Minimum standards and requirements for school registration
In Victoria, all schools must meet the minimum standards for school registration.
The minimum standards provide a foundation for quality schools through:
- good governance
- strong financial management
- effective curriculum
- sound teaching practices
- safe environments for children.
These guidelines assist schools in meeting the minimum standards:
Additional standards apply if your school is planning to offer senior secondary or foundation secondary courses.
Anaphylaxis management
Schools must comply with Ministerial Order No 706 and protect the safety of students who have a diagnosis of being at risk of anaphylaxis.
We have developed a checklist to help schools assess their anaphylaxis management policy:
Bushfire preparedness
All schools and school boarding premises must comply with the guidelines on bushfire preparedness.
Current guidelines
Current guidelines apply until 31 December 2024:
New guidelines from 1 January 2025
The new guidelines apply to all new schools and school boarding premises opening in 2025. Existing schools will have until 1 July 2025 to comply:
School facilities located in bushfire-prone areas must meet additional requirements. This includes school campuses, camps, boarding premises, and other facilities.
The Department of Education has information about emergency management and maintains a Bushfire At-Risk Register.
To find out if your school or campus needs to be on the register, email emergency.management@education.vic.gov.au
Child Safe Standards
Schools must comply with Ministerial Order 1359 and implement the Child Safe Standards.
We have developed a website to help schools comply with detailed advice on each of the 11 standards, see Child Safe Standards: Schools and school boarding premises.
Financial management
All schools must effectively manage their finances to operate in Victoria. We conduct financial capability assessments as part of registration, reviews or at any time if required.
We may take action to protect students if we identify issues with a school's financial viability.
We have developed a guideline to help independent schools and school boarding premises understand our powers and how we conduct financial capability assessments:
They do not apply to government or Catholic schools and their associated school boarding premises.
The following video and presentation also includes financial management tips.
Download the presentation slides:
Annual reporting obligations
All Victorian schools must provide us with their annual report. We publish these reports on the State Register. We only manage the process of submitting annual reports for independent schools.
The annual report should include:
- a description and analysis of student learning outcomes in statewide tests and examinations for the current year and the last 2 years
- a description and analysis of student attendance rates for the year
- a report of the school's financial activities
- copies of any other reports the school needs to prepare for the school community under funding agreements with the state or Commonwealth governments.
Independent schools should email a Word and PDF version of their annual report no later than 31 August each year to vrqa.schools@education.vic.gov.au
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