The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (Royal Commission) recommended that school registration authorities place particular emphasis on monitoring government and non-government boarding schools to ensure that they meet the Child Safe Standards. In a School Governance article we published in June 2017, we discussed the research that identified boarding schools as institutions that present a high cumulative risk of child sexual abuse in terms of both adult-child and child-to-child abuse: Child abuse risk significantly higher in boarding schools: Royal Commission Report.

In March last year, the Victorian Government introduced into Parliament the first part of its response to the Royal Commission’s recommendations, which was a Bill to amend the Education and Training Reform Act 2006 (Vic). From 18 June 2021, the Education and Training Reform Amendment (Regulation of Student Accommodation) Act 2020 (Vic) will expand the regulatory powers of the Victorian Registration and Qualifications Authority (VRQA) to register and regulate boarding schools.

Consultation draft amendments to the Education and Training Reform Regulations 2017 (Vic) (ETR Regulations) were published on the Engage Victoria website in December 2020, setting out proposed prescribed minimum standards, procedures and requirements for the registration of school boarding premises that are conducted by schools or other organisations. The final Education and Training Reform Amendment Regulations 2021 (Vic) were made at the end of March 2021 and will commence on 18 June 2021. New Schedule 4A to the ETR Regulations contains the minimum standards for registration of school boarding premises (School Boarding Minimum Standards).

In late April 2021, the VRQA began publishing guidance on the new School Boarding Minimum Standards, including consultation draft Guidelines to the Minimum Standards and Requirements for School Boarding Premises Registration (School Boarding Guidelines) that set out in detail the evidence that the VRQA will require for schools to demonstrate their compliance with the School Boarding Minimum Standards. That is, the School Boarding Guidelines relate to the School Boarding Minimum Standards in the same way that the Guidelines to the Minimum Standards and Requirements for School Registration (School Registration Guidelines) relate to the minimum standards for registration of schools (School Registration Minimum Standards) in Schedule 4 to the ETR Regulations.

The public consultation period ended on 18 May 2021 and the VRQA has indicated that it will publish the final School Boarding Guidelines on its website on 10 June 2021. At the same time, the VRQA will publish updated Guidelines for the Enrolment of Overseas Students Aged Under 18 Years and Guidelines on Bushfire Preparedness: Registered schools and school boarding premises.

From 18 June 2021, school boarding premises must be registered with the VRQA. Existing school boarding premises will have three months to complete a deeming process for registration.

Immediate Implications for Schools with Boarding Premises

In the guidance that the VRQA has released to date, it has indicated that:

• schools can complete a responsibility indicator survey to receive an indication of whether they will be required to meet the School Boarding Minimum Standards
• the VRQA has already contacted known school boarding premises providers to request that they complete a pre-deeming form
• schools that have not been contacted by the VRQA and that believe that their school boarding premises will need to be registered should email the VRQA at school.boarding.premises@education.vic.gov.au to request the pre-deeming form
• following a school’s completion of the online pre-deeming form, the VRQA will email further instructions about the two-step deeming process that will need to be completed by 18 September 2021, involving:
• a self-assessment of the school’s compliance with the School Boarding Minimum Standards: schools should assess themselves as compliant, not compliant or working towards compliance. Schools do not have to be fully compliant to be deemed to be registered
• a statutory declaration by a responsible person that the self-assessment is accurate.

Schools that do not complete the deeming process will need to make an application to register their school boarding premises. They will need to provide evidence to demonstrate that the school boarding premises meet the School Boarding Minimum Standards and other requirements.

Compliance with the School Boarding Minimum Standards

Timing of Reviews by the VRQA and Other Review Bodies

The VRQA has indicated that it will review school boarding premises every five years, at the same time that it reviews the school itself. It may not be possible, however, to align the reviews of schools and school boarding premises with CRICOS reviews, given that the timeframes differ.

All school boarding premises must be reviewed within the first three years of commencement of the new regulatory regime. The VRQA has indicated that, if a school review was scheduled for 2020 or 2021, it will have been deferred to 2022 to enable both reviews to be conducted concurrently. If a school review is scheduled for 2025, it may be brought forward.

In the consultation draft School Boarding Guidelines, the VRQA foreshadows that it is likely to approve the Catholic Education Commission Victoria (CECV) and the Schools and Regional Services group of the Victorian Department of Education and Training (DET) as review bodies responsible for ensuring the ongoing quality assurance of Catholic and government school boarding premises, respectively, with the School Boarding Minimum Standards. Such approval is subject to the development of Memorandums of Understanding with the CECV and DET, and a decision being made at the VRQA Board meeting on 3 June 2021.

