Enrolment

Placement Policy

This section of the department’s enrolment guidelines outlines the obligations on Victorian government schools in relation to placement of students and is referred to as the Placement Policy.

The department’s Placement Policy embeds the legal entitlement for students to enrol at their designated neighbourhood school (referred to as local school), and to enrol at another school if there is sufficient accommodation.

Victorian government schools must manage enrolments in line with the Placement Policy. The Placement Policy applies to the placement of students at all year levels, from Foundation (Prep) to Year 12. Single-sex government schools are required to follow the Placement Policy, noting that only students of the requisite gender are eligible to apply.

Designated purpose settings where the Minister or delegate has approved specific entry criteria are not required to follow the Placement Policy. Designated purpose settings are schools, campuses or programs that specialise in a specific subject or activity or support a particular student cohort. For more information, refer to: Designated Purpose Settings.

Specialist schools for students with disability and high needs are subject to different placement requirements to those described in the Placement Policy. For more information, refer to: Enrolment in specialist schools.

For families wanting to better understand the Placement Policy, please refer them to: Starting school.

Right to attend the local school

Eligible students have the right to be enrolled at their local school, regardless of capacity. Accordingly, schools must offer a place to all students who seek enrolment and live within the designated area of a local school (referred to as a ‘school zone’). For information on eligibility, refer to: Eligibility to enrol in a Victorian government school.

A student’s local school is determined by the school zone they live in and is generally the school that is nearest to the student’s permanent address. The Find my School website provides guidance on which school zone a student’s permanent address is located within.

For information on verifying a student’s permanent address, refer to: Determining permanent residence.

The department recognises that some schools may require additional capacity to accommodate students living within their school zone. In these circumstances, schools may be supported by the temporary allocation of modular classrooms. For more information about how temporary modular classrooms are allocated, refer to: Management of modular classrooms and facilities.

International students

International students (such as those holding a dependant or temporary visa) have the legal entitlement to enrol at their local school.

However, under the Education Services for Overseas Student Act 2000 (Cth), students who hold a subclass 500 student visa (a student visa in their own name) may only attend government schools accredited to accept international students. The department refers to students who hold a student visa in their own name as Standard and Study Abroad students.

Given Standard and Study Abroad students are required to attend an accredited school, they may not be able to attend their closest school.

Schools should use the International Student Visa Fee Table (DOCX) to determine which international students can be enrolled directly by schools and are exempt from paying fees, and which students need to enrol in the department’s International Student Program and pay fees.

For more information, refer to: International Student Program.

Schools may contact the International Education and Partnerships Division for support with queries regarding international student enrolments: international@education.vic.gov.au.

Attending a school that is not the student’s local school

Students can apply for a place at a school that is not their local school.

Schools should enrol students who seek enrolment from outside of their school zone if:

• the school has sufficient accommodation
• the request for enrolment aligns with the school’s enrolment management implementation plan (if they have one).

Where a school does not have sufficient accommodation for all students who apply, students living outside of the school zone must be enrolled according to the Placement Policy’s priority order of placement.

The department considers a school’s enrolment practices when determining the allocation of temporary modular classrooms. Buildings are prioritised to schools that are addressing local demand, and that have a high percentage of enrolments from within their school zone. Standard and Study Abroad international students in the International Student Program (ISP) are expected to be accommodated within existing school capacity and are not considered in the allocation of additional capacity, such as the temporary allocation of modular classrooms.

Sufficient accommodation

Whether a school has sufficient accommodation to enrol all students who apply depends on a number of factors. These include if the school will continue to have appropriate physical and operational capacity and resources to provide high quality education and services to the school’s overall student population. Sufficient accommodation considers:

• built capacity and/or planned-built capacity
• current enrolments and projected enrolments
• current demand and forecast demand within the school zone
• staffing levels
• industrial agreements
• where practical, planning for an even distribution of students across all year levels while maintaining class size targets.

Schools must have sufficient accommodation to meet current and future in-zone demand before enrolling students from outside the school zone.

In some instances, schools may not have sufficient accommodation to offer placement to all students. This includes instances where schools are forecast to encounter significant enrolment demand from within the school zone. Where this is the case, the department will work with individual schools to develop an enrolment management implementation plan (EMIP) to support long term enrolment planning.

The principal in consultation with their regional office determines whether a school has sufficient accommodation. This should consider both current and future in-zone demand. Where further support is required, a regional director may make a final determination on a school’s sufficient accommodation (for example, by setting an enrolment restriction to a specific number).

Priority order of placement

Eligible students have the right to be enrolled at their local school, regardless of capacity.

In circumstances where schools do not have sufficient accommodation to accept all students who apply from outside their school zone, schools must manage enrolment applications by following the priority order of placement:

1. students with a sibling at the same permanent address who are attending the school at the same time
2. all other students in order of closeness from their permanent address to the school.

In exceptional circumstances, a student may be enrolled in a school based on compassionate grounds. This is an overarching consideration and does not form part of the priority order of placement. For more information about enrolling a student on compassionate grounds, refer to: Exceptional circumstances – compassionate grounds.

Priority 1 – Siblings

The sibling priority applies to placement decisions at all year levels, from Foundation (Prep) to Year 12. There is an expectation that schools will enrol all older and younger siblings, unless otherwise approved by the regional director.

