The Department’s Policy and Advisory Library (PAL) launched on 15 June 2020. This table outlines all substantive changes made to PAL topics since launch.
The guidance has been updated to include information on the newly launched OSHC Establishment Grants which provides funding for Victorian government schools delivering primary aged education without an existing OSHC service.
The new Inclusive Workplaces Guide assists everyone in Department workplaces to support employees with diverse and intersecting identities with chapters on Aboriginal inclusion, cultural diversity, disability, gender equality, generational diversity and LGBTIQ.
The Policy and Guidelines includes information for Principal and School Council obligations as a Public Sector Employer to manage and avoid Conflict of Interest in employment.
The Policy and Guidelines includes information for Principal and School Council obligations as a Public Sector Employer to manage and avoid Conflict of Interest in employment.
The Camps Sports and Education Fund had a temporary policy change in 2020 to help with at home learning. The policy now has gone back to its original state before these changes were made.
A standalone Planned Maintenance Program (PMP) policy has been developed. The PMP is now separate from the Building and Grounds Maintenance Policy. The new and updated policy includes more detailed policy information and guidance for schools in different PMP funding categories. A key change is that a declaration form has been introduced for schools in the up to $50,000 category. Schools in this category no longer need to seek quotes and submit a budget template in order to receive their funding allocation.
The Disability and Reasonable Adjustment policy has been completely reworked to make the process for requesting and making workplace adjustments more clear, and to update support resources available to school leaders and staff.
Guidance on small-group learning has been added to the Tutor Learning Initiative guidance tab. The content in this topic has also been re-structured to accommodate the additional guidance content, with the majority of content now in guidance chapters on the Guidance tab.
This topic was updated to incorporate the new arrangements for schools and early childhood services at risk of grassfire (category 4) to close on a determined Code Red day, along with all schools on the Bushfire At-Risk Register (BARR).
Additional updates have been made to the Employment, promotion or transfer page to reflect the clarification of policy for ongoing employees on transfer where the school year, including all school vacation periods is longer than 12 months.
The Chart of Accounts resource document available in the resource tab of the Finance Manual — Financial Management for Schools was updated. The updated resource will take effect upon the CASES21 Major Upgrade having been completed.
The Tutor Learning Initiative Guidance tab has been updated with guidance on assessing and identifying students for support through the Initiative. Further guidance on implementing the Tutor Learning Initiative will be published shortly.
This is a new PAL topic outlining the requirements for Holocaust Education in school-based curriculum programs in Victorian government secondary schools.
The Swimming Pools on School Grounds topic has been updated to incorporate new registration requirements under the Public Health and Wellbeing Regulation 2019. A new section has also been added to the Procedure tab for this topic, with advice on developing a water quality risk management plan.
The Tutor Learning Initiative topic has been updated to include information on appointing tutors and resources to support schools to communicate with their school community about the Tutor Learning Initiative and how it may impact their child’s learning in 2021.
This topic has been updated to reflect the new contact details for the Medical Advisory Service. The information has also been relocated to a standalone page on PAL, for ease of reference.
This updated PAL topic sets out the requirements for schools entering into contracts with Non-School Senior Secondary Providers (NSSPs) for the delivery of Community Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning (CVCAL).
The Insurance policies guidance chapter of the Insurance for Schools topic has been changed to reflect updated premiums for the Department’s travel insurance arrangements.
This topic has been updated to provide up-to-date guidance and information for the capital works program. Additional sections include guidance for schools receiving funding in the 2020-21 State Budget.
This topic has been amended to reflect the updated arrangements and requirements for Health, Wellbeing and Inclusion Workforces working in schools. A summary of the changes is available on the guidance chapter of this topic — Recent changes to this guidance.
This is a new PAL topic providing policy, advice and guidance to schools on arrangements for implementing the Tutor Learning Initiative in 2021. This topic will be updated with further, more detailed guidance in the coming weeks.
This is a new PAL topic setting out advice for schools to deliver additional educational support for young people within Victoria’s youth justice system, both in custody and the community.
This topic has been updated to incorporate content previously available on the intranet, providing information and resources to support a positive start to school for children in 2021.
