Annual Report to the School Community

Step by step guide to completing the Annual Report

This section covers the key steps for completing the Annual Report.

The Annual Report is completed in the Strategic Planning Online Tool (SPOT) (staff login required). To access the Annual Report:

• log on to SPOT
• on the school homepage under ‘Annual Report to the school community’ select the latest year from the drop-down box and click ‘Manage report’.

Note:

• Hub and annex schools must complete their own Annual Report, with endorsement by the respective school council and attestation by the school council president. Principals of annex schools can contact spot.support@education.vic.gov.au for SPOT technical support.
• Principals of schools that are non-compliant with the Minimum Standards for school registration or Child Safe Standards cannot attest to the Annual Report. Schools that have received advice that they are not compliant, or are concerned that this may be the case, must contact the department’s School Compliance Unit for support to become compliant, by phone: 03 9084 8788 or email: school.compliance@education.vic.gov.au

Step 1: Prepare for the Annual Report cycle (February)

• Organise to present the draft Annual Report at a school council meeting prior to 30 April. It is recommended that this meeting is arranged for Term 1 due to the timing of the school holidays.
• Confirm that the school council president can access their @education email, and the account details are up to date, so they can log in to SPOT. Further guidance can be found in the Access to SPOT for school council presidents guidance chapter.

Step 2: Principal reviews the school’s performance summary and uploads school logo (March)

• All schools receive a performance summary which details the school’s performance for the previous year and trends over time. Refer to School performance summary for the 2023 Annual Report for further information.
• Principals must review the performance summary in SPOT and consider how this may inform the ‘About our school’ commentary.
• Principals must upload their school logo on the ‘Performance summary’ tab in SPOT.

Step 3: Principal completes the ‘About our school’ commentary in SPOT (March)

• The ‘About our school’ commentary is prepared by the principal, supported by relevant leadership staff. This section provides further context to data in the performance summary.
• Further guidance can be found in the Completing the ‘About our school’ commentary guidance chapter.

Step 4: Principal attests to compliance and generates the draft Annual Report (March)

• The principal attests to the school’s compliance with Minimum and Child Safe Standards and generates the draft Annual Report.
• Further guidance can be found in the Attestation and endorsement guidance chapter.

Step 5: Annual Report presented and endorsed at a meeting of school council (March or April)

• The draft Annual Report must be downloaded from SPOT and taken to a meeting of the school council for endorsement, with this endorsement noted in the meeting minutes.
• At this meeting, the school council are encouraged to identify a time to hold the public reporting meeting to share the final Annual Report with the community, and organise responsibility for publicising this meeting. It is recommended that the public reporting meeting takes place at the start of Term 3.

Step 6: School council president attests the Annual Report (by 30 April)

• Once the draft Annual Report has been endorsed at a meeting of school council, the school council president must attest the draft Annual Report in SPOT.
• Further guidance on this process can be found in the Attestation and endorsement guidance chapter.

Step 7: Respond (if required) to quality assurance requests (by 30 May)

• Principals may be contacted by the department to update their Annual Report if it found to not meet the legislative, regulatory or quality requirements.
• Schools will receive an email notification from SPOT that their Annual Report has either not been selected for quality assurance, or with the result of their quality assurance assessment.
• Further guidance on this process can be found in the Quality assurance chapter.

Step 8: Share the Annual Report with the school community (July)

• The department provides the Annual Reports to the Victorian Registration and Qualifications Authority (VRQA) to upload to their State Register (no action for schools).
• The final, fully attested Annual Report must be shared with the school community through presentation at a public meeting of the school council. It is recommended that the public reporting meeting takes place at the start of Term 3.
• Once schools have received notification that the quality assurance process has been completed, schools can download a final version of the Annual Report in SPOT from the ‘Attest and view report’ tab.
• It is recommended that schools publish the Annual Report on their school website.