Partial school enrolment in Victoria

What is partial enrolment?
Partial enrolment is when a home educated student attends a school for classes in a specific subject/s or period of time during a school week. The school can be either a private school, or a neighbourhood government school. The arrangement is unique to the student and the school, and is negotiated between the parents and school. School year level may also be a factor in determining an arrangement.

The parent/s who have registered for home education still have the responsibility of providing an education program as per the requirements of registration.

VRQA and registering for home education
The Victorian Registration and Qualifications Authority (VRQA) is Victoria’s education and training regulator and comes under the authority of the Department of Education and Training (DET). For home education, you must register with VRQA; your school has no role in registration or the approval of your home education program. More information on how to register can be found here.

Official Guidelines for Partial Enrolment
These were produced by DET. We encourage you to read them and have a printed copy to give to your principal if required.

Word format

PDF version

Government schools
Government schools are obliged to take a partial enrolment which would not take the school over their enrolment numbers. The exact nature of the partial enrolment can be negotiated between the family and the school.

Non-government schools
Private schools are not obliged to take a partial enrolment but are often keen to do so.

Registered home educators who want to try partial enrolment
For students already registered for home education, you must contact the principal of the school to discuss and agree on an arrangement, and provide the school with a copy of your VRQA registration letter (your official proof of being a registered home educator).

Once an agreement is reached, you (not the school) must advise VRQA in writing of the agreed partial enrolment arrangement.

We encourage you to provide the school a copy of, or link to, the official Guidelines as there is information relevant to school principals. Not every principal is aware of the Guidelines, or even that partial enrolment is a possibility so it helps to have something official to show them.

People yet to register for home education who want to include partial enrolment
Note that you can apply for partial enrolment before you register with the VRQA or afterwards.

If you want to include partial enrolment as part of your registration application, you should first approach a principal in order to discuss an arrangement and get an in-principle agreement from them.

You can then include this arrangement on the VRQA homeschooling registration application form and provide the principal’s completed Notice of Intention to Partially Enrol a Student. The form for the principal can be obtained from the VRQA (or the Guidelines). Once VRQA approves the registration,you must provide a copy of their official registration letter to the principal.

However, if you wish to get your registration application in more quickly, you can apply without it and add it to your registration later.

Attendance and assessment requirements
Attendance and assessment requirements will be agreed between the school and family. For the home education portion (what you are doing in your own home and not part of school), you do not need to undertake any assessments as this is not a requirement of the Victorian regulations. A school can not insist you do assessments as part of your home education.

NAPLAN
Partially enrolled students are permitted to take the NAPLAN test at the school. Students who sit the NAPLAN test will receive their Individual Student Report which will be delivered to the school. The student’s results will not be included in the school results and instead will be given to the parent.

Grounds for a school principal refusing a request for partial enrolment
A principal can refuse the request if the school does not have a space for the home ed student.

The school does not have any involvement in the home education
The home component of your child’s education remains your responsibility and the school has no involvement.

The school does not have any authority to determine how you educate your child at home or what the child does on their home days. School attendance and home education are two separate things.

Partial school enrolment for VCE
Schools can not accept a partial enrolment for VCE subjects.

Experiences of partial enrolment
Experiences of individual families vary. Success depends on three factors – the school, the family and the child. You can read about tips and experiences in our articles Part Time Home Ed and A Foot in Both Camps

You can find more information on partial enrolment on the VRQA website here.