This topic has been amended to reflect the updated arrangements and requirements for Health, Wellbeing and Inclusion Workforces working in schools. A summary of the changes is available on the guidance chapter of this topic — Recent changes to this guidance.
Students in youth justice (custody and community) require an IEP. The IEP policy and IEP Summary Guide (in resources) have been updated to reflect this.
This topic has been updated to incorporate additional guidance for schools on supporting student attendance when transitioning back to on-site learning for Term 4 2020.
The policy on transitions from Year 6 to 7 has been updated to remove information on the Year 7 application process, now that the application process has been completed, and to introduce a new resource for schools on supporting a positive start to secondary school in 2021.
Additional resources have been added to the Repeating a Year Level Resources tab to support schools to communicate with families about repeating a year level.
The Finance Manual in PAL has been reformatted so that all sections of the Finance Manual are now sitting in the Guidance tab of the Finance Manual — Financial Management for Schools page. Users can navigate through each section of the Finance Manual using the right hand menu of the Guidance tab. This means that schools need only access the one PAL topic now, rather than looking for the specific PAL topic on each section of the Finance Manual. There have otherwise been no changes to the content of the Finance Manual.
This topic has been amended to reflect the updated arrangements and requirements for Health, Wellbeing and Inclusion Workforces working in schools. A summary of the changes is available on the guidance chapter of this topic — Recent changes to this guidance.
Repeating a Year Level has been updated to provide additional guidance to schools on managing requests and making decisions relating to students repeating a year level.
Updates were made to the parts of the guidance tabs across all SRP pages to include examples of funding calculations and further clarify funding allocations. The Resources tabs for all SRP related pages were updated to include the 2020 Student Resource Package Guide (in PDF and Word) and the 2021 Indicative Student Resource Package Guide (in PDF and Word).
The following new funding references were added to this category of funding: Joint Community Program (Reference 123) and Designated Bilingual Program (Reference 124).
This is a new PAL topic which separates the Assistant Principal Contract renewal process from the Leading Teacher/Learning Specialist tenure renewal enabling a quick easy identification of the policy and process for each group of employees.
Section 3 of the Finance Manual was updated to reflect the requirement for schools, staff and school council members to comply with the Department’s Conflict of Interest policy.
In line with the updates made to Section 3 of the Finance Manual, Section 4 was also updated to reflect the requirement for schools, staff and school council members to comply with the Department’s Conflict of Interest policy.
In line with the updates made to Section 3 of the Finance Manual, Section 11 was also was updated to reflect the requirement for schools, staff and school council members to comply with the Department’s Conflict of Interest policy.
The IEP template key terms, and guidance on long-term goals, has been updated. In particular, the updates clarify that long-term goals are not required to be SMART (Specific, Measurable, Agreed, Relevant and Time-bound) whereas short-term goals are required to be SMART. When developing a student’s long-term goals, schools should provide a clear, summarised statement of 1 to 2 sentences, setting out the goals for the student to achieve over a longer period of time (for example, longer than a school term). The long term goals should assist in guiding the development of the SMART short-term goals.
The Parent Payments Policy and associated resources have been refreshed by the Department to better support implementation by schools. This includes a simplified and clearer Parent Payments Policy, easier to follow guidance and new resources to help support you to develop and implement your school’s parent payment arrangements.
A new PAL Guidance chapter has been added to the OHS Management System for schools — COVID-19 employee health, safety and wellbeing supports for schools. It provides tailored advice and links to supports for managing Coronavirus (COVID-19) related OHS risks and matters relating to employee health, safety and wellbeing, including a link to COVID-19 Safety Management Plan.
This is a new PAL topic providing guidance to the Department’s region and area based Health, Wellbeing and Inclusion Workforces (HWIW) on operational practices in relation to COVID-19. HWIW comprise Students Support Services, Primary and Secondary School Nurses, Visiting Teachers and Koorie Engagement Support Officers.
