On this page
Every government school offering courses of instruction in preschool, primary or secondary education must have a governing council which operates under a constitution that has been approved by the Minister for Education.
Some schools will also have a committee that is affiliated with the governing council, which is known as an affiliated committee. Affiliated committees must also have their own constitution that has been approved by the Minister.
Your site's constitutions will be based on a model constitution. The content of the model constitutions has been approved by the Minister and cannot be changed without getting approval from the department.
Your school's approved constitution
What it looks like
An approved constitution has an ‘approved by’ stamp on the front page. It will be signed and dated by the Minister or their delegate.
Where it’s kept
There must be a copy of the approved constitution kept at the school.
When to change it
You should not need to change your school’s constitution often. Some of the times you can change it are when:
- your school’s name changes
- you need to change the composition of the council’s membership
- your site merges with another one.
You can only change specific elements of the constitution like the school name and the composition of the council membership. See when to change an approved constitution for more information.
Legal status
It's your school’s governing council constitution that sets its legal status. This means your governing council is an incorporated body.
Constitutions – documents and approvals
Constitutions
- Governing council of a school with a school-based preschool model constitution (PDF 277KB)
- Governing council of a school without a school-based preschool model constitution (PDF 281KB)
- Affiliated committee model constitution (PDF 217KB)
