School Community Safety Orders: Grounds for issuing an order

Grounds for issuing an order

Authorised persons may issue ongoing school community safety orders (ongoing orders) and immediate school community safety orders (immediate orders). There are different grounds for each type of order.

Authorised persons may only issue a school community safety order (order) where:

they reasonably believe that at least one or more grounds exists
the order is reasonably necessary to address these grounds (this means that the terms and effect of orders must be proportionate to the behaviour and the risk of harm seeking to be addressed).

Even when an authorised person is satisfied that the above requirements are met, they must also consider the considerations in Mandatory considerations before issuing an order before making a final decision to issue an order.

For further advice on grounds for issuing an order, contact Legal Division on 03 9637 3146 or email legal.services@education.vic.gov.au

Definitions for orders

The following definitions apply for ongoing and immediate orders:

Reasonably believe
In deciding whether to make an ongoing or immediate order, an authorised person must reasonably believe that one or more grounds for making the order exist.

A reasonable belief is an objective test which requires the existence of facts which are sufficient to induce the belief in a reasonable person standing in the shoes of the decision maker. If an authorised person believes that the grounds for making an order have been met, and this belief is one a reasonable person would hold based on available or ascertainable facts (rather than on suspicion or assumption), they are likely to hold the necessary reasonable belief that the grounds for an order exist.

Reasonably necessary
To make an order, it must be reasonably necessary to address the grounds on which it is proposed to be made.

Whether making the order is reasonably necessary is an objective test which involves considering whether a properly informed, reasonable person would agree that the order is necessary. This means that orders must be proportionate to the behaviour and the risk of harm seeking to be addressed.

Harm
Harm of any kind, including physical or mental harm. This may be caused by physical conduct, verbal abuse, threats of harm or vexatious communications that causes unreasonable stress or anxiety to a person.

Unacceptable risk
The term ‘unacceptable risk’ requires consideration of both the likelihood of the relevant risk eventuating and the seriousness of the consequences if the risk eventuates. In considering whether a risk is unacceptable, authorised persons should apply the following 2-limb test:

consider the likelihood of the risk eventuating
consider the gravity or seriousness of the consequences if the risk eventuates.

Imminent and unacceptable risk
While ‘imminent’ is not defined in the Act, its ordinary meaning is something that is likely to occur, is impending or may eventuate at any moment.

To make an immediate order, an authorised person will need to assess whether a situation poses both an imminent and an unacceptable risk by considering the following 3-limb test:

the likelihood of the risk of harm, significant disruption or interference eventuating
the consequences and seriousness of the risk if it eventuates
whether the risk is likely to occur at any moment.

Grounds for ongoing orders

Ground 1: Harm to others

An authorised person may issue an ongoing order if they reasonably believe that a person poses an unacceptable risk of harm to:

any person (regardless of whether they are a member of the school community) on or within 25 metres of the premises of the school
a member of the school community at any other place or premises where there is an activity conducted by or in connection with the school (including an area that is within 25 metres of this area, if the member of the school community is there for a reason that is connected with the school).

Harm to others can include:

physical conduct towards a student, staff member, or parent, such as hitting, kicking, shoving, physical restraint of, and using weapons or objects to injure, a person
verbal abuse towards a student, staff member, parent or carer, for instance, using obscene or derogatory language to communicate where that abuse causes mental harm
threats of harm, where they have the potential to cause fear or distress
vexatious communications that causes unreasonable stress or anxiety in the workplace and the other person’s personal life.

Ground 2: Significant disruption to the school or its activities

An authorised person may issue an ongoing order if they reasonably believe that a person poses an unacceptable risk of causing significant disruption to the relevant school or activities carried on by the relevant school.

For example, this includes where a person refuses to leave a classroom or place where a school activity is taking place or otherwise interferes with a teacher’s ability to instruct a class.

Ground 3: Interference with the wellbeing, safety or educational opportunities of students

An authorised person may issue an ongoing order if they reasonably believe that a person poses an unacceptable risk of interfering with the wellbeing, safety or educational opportunities of students enrolled at the relevant school.

For example, this includes where physical violence or abuse occurs in the presence of students.

Ground 4: Disorderly, offensive, intimidating or threatening behaviour

An authorised person may issue an ongoing order if they reasonably believe that a person has behaved and is likely to continue behaving in a disorderly, offensive, intimidating or threatening manner to a member of the school community of the relevant school, either:

at, or within 25 metres of, any premises of the school
at, or within 25 metres of, any other place or premises on which there is an activity conducted by or in connection with the school.

To satisfy this ground, such behaviour must be:

disorderly, which may include disrupting a class, staff meeting or other event
offensive, which may include behaviour that may be perceived as insulting or derogatory
intimidating, which may include making someone feel fearful, nervous or timid or
threatening, may include making a person fear for their safety.

