Amendments to school registration manuals (Jan 2019)

The Registered and Accredited Individual Non-government Schools (NSW) Manual, the Registration Systems and Member Non-government Schools (NSW) Manual and the Registration Process for the NSW Government Schooling System Manual (the Manuals) have been amended.

The amended Manuals have been approved by the Minister for Education as rules of NESA under section 25 of the Education Standards Authority Act 2013.

The amendments take effect with the publication of this Official Notice.

The reason for amending the Manuals is to respond to the NSW Government’s acceptance of Recommendation 37 from the Parliamentary inquiry into the provision of education to students with a disability or special needs in government and non-government schools in NSW. Accordingly, the child protection section of the Manuals has been amended to require schools to set clear guidelines and expectations for stakeholders regarding complaints or allegations of staff misconduct or reportable conduct and to publish the school’s complaint handling procedures regarding allegations of staff misconduct or reportable conduct.

 Amendments to reflect Recommendation 37 apply to:

• sections 3.6.1, 3.11.4 and 4.1.6.1 of the Manual for individual non-government schools
• sections 5.6.1, 5.11.4 and 6.1.6.1 of the Manual for systemic non-government schools
• section 4.4.1 of the Manual for government schools.

Other amendments to the Manuals have also been approved to:

• update nomenclature and formatting
• update links for various Acts
• update glossary terms and definitions
• make minor edits for accuracy and to ensure internal consistency.

To view the amendments in tracked changes format see tracked changes for the non-government school Manuals and tracked changes for the government schooling system Manual.

For more information, contact:
Anita Yates
Senior Inspector, School Registration and Accreditation
anita.yates@nesa.nsw.edu.au
(02) 9367 8214