Accept an enrolment offer

A Letter of Offer from an ACT public school, or NSW pathway school:

• offers your child a place at the school
• tells you what documents you need to provide to confirm enrolment
• tells you how and when to provide the documents.

Your child's enrolment is complete when the school has seen and accepted your documents.

Documents you need

You'll need these documents to confirm your enrolment:

• your child’s birth certificate (original or certified copy)
• proof of where your child lives (using the same address you gave on the enrolment form)
• your child’s immunisation records. If you don't have them, call the Australian Immunisation Register on 1800 653 809. If your child is not immunised, you can still enrol them.
• any relevant court orders, for example from the Family Court
• your child's Medical Management Plan, if needed.

Proving where your child lives

To prove where your child lives, you'll need to provide documents that add up to 100 points. Documents that show your home address need to match the address on your enrolment form. Choose from these options:

Documents worth 50 points are a current:

• rates notice
• residential lease agreement, through a registered real estate agent, of more than six months duration
• electricity or gas bill (only one accepted as 50 points).

Documents worth 20 points are a:

• current residential lease agreement, through a registered real estate agent, of up to 6 months’ duration
• expired lease, where you continue to live at that address month-to-month after the lease's fixed term has expired
• current private residential lease agreement of any duration.

Documents worth 10 points are a:

• current drivers licence or other ACT Government issued identification showing home address
• letter from the ACT Electoral Commission confirming you are on the electoral roll (showing home address)
• mobile phone statement showing home address, not more than 12 weeks old
• bank statement showing home address, not more than 12 weeks old (financial details are not needed)
• current home building or home contents insurance letter showing home address
• most recent Tax Assessment Notice, showing home address (financial details are not needed)
• letter on an ACT or Commonwealth Government Department letterhead showing home address (personal details are not needed)
• additional utilities bill (electricity or gas).

If your child lives with parents or carers at different addresses, the address on your documents should match either the:

• first address (Address 1) that you gave on the enrolment form
• the address we used to determine your Priority Enrolment Area (PEA), which may be different to Address 1 in rare cases.

If you recently moved to the ACT

If you recently moved to the ACT and are living at a temporary address, you can still enrol at the local school for that address.

You can give the school a Statutory Declaration that states your address is temporary. You can also provide 2 forms of proof of address from the list of documents for proving where your child lives.

If you are living with someone on a temporary basis, that person can also provide a Statutory Declaration. The declaration can say that you are living with them temporarily. They can also provide 100 points of proof of address from the list for proving where your child lives.

The Australian Attorney-General's Department has information on making a Statutory Declaration.

If you do not have supporting documents

You can still enrol if you cannot provide proof of your identity or where you live.

If this applies to you, contact the school and ask for a private discussion with the school principal. We work with schools to support you to enrol in these cases.

How to provide documents

In most cases, the school will ask you to provide documents:

• in person at the school
• by email (to protect your privacy, we recommend you attach documents in a password-protected ZIP file and send the password in a separate email).

Sometimes, the school will ask you to provide original documents in person at the school.

If you do not have the required documents, and cannot get them, we will work with the school to confirm enrolment. You will not miss out on an offer.

If you provide false documents, you can be charged with a criminal offence.

How the school will handle your documents

If you email your documents, the school will check the documents and then delete the email.

If you show your documents to the school in person, the school will:

• check the documents against the enrolment form
• record that they've seen the documents
• not take copies of the documents unless they need them for checking later. If they do, these copies will be securely destroyed after checking.

If you did not get offered your preferred school

Preschool

If you applied to a public preschool, and there were not enough places at the preschool you applied to:

• we will send your application to the nearest preschool that has places
• your nearest preschool will then send you a Letter of Offer.

School

If you applied to a public school outside your Priority Enrolment Area, you may not get offered a place there. If this happens:

• we will send your application to a local school within your PEA
• your local school will then send you a Letter of Offer.

If you are not satisfied with your offer, you can request a review or appeal of an enrolment decision.

Contact us

If you need help at any stage, contact the school directly or contact us.