Ground 5: Vexatious communications

An authorised person may issue an ongoing order where a person has engaged in and is likely to engage in vexatious communications with, or regarding, a staff member at the relevant school.

Vexatious communications in relation to a staff member of a school means a communication that a reasonable person would consider unreasonable in the circumstances in one of the following types of communication:

approaching, calling, sending messages to or otherwise contacting the staff member
publishing material about the staff member
causing someone else to engage in the above behaviour on the person's behalf.

The person who has engaged in vexatious communications must also be likely to engage in vexatious communication in the future for this ground to be satisfied.

This can include communications that:

are of an unreasonably high frequency
repeatedly and deliberately ignore reasonable requests to use a specified complaints, dispute resolution or other related process
unreasonably divert resources away from other reasonable complaints and school operations
are a source of stress for staff members and affect their physical or mental health and wellbeing and work performance
intend to cause or have the effect of causing distress or harassment to staff.

Grounds for immediate orders

The grounds for immediate orders are the same as grounds 1 to 3 for ongoing orders, except the unacceptable risk must also be imminent.

Imminent and unacceptable risk can be assessed by considering:

the likelihood of the risk of harm, significant disruption or interference eventuating
the consequences and seriousness of the risk if it eventuates
whether the risk is likely to occur at any moment.

For further advice the imminent and unacceptable risk threshold, contact Legal Division on 03 9637 3146 or email legal.services@education.vic.gov.au

Police involvement

Police and relevant emergency services should always be contacted in the case of an emergency, immediate threat, or suspected criminal behaviour.

For example, if a parent refuses to leave school grounds after being abusive and threating towards staff, police should be called regardless of whether an order is in place. Refer to Managing and Reporting School Incidents (including emergencies).

Case studies

Brad is a separated parent of a secondary school aged student who has approached the school principal requesting that the school assist him to communicate and spend more time with the student. While there are no court orders in place in relation to Brad’s proximity to the student, the principal is aware that there has been an acrimonious separation between the student’s parents.

The student has expressed to school wellbeing staff that they do not wish to have any contact with Brad. The student is anxious and uncomfortable about seeing their parent. The principal has formally advised Brad in writing that the school is unable to assist with his request, however, Brad continues to enter school grounds seeking contact with the student. The student is becoming distressed at seeing Brad come onto school grounds. Despite several attempts at asking Brad to not enter school grounds and repeating that the school is unable to assist him to communicate and spend time with the student, Brad continues to ignore the principal’s requests. In this instance, the principal notifies Brad of her intention to make an ongoing order.

Based on this information, the principal determines that the grounds for making have been met and an ongoing order is reasonably necessary to address the unacceptable risk of interfering with the wellbeing of the student. The ongoing order is also the least restrictive means of addressing this as the principal previously made several attempts to clearly communicate the schools’ position and to de-escalate Brad’s behaviours. The principal will need to consider any submissions from Brad prior to issuing an order, including any vulnerabilities (for example, if Brad has an intellectual impairment that hindered his understanding of the earlier requests) that may give rise to other less restrictive options or that may inform the types of conditions and exceptions that the order needs to include
During lunch time, a member of the public walks along the footpath that runs along the fence line at the front of the school. He swears at the students present, using foul and inappropriate language. The students report the behaviour to nearby staff, and the police are called. The police arrive and speak to the students. From the information given, police were able to identify the man as a nearby neighbour of the school and interviewed him. The man confirmed that he walked past the school and spoke to the students across the fence but denied using foul language. The police advised the school principal that they do not have enough information to take action against the person. This is the first instance the principal is aware of where the neighbour has used offensive language towards students.

Making an ongoing order in this instance may not constitute grounds for issuing an order. While the neighbour may have acted in a disorderly, offensive, intimidating or threatening manner, an authorised person should also be satisfied that the neighbour is likely to behave in this manner again before they can issue an order. If the neighbour continues to use offensive language and impact the wellbeing and safety of the student/s then the authorised person could consider issuing an ongoing order.
Anita is a parent whose child informed her that their teacher spoke to them in an unacceptable way and complains to the principal. The principal investigates the matter and decides that the teacher behaved appropriately and sends a letter to Anita confirming the outcome of the investigation.

Anita posts the letter on the school’s Facebook page, posting offensive comments about the teacher and the principal. The offensive posts continue over the next few weeks, despite the principal requesting that they stop, and cause significant distress for the teacher and the principal.

The principal could issue an ongoing order to prevent Anita from further posting offensive comments on social media, as the comments are posted on a school operated social media platform and Anita’s actions have demonstrated that she will continue to engage in vexatious communications in the future despite several requests for her to stop.

For more detailed case studies and guidance, access the School Community Safety Order Scheme eLearn training module(opens in a new window) (staff login required).

Updated 11 July 2022

School Community Safety Orders

On this page