through SIDE or a school, the home education portfolio built during the primary and lower secondary years remains valuable. It demonstrates the depth and continuity of the child's educational history and can support scholarship applications, early entry programs, and contextual admissions processes.

The Western Australia Portfolio & Assessment Templates include a senior secondary planning section specifically designed for home educators navigating the WACE decision — including a SIDE options checklist, OLNA preparation tracking, and portfolio entry frameworks for WA universities.

Deciding whether to pursue WACE is one of the most consequential choices in a WA home education journey. Make it with full information, starting well before Year 11.

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