Sharing of school facilities
Direction and guidance for staff who make decisions about sharing school facilities with third parties and organisations.
Audience
All staff, including school administrative staff, principals and directors, educational leadership.
| Version | Date | Description of changes | Approved by |
|---|---|---|---|
| V05.0.0 | 15/03/2024 | Under the 2023 Policy and procedure review program, converted into new policy template and improved readability. | Executive Director, Asset Activations |
Document history
2023 Nov 17 - updated the implementation document, Sharing of School Facilities Procedures, updated information allowing community languages schools to enter into community use agreements for a period of up to three years.
2023 Feb 06 - updated contact details.
2022 Oct 17 - updated the implementation document, Sharing of School Facilities Procedures, to reflect changes to Share our Space, which will now operate during term time outside of schools hours, as well as during school holidays.
2022 Jul 25 - updated the implementation document, Sharing of School Facilities Procedures, to include information on how local government can manage the shared use of school facilities outside of school hours. Councils will have a licence agreement to access school assets outside of school hours, relieving principals of managing and maintaining these assets. Schools will continue to receive the financial benefit of school asset utilisation. Changes have been made to Table 1 (about this document) and sections 3.3 (licence or lease) and 5.10 (other commercial activities or where the use is for a period of greater than 12 months.
Also included additional information for schools on canteen and uniform licencing. For outside school hours care (OSHC), Category A providers will now be limited to parents and citizens associations incorporated under the Parents and Citizens Associations Incorporation Act 1976. Category B providers with OSHC licences must go to tender on the expiry of their current licence.
2022 May 02 - updated the implementation document: Sharing of school facilities procedures. Updated to include information on how local government can manage the shared use of school facilities outside of school hours. Councils will have a licence agreement to access school assets outside of school hours, relieving principals of managing and maintaining these assets. Schools will continue to receive the financial benefit of school asset utilisation. Changes have been made to Table 1 (about this document) and sections 3.3 (licence or lease) and 5.10 (other commercial activities or where the use is for a period of greater than 12 months).
2021 Oct 01 - update to policy statement and implementation document: Sharing of School Facilities Procedures. Both updated to reflect renaming of the Community Use of School Facilities policy to Sharing of School Facilities policy, incorporating content from the Joint Use of School Facilities and Land policy and the Mobile Telecommunications Facilities policy, and moving the instructions for advertising on the school perimeter from the Commercial Arrangements School- Based Activities policy.
2021 Apr 14 - updated Electoral Commission MOU information in implementation procedures.
2021 Mar - updated Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for federal, state and local elections.
2021 Feb - Policy maintenance, which may include but not limited to, updated contact details, business unit or position titles, typographical, text and style changes and repairing hyperlinks.
2020 Nov - Minor review to existing documentation to align policy and website content with current issues related to changes in procedure and departmental structure.
2020 Jul - Minor formatting changes along with updated contact details and repairing broken links to the policy and the implementation procedural document.
2019 Oct - Minor text and style changes along with updated contact details made to the policy and the implementation procedural document.
MOU for Federal elections updated 7 March 2019.
MOU for State and Local elections updated 13 July 2018.
Implementation procedures now contained within one document.
Amalgamation of the Community Languages Schools Free Use of Government School Facilities Policy.
Superseded documents
None
- Policy statement
- Schools are valuable community assets that should be available for community use when not required for school purposes.
- School facilities must be used appropriately and only for activities that do not interfere with the school's teaching and learning programs.
- School facilities must only be used for activities consistent with the Values in NSW public schools policy.
- Community use applications are assessed on whether the proposed use is appropriate and the proposed community user is suitable.
- Where competing demand for use exists, priority is determined according to the Sharing of school facilities procedures instructions.
- Before signing an agreement, consultation with the principal, relevant department officers, the applicant and other key stakeholders is necessary.
- An executed written agreement specifies the rights and obligations of both parties.
- Shared use of school facilities should not be a financial burden to the school or the department. Schools may charge appropriate usage fees or, in some cases, provide free use of facilities. For further information about usage fees or free use, refer to the Sharing of school facilities procedures.
- Context
- The department encourages members of the community and education groups to use school facilities when the school does not require them.
- School facilities are primarily for educating children and young people; however, there are times when school facilities are not in use.
- Schools support families and communities by making facilities available for children's services.
- Sharing resources strengthens the partnership between schools and local communities.
- Shared use of school facilities benefits both schools and their communities through:
- access to services to support families and communities
- enhanced cooperation and goodwill between the school and the community
- the provision of additional extracurricular learning opportunities
- opportunities for parents and the broader community to become better informed about and participate in the school's operation and activities
- more effective use of valuable school facilities
- opportunities for the community to play a positive part in school security through out-of-hours use of the facilities.
- The Sharing of school facilities procedures support this policy.
- Policy contact
- Asset Activations Team, School Infrastructure NSW
asset.activations@det.nsw.edu.au
- Asset Activations Team, School Infrastructure NSW
- Monitoring the policy
- The Executive Director, Asset Activations monitors the implementation of this policy, regularly reviews its contents to ensure relevance and accuracy, and updates it as needed.