The principal said no. What now?
A refusal is lawful in every jurisdiction we read. That is the uncomfortable part. The useful part is what the policies still require of the school afterwards — and that a refusal does not remove the school's own obligation to the student.
The obligation, in the direction the source states it
"There is no legal obligation on principals to approve a request for NDIS funded therapy on school grounds. This is because NDIS funded therapy is generally not required to enable the student to access their education." VIC S1, S2
Victoria does set a default lean in your favour — "it is recommended that principals approve requests for NDIS funded therapy to be delivered at school or virtually during school hours, unless the specific circumstances raise practical, legal or educational issues." S1 Recommended, not required. Anyone telling you Victoria requires principals to approve is wrong, and arguing it will cost you the relationship.
What the policies do require
- A blanket ban is not allowed in Victoria: "Schools must not use these considerations as a blanket rule to develop a school policy that allows or disallows all requests for therapy in schools." S2
- Reasons must be documented in Victoria — principals "must… document their consideration of the relevant factors", should "endeavour to respond to the request within 10 days", and communicate the decision using a template letter that "outlines reasons for the decision." S4
- Tasmania gives a clock and a meeting: "The Principal makes a decision within one calendar month"; on refusal the principal advises the parent with the reasons, and "the parent/carer or NDIS provider can request a meeting with the Principal to discuss the decision." S6
- Escalation in Victoria runs school → regional office → the Independent Office for School Dispute Resolution. S4 In Queensland the principal writes to the parent, and complaints run through the department's customer complaints process. S7, S8
Two published clocks, differing by a factor of three.
No other jurisdiction we read publishes a decision clock. Do not imply a national norm.
The argument underneath most refusals
Providers usually read this as hostility. It is a jurisdictional line, and the departments draw it the same way. Victoria: the NDIS does not "replace or duplicate the responsibilities of the education system [or] fund therapy for the purpose of enabling a student to access their education." S1 Queensland: "In Queensland, these supports are not provided for educational purposes." S8
The counterweight worth knowing
"Schools remain responsible for providing 'reasonable adjustments' to ensure that students with disability can access education on the same basis as their peers [and] schools are legally obliged to provide these reasonable adjustments, regardless of whether a student is also receiving NDIS support." S1
A refusal to host your session does not discharge the school's own duty to the student. That is a more useful thing to raise with a family than a grievance.
Access can also be withdrawn after it is granted
Queensland and Tasmania publish near-identical termination grounds, including one that surprises providers: staff turnover. Queensland lists "high turnover of NDIS providers or their staff delivering a support to a student resulting in unreliable service provision or administrative burden on the school" S8; Tasmania words it almost identically. S6 If you rotate clinicians through a school placement, that is a documented ground for ending the arrangement.
Observation is a different, easier ask
VIC — generally accommodated, with privacy conditions
Victoria treats a request to observe a student in class or attend a Student Support Group meeting separately, and says such requests "can generally be accommodated by schools" — with conditions: observe only the particular child and with parental consent, make written notes focusing solely on that child, and make no audio or video recordings of the class. S1
TAS — outside the policy entirely
"This document does not cover allowing third party providers, including NDIS providers, to observe a student in classrooms." S6
QLD — also outside the policy
"The policy and procedure do not relate to requests to observe students in classrooms." S8
So "can I observe?" and "can I treat?" are different questions — and in Tasmania and Queensland the NDIS policy does not answer the first one at all.
Both published clocks, the documented-reasons requirement and the escalation ladder are on the one-pager — send me the eight-state sheet.
Every state's gate on one sheet
The four-column comparison, printed to keep beside the phone.
The four-column comparison, the two contradictions, and the jurisdictions nobody has published.
- 01 Who may make the request, per jurisdiction — and the two states that disagree
- 02 Professional indemnity and public liability minimums, with the blanks left blank
- 03 The signed instrument each department requires, and who signs it
…and 8 more, including the two published decision clocks and the jurisdictions we could not establish.
Get the one-pager