Provisional accreditation of an established school
Inspectors consider any documentation provided by a school and observations from an inspection visit in order to form opinions about compliance with the requirements of the Education Act in relation to accreditation for the Record of School Achievement and/or the Higher School Certificate.
When it is an Inspector's judgement that there are concerns that the school may not comply with the requirements, the Inspector will discuss these concerns with the principal (or equivalent) and provide an opportunity for the school to provide further evidence of compliance.
If, following consideration of any further evidence of compliance the school provides, the Inspector continues to have concerns that the school may not comply with the requirements of the Education Act in relation to accreditation for the Record of School Achievement and/or the Higher School Certificate, the Inspector will prepare a report that includes advice that the school be placed on provisional accreditation.
Where advice is provided to place an existing non-government school on provisional accreditation, the proprietor and the principal (or equivalent) of the school will be given written notice detailing those accreditation requirements with which, in the opinion of the Inspector, there are concerns that the school may not comply.
The proprietor and the principal (or equivalent) will be provided with the opportunity to make written comment to the Registration Committee of NESA regarding the advice of the Inspector.
Following consideration of the Inspector's advice and any written comment from the proprietor and/or principal (or equivalent) of the school, the Registration Committee, under delegation from the full Board of NESA, will determine whether it intends to make a recommendation to NESA that the school should be placed on provisional accreditation until such time as the situation is resolved.
The proprietor and the principal (or equivalent) will be informed in writing of the Registration Committee's intention to recommend to NESA that the school be placed on provisional accreditation and may seek an internal review of the decision.
If the Registration Committee or, following an internal review, NESA, is satisfied that there are concerns as to whether the school is complying with the requirements of the Education Act in relation to accreditation for the Record of School Achievement and/or the Higher School Certificate, the Committee or, following an internal review, NESA, may issue a certificate of provisional accreditation for the school that specifies the period of provisional accreditation.
In these circumstances, under the Act, the Minister may issue a certificate of provisional registration for the school that specifies the period of provisional registration. This may mean that the period of registration of the school is reduced.
If the school is placed on provisional accreditation, parents of students at the school must be notified in writing by the school of the provisional accreditation status of the school and the consequences of the accreditation status.
If, at the end of the period of provisional accreditation, the requirements of the Education Act in relation to accreditation are found not to be complied with, the Committee, under delegation from NESA, or, following an internal review, NESA, will cancel the accreditation of a non-government school by giving written notice to the proprietor or principal.