BOS 42/07 (Vol 16 No 3)

Under Section 131 of the Education Act 1990, the Registered and Accredited Individual Non-government Schools (NSW) Manual and the Registration Systems and Member Non-government Schools (NSW) Manual (the manuals) constitute the rules set out by the Board in relation to the requirements for registration and accreditation.

Recently the NSW Minister for Education and Training approved amendments to the manuals in relation to the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (Cwlth) and the Disability Standards for Education. These amendments concern the registration requirements with regard to premises and buildings, boarding facilities and notifications to the Board.

In relation to premises and buildings, the following additional point has been added to the evidence of compliance in section 3.4 of the Registered and Accredited Individual Non-government Schools (NSW) Manual (the individual manual) and section 5.4 of the Registration Systems and Member Non-government Schools (NSW) Manual (the systemic schools manual):

A registered non-government school must:

• confirm that it has policies and procedures to meet the requirements of the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 in terms of the school’s buildings and premises.

With regard to boarding facilities, the following additional point has been added to the evidence of compliance in section 3.11.2 of the individual manual and section 5.11.2 of the systemic schools manual:

A registered non-government school must:

• confirm that it has policies and procedures to meet the requirements of the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 in terms of the school’s boarding buildings and premises.

The amendment concerning notifications to the Board has been made to section 3.9.3 of the individual manual and section 4.6 of the systemic schools manual. The change requires that a non-government school or a registration system notify the Board if, following an investigation by a relevant agency or authority, the school or registration system is formally notified in writing by that agency or authority of an alleged breach by the school of the Disability Discrimination Act 1992.

Please note that section 4 of the individual manual and section 6 of the systemic schools manual relate to the initial (provisional) registration of proposed new schools and proposed new Years of schooling. Applicants for initial (provisional) registration need to demonstrate a capacity to comply with the requirements for registration including the amended requirements as specified above.

The amended manuals are accessible now on the Board’s website at www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/manuals

Please note that the web versions of the manuals are the most up-to-date manuals at any time.

Effective: The rules, as constituted in the current web versions of the manuals, take effect immediately.

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