Alignment with the School Registration Requirements

As a whole, according to the VRQA, the School Boarding Minimum Standards “align closely” with the School Registration Minimum Standards. They also “somewhat align” with the AS 5725:2015 Boarding Standard for Australian Schools and Residences.

The VRQA has also suggested that:

“Schools may find many of their existing policies or procedures can be adapted or expanded to address the school boarding minimum standards. When reviewing existing school policies and procedures, schools should consider the different circumstances and risks associated with school boarding premises.”

As part of its guidance for schools, the VRQA has published a table that indicates the extent to which the two sets of Standards align. For most, but not all, of the 13 new School Boarding Minimum Standards, the VRQA’s assessment is that there is a “significant” degree of alignment with a requirement of the School Registration Minimum Standards.

The consultation draft School Boarding Guidelines suggest that for some requirements, a key consideration for schools will be whether the legal entity that operates the school is the same legal entity that operates the boarding premises.

For example, the first School Boarding Minimum Standard requires compliance with the Worker Screening Act 2020 (Vic). According to the consultation draft School Boarding Guidelines:

• for a person who works at both the school and the affiliated boarding premises, where the proprietor of the boarding premises is not the same as the school, the person’s working with children (WWC) clearance details will need to be included on both the school’s WWC register and the boarding premises’ WWC register
• for a person who works at both the school and the boarding premises, where the boarding premises and the school have the same proprietor, a single WWC register may be maintained that notes whether that person works in the school, the boarding premises or across both.

We set out below the new School Boarding Minimum Standards and include some comments from the consultation draft School Boarding Guidelines about alignment with the requirements for school registration:

1. Compliance with the Worker Screening Act 2020
2. Acceptance policy — The VRQA suggests that there is moderate alignment with the school registration requirements and that “schools may consider adapting existing policies and procedures to address these requirements for their boarding premises or may choose to develop a stand-alone policy, procedure and acceptance agreement”.
3. Register of students — A register of accepted students must be maintained, containing prescribed information in relation to each student boarder. The VRQA indicates that there is no alignment with the school registration requirements.
4. Record of location of students — The VRQA indicates that there is no alignment with the school registration requirements.
5. Care, safety and welfare of students — According to the VRQA, there is significant alignment between this requirement and a requirement in the School Registration Guidelines, and schools “may consider adapting existing policies and procedures to address these requirements for their boarding premises”. In relation to emergency management, including bushfire management, the VRQA suggests that schools may consider adapting or expanding their existing emergency management plan to incorporate an emergency management plan for the school boarding premises. Schools with boarding premises located at a campus on the Bushfire-At-Risk register will need to develop a separate management plan addressing risks to that premises.
6. Buildings, facilities and grounds — The VRQA indicates that there is moderate alignment between this requirement and the school registration requirements.
7. Governance — The VRQA suggests that, if a registered school and a registered school boarding premises are owned and operated by the same legal entity, a review should be undertaken of existing documents, such as the constitution or rules of association, delegations and risk register, to ensure that they cover the governance and operation of the boarding premises. Regarding the requirement for responsible persons to be fit and proper, schools that own or operate boarding premises will only need one Fit and Proper Statutory Declaration per responsible person.
8. Philosophy of provider of school boarding services — The VRQA indicates that there is significant alignment between this requirement and the school registration requirements.
9. Information on performance of school boarding premises — The VRQA indicates that there is significant alignment between this requirement and the school registration requirements. Schools can include performance information about the school boarding premises in their annual report.
10. Provider of school boarding services must comply with Act and Regulations – The VRQA does not comment on the extent of alignment with school registration requirements
11. Provider of school boarding services must comply with conditions of registration – The VRQA does not comment on the extent of alignment with school registration requirements.
12. Provider of school boarding services must have policies, procedures, and suitable arrangements in place — The VRQA indicates that there is significant alignment with the School Registration Minimum Standards and that schools may consider adapting their existing policies and procedures.
13. School boarding services must be provided in accordance with scope of registration — The VRQA does not comment on the extent of alignment with school registration requirements.

What Schools Should Do Now

Schools with boarding premises should:

• contact the VRQA to arrange to complete a pre-deeming form, if they have not already completed one
• monitor developments, in particular the publication of the final version of the School Boarding Guidelines and the updated Guidelines for the Enrolment of Overseas Students Aged Under 18 Years and Guidelines on Bushfire Preparedness: Registered schools and school boarding premises. Schools can subscribe to email updates here.
• prepare to complete the deeming process by 18 September 2021.