West Island School Handbook 2005-2006

WIS Policy regarding Academic Integrity

Rationale

It is recognised that it is our duty as a school to educate students on the importance of honesty and integrity as
human values in all aspects of school life.

Guidelines
1. The school will publish in the school diary of all students a statement about academic integrity.
2. Students in Years 10 and 12 will be required to sign a code of conduct for coursework which will be kept by
the school.
3. Individual departments and faculties should inform students and parents of deadlines for coursework
assignments in writing and in the school website to that student have a clear structure for planning and do not
need to report it last minute panic resulting in a temptation plagiarise.
4. Where there is suspected plagiarism but inadequate proof, subject leaders should interview students regarding
the content of their coursework to ascertain its validity as their own work, where it is clearly not the action in
Number 5 takes place.
5. It is recognised that on occasion (eg collection of data) Joint coursework investigation is allowed by
individual syllabuses).
6. While recognising the importance of considering individual Students’ cases, the following action will
normally be taken where plagiarism in any year is detected.

Draft copy of exam coursework (when relevant) Faculty deals with

HOS informed
Parents informed by faculty
Letter to parents goes on file via HOS
Work in any year copied from another student Faculty deals with
HOS informed
Parents of both students informed
Letters to parents goes in file via HOS
Final submission of exam coursework to teacher Faculty deals with
HOS informed
Parents informed
Piece of work not submitted
Student not allowed to repeat the work
After final submission to exam board Exam board informs exam board

NB: For the above policy to work - students must be informed of the seriousness of plagiarism. This is an area,
which will be outlined by tutors to them when they fill in code of conduct sheets.
Where plagiarism occurs in more than one subject in any of the above the HOS will oversee the procedures.

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 West Island School Handbook 2005-2006

Research at West Island School

As part of your studies at West Island, you will be expected to conduct research in many lessons. This means you
may wish to use books, the internet or other sources to help your study. This is a great skill to learn and will aid
you both in your studies and future life. Your teachers will help you to learn research skills, but remember that
copying and pasting from any text means it is no longer your work, and is not acceptable. If you need to refer to
something you have found out from such a source, you can quote and use a bibliography. In the same way you
should not use another student’s work at any time and present it as your own, nor should you lend other students
your work. It is important to approach each piece of work with academic integrity, in line with our whole school
belief in importance of honesty. If you follow the points above you should do well in your work and in your
research!

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