To enrol a child who has come into your care you should contact the Principal of a school in your locality and make an appointment to complete the admission requirements. The Principal will advise you on the documentation you should bring.

This is the enrolment procedure:

• You will need to complete a Student Enrolment Application. The form asks for the child’s name and date of birth, home address and phone number, names and contact details for the parents or guardians, medical emergency instructions, immunisation information, the option of identifying the student as being Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander, and information on languages other than English that may be spoken at home.
• When first enrolling a child in a government school, you must provide documentary evidence of the child’s identity and date of birth. For school-aged students, the documentation required is the original of the child’s Birth Certificate. Refugees are to provide the Visa document for copying.

To obtain a full Birth Certificate you will need to visit the nearest Service Tasmania Shop, fill in an application form and pay a fee. You cannot apply over the phone because you need to prove your own identity. The officer at Service Tasmania will explain the documents you need to supply.

For enquiries phone Service Tasmania: 1300 135 513

If you are unable to get evidence of the child’s identity – for example, if their birth was not recorded, or if they were born overseas – discuss the problem with the school at which you have chosen to enrol the child.

If the child’s name is different from the one on the Birth Certificate, you will need to provide documentation to support the name change.

If you are requesting that the child’s name be changed from a previous enrolment, you will need to provide evidence of your own identity and your responsibility for the child. Evidence of your own identity can be a current Drivers Licence. Evidence of your ‘parental responsibility’ is described below.

• You will also be asked for proof of the child’s immunisation status. This proof can be:
  • the child’s Personal Health Record that is signed by the child’s doctor; or
  • a record from the Australian Childhood Immunisation Register (ACIR); or
  • a Statutory Declaration.
• You should provide details of any of the child’s medical conditions, their medication and the doctor’s instructions, as well as the name and contact details of the child’s doctor and other phone numbers for use in an emergency.
• If there are any court orders in place affecting the child, please provide the school with details and be prepared to show documentary evidence.
• If you wish to be recognised as the child’s primary carer to receive information from the school about the child’s progress, and to be the point of contact in emergencies, you will need to provide written evidence of ‘parental responsibility’.

The type of evidence required will vary according to the circumstances through which you have acquired responsibility for the child.

• If you have been awarded legal responsibility for the child you should produce that documentation.
• If you have not been through a legal process but the child’s parent or parents agree to you being the primary carer and point of contact for educational matters, you should provide a letter from the parent or parents confirming this arrangement.
• If you are unable to get a letter of authority from the child’s parent or parents, you will be asked to fill out a Statutory Declaration confirming that you are the primary carer and the point of contact for information about the child.

These forms of evidence will be accepted on enrolment but if, at a later stage, the parent or parents dispute your authority, you will be contacted for further confirmation and clarification.

The names of both of the child’s parents should be provided to the Principal, where possible, so that their relationship to the child can be verified if they contact the school.

If the child has been enrolled in a Tasmanian government school before and is changing schools, most of this documentation will already be in the system. You will need to make sure that the new school has up-to-date information on legal and medical matters and a current residential address. The Principal will be required to contact the child’s previous school to confirm details of your relationship to the child and your responsibility for them.