A sibling is defined broadly and can include step-siblings and students living together as part of a multiple family cohabitation or an out-of-home-care arrangement, including foster care, kinship care, residential care and permanent care. Students seeking enrolment on sibling grounds should be living together at the same permanent address and must be attending the school at the same time.

Where siblings do not live together on a full-time basis, families may still seek enrolment on sibling grounds. These applications need to be considered on a case-by-case basis. If there are complex sibling arrangements like this, schools should seek advice from their regional office.

A school should only seek to restrict enrolments of out-of-zone siblings if they consider there to be significant capacity constraints (such as accommodating in-zone students in current or future years) and where they have approval from the regional director.

To seek approval to restrict enrolments for out-of-zone siblings, schools must contact their regional office for advice.

Priority 2 – Order of closeness

In metropolitan Melbourne, Ballarat, Bendigo and Geelong, closeness to school is the distance measured in a straight line from a student’s permanent residential address to the school. In any other area of Victoria, closeness to school is the distance measured by the shortest practical route by road. This recognises the additional travel distances often experienced in regional settings.

Distances from an address to the 5 nearest schools (as measured in a straight line) are available on the Find my School website. This website can be used when considering the order of closeness to a school. This is particularly useful for schools in metropolitan Melbourne, Ballarat, Bendigo and Geelong. In all other areas, schools should consider the travel distance between a student’s permanent address and the school when determining the order of closeness.

Closeness to school is either assessed upon receipt of an enrolment application or as part of the annual Foundation (Prep) enrolment or Year 7 placement processes for government schools.

Schools must follow the timelines for Foundation (Prep) enrolment and Year 7 placement applications. If an application is received after the deadline, and the student does not live in zone or have a sibling attending the school at the same time, the application should be considered after those received on time.

Exceptional circumstances – compassionate grounds

In exceptional circumstances, a student may be enrolled at a school on compassionate grounds. This is an overarching consideration and does not form part of the priority order of placement. All schools, including those with EMIPs, must consider students seeking enrolment on compassionate grounds through the appeals process.

Parents and carers must be able to clearly demonstrate the exceptional circumstances that make enrolling their child at their local school unsuitable. If exceptional circumstances have been demonstrated, the student will generally be offered a place at one of the schools in next closest proximity to their permanent address (or other location where relevant).

Exceptional circumstances may include family violence, wellbeing and safety concerns or children in out-of-home care. Importantly, this is not a comprehensive list of exceptional circumstances whereby a family may seek an enrolment on compassionate grounds – each application will be dealt with on a case-by-case basis.

Under the Disability Standards for Education 2005, education providers are legally required to make reasonable adjustments for students with disability. On that basis, grounds for exceptional circumstances do not include concerns related to a student’s disability where those concerns can be addressed by making reasonable adjustments. For more information about reasonable adjustments (including examples), refer to: Students with Disability – Chapter 2: Making reasonable adjustments.

When considering an application or appeal on compassionate grounds, schools and regional staff can request that families provide further evidence to support their application, this may include:

• legal documentation
• reports from allied health and/or medical professionals, the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing practitioners, Victoria Police, and/or family violence services
• court orders.

Matters of compassionate grounds are of a sensitive nature and may pose risks to the health and life of a student or their family (for example, matters related to family violence). This means that family and student privacy must be maintained when considering applications on compassionate grounds. For more information, refer to: Privacy and Information Sharing.

Schools should contact their regional office to seek advice and support when considering applications on compassionate grounds.

Student reports, tests and interviews

An enrolment or placement offer at a local school must not be dependent on a satisfactory report, test or interview.

Schools must not ask current or previous schools, parents or carers to submit reports or other documentation regarding a student’s performance before an enrolment or placement offer has been made. This includes school reports, NAPLAN test results, teacher judgement, letters of recommendation or evidence of subject-specific skills or achievements.

Student tests or interviews may only occur after an enrolment or placement offer has been made. This covers all forms of testing, including examinations for school scholarships, academic programs, leadership programs, sporting trials, music or performing arts auditions and other try-outs or performance assessments. Schools must not hold formal or informal interviews for prospective students and their families.

Schools must not:

• conduct tests or interviews prior to the release of enrolment or placement offers, in line with statewide timelines
• reserve places or prioritise the enrolment or placement of students based on anticipated test results
• promote tests or interviews before enrolment or placement offers have been made.

For more information on statewide enrolment timelines, refer to:

• Foundation (Prep) enrolment
• Year 6 to 7 placement.

These requirements do not apply to designated purpose settings, as they are not required to manage enrolments in line with the Placement Policy. For further information, visit: Designated Purpose Settings.

Enrolment management

Schools with support of their regional office, must manage enrolments to ensure that all students can attend their local school. Strategies that support enrolment management include:

• maintaining accurate and complete enrolment records and data, to facilitate enrolment planning
• planning for an even distribution of students across all year levels while maintaining class size targets
• considering enrolment projections and ensuring that the starting cohort of enrolment numbers does not increase to the extent that the overall capacity of the school is exceeded for the life of the cohort
• monitoring enrolment trends and subject and curriculum demands in the school
• advising current and prospective parents about any restrictions on enrolment.

In some cases, the department will provide schools with an enrolment restriction in the form of an enrolment management implementation plan (EMIP). EMIPs are applied to schools that require support to address enrolment demand, and encourage improvements in student distribution and the effective use of building infrastructure. For further information, refer to: Restricting enrolments.