Compliance Framework | Socioeconomic Status (SES) Funding

Independent Schools Victoria Compliance Framework

Processes required by DEEWR for the collection of student address information in preparation for the 2009-2012 funding quadrennium.

Socioeconomic Status (SES) Funding - Student Address Collection 2007

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Do you need to comply?

Yes, if your school continues to receive General Recurrent Funding from the Australian Government.

Conditions of compliance

The Australian Government allocates general recurrent funding to non-government schools according to a formula that measures the Socioeconomic Status (SES) of a school community. The SES funding model involves linking student residential addresses to Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) national Census data to obtain a socioeconomic profile of a school community and measure its capacity to support the school.

In preparation for the 2009-2012 funding quadrennium, the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR) will be collecting student residential addresses from all non-government schools in March 2007. These addresses, for students enrolled at your school in 2007, will determine schools' SES scores and funding entitlements for the 2009-2012 funding period.

If you have to comply, what do you have to do?

The key requirements that schools will need to consider in the lead up to the SES student address collection are described in the document SES Student Address Collection - March 2007. Click here to download a copy of the document (pdf).

In summary, these requirements are:

Which student residential addresses should be included and how they should be formatted (for the collection in March / April 2007);
The need to provide parents with a Privacy Notice (in February / March 2007);
The need for a Statutory Declaration (once the address submission is complete) ; and
Registration requirements on Schools Service Point (SSP) (early March 2007).

Student Residential Addresses

The addresses of all students for whom the school receives Australian Government General Recurrent Grants funding, except full-time Distance Education students, must be included in the address collection. Full fee paying overseas students and pre-school students are not eligible for Australian Government funding and should not be included in this collection.

Privacy Notice for Parents

Under the provisions of the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth.), residential address information is classified as 'personal information' and, therefore, the parent / legal guardian of each student must be advised that their residential address will be provided to DEEWR. In order to fulfil this requirement, schools will need to provide the parent / legal guardian of each student enrolled at the school in March 2007 with a copy of the Privacy Notice included in the document for download described above. This must be done before schools submit their addresses to DEEWR.

The Privacy Notice advises the parent / legal guardian that their residential address will be forwarded to DEEWR, the purpose for which it will be used and who will have access to the address data. It also reassures the parent / legal guardian that their personal information will be handled strictly in accordance with the Privacy legislation.

The need for a Statutory Declaration

Students' residential addresses are collected under the provisions of the Statutory Declarations Act 1959 (Cth.). This means that a person authorised to sign on behalf of the Approved Authority of the school will be required to declare that the addresses submitted are correct and that a copy of the Privacy Notice has been sent to each student's parent / legal guardian.

What are the consequences if you don't comply?

Independent schools receive funding from the Australian Government under the Schools Assistance Act 2004 (Cth.) subject to the conditions which are set out in the Act.

To continue to receive funding, the school must submit students' residential addresses to DEEWR.

Who will help you?

Independent Schools Victoria contact:

Nigel Bartlett
Senior Research and Data Analyst
Ph. 03 9825 7228
nigel.bartlett@independentschools..vic.edu.au