-UPDATED PLACEMENT ENROLMENT POLICY 

(FOR 2025 ENTRY AND BEYOND)

17 APRIL 2024

ENROLMENT CRITERIA

The following enrolment criteria have been specified and approved by the Deputy Secretary, Schools and Regional Services (as the Minister’s delegate) under section 2.2.16(b) of the Education and Training Reform Act 2006 (Vic).

Abbotsford Primary School is a designated neighbourhood school and has a school zone. All students residing within the school zone will be offered a place when seeking enrolment.

Students are able to apply for a place at Abbotsford Primary School if they live outside the school zone. These students should be enrolled if:

• there is sufficient accommodation at the school; and
• the request for enrolment aligns with the school’s Enrolment Management Implementation Plan (EMIP) if they have one.

Where there is insufficient accommodation for all students who seek entry from outside the school zone, students must be enrolled in accordance with the priority order of placement specified in this policy.

Priority order of placement

Where Abbotsford Primary School does not have sufficient accommodation to accept all students who apply from outside the school zone or is subject to an EMIP, Abbotsford Primary School must manage enrolment applications in accordance with the following priority order of placement:

1. Students with a sibling at the same permanent address who are attending the school at the same time.
2. Students seeking enrolment into the Chinese bilingual program on language grounds. NEW
3. All other students in order of closeness of their home to the school.

Language grounds selection criteria and process

To be eligible for enrolment on language grounds (criteria 2), the student must meet one of the following selection criteria:

a)         student speaks Chinese (Mandarin) at home.

b)         student is or has been enrolled in an eligible kindergarten or school.

c)         at least one parent or carer speaks Chinese.

When enrolling on language grounds, parents and carers of students applying from outside the school zone must complete the Language Grounds Attachment. A Language Grounds Attachment will only be provided to parents and carers if Abbotsford Primary School has insufficient accommodation for all students who seek entry.

To qualify under selection criteria a, the attachment requires parents and carers to confirm that the student speaks Chinese at home.

To qualify under selection criteria b, the student must have attended one of the following early childhood or school settings for a minimum of 1 year, 12 hours a week:

·         For Foundation enrolments, the student has been enrolled in an early childhood service that delivered at least 50% of their state-funded four-year-old kindergarten program[*] in Chinese.

·         For students transferring from other schools seeking enrolment in Years 1 to 6, the student has been enrolled in a full-immersion or partial-immersion (bilingual) target language early childhood service or school.

There must be no gap between attending the eligible kindergarten or school and seeking enrolment at Abbotsford Primary School.

Parents and carers may be asked to supply the student’s previous enrolment record or attendance certificate as evidence.

To qualify under selection criteria c, the attachment requires parents and carers to indicate that at least one parent or carer speaks Chinese. Parents and carers may be asked to provide supporting documentation, such as a copy of their secondary school or tertiary education record, to demonstrate proficiency in the language.

When there are more applicants under language grounds than available places at the school, eligible students who meet criteria a will be prioritised first, followed by those meeting criteria b, and then those meeting criteria c. If required, students who satisfy the same selection criteria can be further prioritised in order of closeness of their permanent residence to the school.

Verification of permanent address

Abbotsford Primary School may ask for supporting documentation to assist in verifying a student’s permanent address.

The school may also make the following enquiries to verify the information provided:

• checking the electoral roll at an Australian Electoral Commission office or the Victorian Electoral Commission head office
• checking with a real estate agent to confirm a rental address
• for a rental property which is a studio apartment or a one-bedroom unit, checking whether there are any regulations/codes limiting the occupancy of these apartments to one person per apartment.

An application may be unsuccessful if, after reasonable enquiries, the principal is unable to verify that the evidence provided is genuine and valid.

Enrolment on compassionate grounds

In exceptional circumstances, a student may be enrolled on compassionate grounds. This is an overarching consideration and does not form part of the priority order of placement.

APPEAL PROCESS

Parents or carers can appeal an enrolment decision by lodging a written appeal with the principal.

If this appeal is unsuccessful and parents or carers are not satisfied that their appeal has been adequately considered, they may write to the North West Victoria Regional Director.

POLICY REVIEW AND APPROVAL

For 2025 entry, the cut-off date for all applications is:

- 26 July 2024, with confirmation sent out by Friday 9 August 2024.