Dear Parents

The School receives government funding for students under the Australian Education Act 2013, which requires us to assess eligibility for that funding, available to enrolled students who are:

• Australian citizens,

• Students with visas of certain classes, but not all classes of visa.

  Students who hold visa classes that are not eligible for funding are referred to as “overseas students”.

  The School is required to retain copies of documents supporting the student’s citizenship or visa status.

  Since 20 August 1986, children born in Australia only acquire automatic Australian citizenship if at least one parent is an Australian citizen or permanent resident at the time of the child’s birth. If the student’s birth certificate identifies that both parents were born overseas, the Commonwealth Department of Education & Training (DET) would expect evidence of the citizenship status of the student.

  Within the Emanuel School community we have a high proportion of one or both parents of enrolled students, who were born overseas. It has not been the School’s practice to date to collect copies of documents proving citizenship and we have relied on the declarations made by parents on the enrolment form. We have recently been advised this may not meet the requirements of the DET, so we have embarked on a process to collect the required information.

  We have engaged Ms Linda Nguyen to manage this process. You will be contacted to provide the required information in the coming weeks to enable the school to comply with the legislation. In most cases, a student’s Australian passport is all that will be required.

Where the child does not have an Australian passport, other evidence of their citizenship will be required.

If you have any queries please email: enrolments@emanuelschool.nsw.edu.au. Your swift response to this request would be sincerely appreciated, given the volume of work required for us to meet funding requirements.