New regulations for Boarding School Accommodation

From 28 June 2021, school boarding premises will need to be registered with the Victorian Registration and Qualifications Authority (VRQA), and meet certain minimum standards.

The Education and Training Reform (Regulation of Student Accommodation) Act 2020 (the Amendment Act), which amends the Education and Training Reform Act, received Royal Assent on 4 November 2020.

The Amendment Act:

• requires school boarding premises to be registered with the VRQA

• provides the VRQA with powers to monitor the compliance of school boarding premises.

• provides the VRQA with compliance and enforcement powers

• amends the Child Wellbeing and Safety Act to apply the Child Safe Standards and the reportable conduct scheme to operators of registered school boarding premises.

The Amendment Act also provides for the making of regulations, for the VRQA to issue guidelines, and for Ministerial Orders to be made to apply to school boarding premises in a similar way to existing Ministerial Orders (such as 706 – Anaphylaxis Management in Victorian Schools).

For a sector already struggling under a compliance burden having had to respond to an ever-changing mix of COVID restrictions over the last 12 months, this is at minimum not well timed.  Although there is evidently a regulatory gap between School and boarding operations, it is unclear the extent to which there is a practical gap between the policies implemented by Boarding Schools across these two aspects of their activities. 

To the extent that the Amendment Act and subsequent regulations and guidelines do not align with existing requirements for Schools, the inevitable costs of policies, procedures and systems to support Schools to comply with the prescribed minimum standards, and to demonstrate compliance to the VRQA will be increased.

Better Regulation Victoria has prepared a regulatory impact statement of the changes which is open for consultation until 5 February 2021.

For more information or assistance with compliance, please contact:

Paul Gray
Principal
T: 03 5225 5231
E: pgray@ha.legal

Alexander Gulli
Lawyer
T: 03 5226 8573
E: agulli@ha.legal