School Saving Bonus
School Saving Bonus 2025
Information for government school parents and carers
About the School Saving Bonus (SSB)
The Victorian Government is providing 2025 families with a one-off $400 School Saving Bonus.
This support will help cover the cost of school uniforms, textbooks and school activities like camps, excursions, music and sports.
The School Saving Bonus is in addition to existing and continuing means-tested supports for Camps, Sports and Excursions Fund (CSEF) and the Affordable School Uniforms Program.
The School Saving Bonus will be provided to schools and families in Term 4, 2024.
Who receives the School Saving Bonus?
The School Saving Bonus is available for parents and carers of ALL Victorian government school students from Prep to Year 12 in 2025, except for full-fee international students, home schooled students, TAFE students and students attending kindergarten in 2025.
SEPTEMBER Actions for parents and carers
Parents and carers of children who meet the School Saving Bonus eligibility above are required to do the following by Friday 20th September 2024:
- Complete enrolment
If your child, or children are changing government schools for Term 1 2025, or starting Prep or Year 7 in 2025, please complete all enrolment steps.
- Check your contact information
It is critical that Ballarat High School has your correct email address and phone number.
The Department of Education will be providing parents access to the SSB portal via email.
All Primary Family Adult A contacts of students in Years 7-11, received an email from Ballarat High School on Friday 6th September 2024 testing the system and seeking your feedback of any required changes.
If you are listed as an Alternate family member or Adult B or only have a child in Year 12, you did not receive this test email.
Please note: only 1 parent email address per student will be utilised for SSB.
Accessing the $400 School Saving Bonus
You do not need to apply for the School Saving Bonus.
The Department of Education will email you in November 2024 with your $400 School Saving Bonus. You will be able to access it via an online system.
You can decide how to best use the School Saving Bonus for your family's needs. You can choose how to allocate the $400 in the online system.
The bonus can be used towards 2025 school costs, which may include:
- BHS camps and excursions
- BHS sporting programs
- BHS music programs
- school uniforms (BHS supplier PSW only)
- textbooks (BHS supplier Campion Education only)
Any amount that you choose to allocate to textbooks and uniforms will be valid until 30th June 2025. Remaining funds will then transfer to your child’s BHS school account for future activities.
Funds will roll over for use in future years if it is not all spent in 2025.
Families with more than one eligible child
Families who have more than one child at the same school can combine their School Saving Bonus payments to use on one child, or for a specific activity. So, for example, a family with 3 children who are all government school students would receive support to the value of $1,200 and choose how they spend those funds. The School Saving Bonus cannot be combined across different schools.
More information
To learn more about the School Saving Bonus visit vic.gov.au/school-saving-bonus. Translated information will also be available on the School Saving Bonus website in the next few weeks.