Board Guidelines
NEW – Approved by the Minister for Education 7 July 2021
Board Guidelines for Registration of a new non-government school V3.0
The purpose of this document is to provide potential new schools with an understanding of the matters the Board will take into account when determining whether a school meets the Standards.
This document contains the information which schools must provide to the Office of the Education Registrar as part of the application for registration.
Schedule of Fees
In accordance with the Education Act 2016 and the Education Regulations 2017, the following fee schedule was determined by the Non-Government Schools Registration Board and approved by the Minister for Education on 5 September 2017.
Forms
Application Form for a new Registered School (inc Impact on existing schools)
Standards for registration
The full Standards can be found at Schedule 3 of the Education Regulations 2017.
A short summary of the requirements for each standard is as follows:
1. Governance
Responsibilities of the school’s governing body including the governance relationship between the governing body and Principal. The development of a school development plan and annual reporting.
2. student learning
Ensure that the school will provide learning specific to the types of students attending the school and for the type of education for which the school is registered.
3. Curriculum
Ensure that the school will provide the appropriate curriculum approved by the Australian Government and/or ACARA for the years of schooling for which the school is registered.
4. assessment and reporting
A school must have an assessment and reporting policy consistent with the requirements of the Australian Government.
5. student welfare
A school must have policies covering student welfare including critical incidents and areas such as harassment, bullying and child protection. This extends to boarding houses where the school intends to operate a boarding house.
6. financial resources
The school must demonstrate that it will have sufficient financial resources to provide the education for which it is seeking registration.
7. staff
The school must demonstrate that all staff are or will be registered teachers where applicable and registered under the Registration to Work with Vulnerable People Act 2013.
8. Facilities and environment
The school must demonstrate that all of its facilities do, or will comply with all relevant laws and be safe for the purposes for which they are intended to be used. the school must also demonstrate that the facilities are or will be suitable to enable the delivery of the curriculum.
9. enrolment and attendance
The school must demonstrate that it will have an enrolment and attendance policy which is consistent with any Ministerial Instructions and is consistent with all relevant laws.
10. number of students
The school must demonstrate that it will have enough students to be financially viable, meet the educational and social needs of the students and that not more than half of the students will be children of the principal or staff.
11. complaints management
A new school must have a complaints management policy which ensures that complaints by staff and parents are processed separately and that all complaints are dealt with fairly and objectively.
12. behaviour management
A new school must have a student behaviour management policy and may have an adult behaviour management policy.
13. compliance with law
The governing body is to ensure that a new school has whatever policies are necessary to ensure that it complies with all relevant laws.
14. impact on existing schools
Where a new school wished to establish in an area it must demonstrate that it has sought advice from other schools in the area on the likely impact that the registration of the new school will have on those schools and provide that advice to the Board.