The IEP template was updated. A new template (Word document) replaces the previous IEP template (writeable PDF). The IEP template (Word document) provides more flexibility for schools to make their own adjustments where required, so the IEP is better able to reflect the needs of the student. Format changes to the template include the ability to add more goals, repositioning of the current level entry skills section and better printing functionality. Content changes to the template include the addition of a recommendation to include advice from regional and area staff, clarification that students’ long-term goals can be a summarised statement of 1-2 sentences and the addition of ‘person responsible’ to the teaching strategies, adjustments and supports section.
The following new funding references were added to this category of funding: VCE Revision Lectures (Reference 121), Professional Learning Communities (Reference 122), Early Years Koorie Literacy and Numeracy Program (Reference 88), Extended Koorie Literacy and Numeracy Program (Reference 90), Chaplaincy (Reference 117). Updates, including to rates, were made to the following funding references: Vocational Education and Training Delivered to Secondary School Students (Reference 56), Career Education Funding (Reference 91).
The requirement at section 16.3.1.5 has changed so that schools and school councils must provide school council with a report outlining the financial outcome of all camps, excursions and fundraising. Previously the requirement was to report on financial outcomes of camps and excursions only.
The requirement at section 12.2.1.6 now states ‘For each trading operation, an annual budget (both revenue and expenditure) must be prepared, presented and reviewed by the finance committee (or by the school council if the school doesn’t have a finance committee) and approved by the school council.’ Previously, the requirement stated ‘For each trading operation, an annual budget (both revenue and expenditure) must be prepared, presented and approved by either the school council or the finance committee.’
The Excursions policy and guidelines consolidate all previous policy and guidance on excursions, including the Safety Guidelines for Education Outdoors. The new policy and guidelines clarify the role of school council in approving excursion, no longer requiring school council to approve the operational requirements of an excursion. All guidelines for adventure activities have been revised, including some changes to supervision ratios and required qualifications and experience. The guidance on overseas excursions has also been updated, including making travel insurance for overseas excursions mandatory.
The Department’s policy and guidance on homework has been updated to better reflect the most up-to-date evidence regarding homework and student learning and performance. A new local school template policy on homework has also been developed and is available on the School Policy Templates Portal Homework page.
This is a new Department policy that defines the mandatory systems of record for school administration processes and information. This policy incorporates the previous CASES21 Policy on the School Policy and Advisory Guide (SPAG). It now covers all mandated Department systems and explains what each is to be used for including CASES21, Edupay, HART, SOCS, PSDMS, IRIS, SPOT and many others.
This policy has been amended to include a requirement for principals to give a person the opportunity provide feedback about whether a Trespass Warning Notice should be issued against them and to consider any of the information they provide before issuing the Notice.
This policy has been amended to allow schools to purchase buses with 21 seats or more (with Regional Director approval and following all other requirements in the policy).
New Department policy (previously published on the School Policy and Advisory Guide on 7 May 2020) which outlines requirements relating to the secure management of information within schools. This policy is part of the Department’s InfoSafe program and is designed to help strengthen information security to ensure information is stored and shared securely.
A change was made to the placement policy aspect of the Enrolment Policy to clarify that schools must consider exceptional circumstances for enrolment as a separate consideration rather than as number 6 on the priority order of placement. This information can be found under the chapter called Placement Policy in the Enrolment Guidance tab.
In the process of transitioning all Department policy over to the new PAL we have also made a number of overarching changes and updates to Department policy, including:
providing a consistent policy structure, with a summary for quick reference, and full policy details sitting underneath
providing contact details for all topics, for school queries or feedback
updating language to remove ambiguities
clarifying the role of school council, where applicable, such as whether or not school council are the decision-making or consulting body for a particular issue
providing new and updated resources to support schools to implement Department policy and guidance, such as template forms
In transitioning all policy over to PAL we have re-set the date that the policy was last updated to reflect the date of PAL launch. This does not mean that all policies have been significantly changed in terms of school requirements. For significant changes, refer to the table above.
Any questions or feedback relating to these updates can be directed to the relevant contact listed on the policy or the Operational Policy Support and Engagement Branch:
Email: pal.support@education.vic.gov.au
Phone: 03 7022 1888
We will continue to update and improve PAL content to ensure schools are able to access information that is clear and accurate and we welcome feedback from schools to support this process.
