General News
Camps, Sports and Excursions Fund (CSEF)
Submitting an application
The Camps, Sports and Excursions Fund (CSEF) system is open for schools to enter applications from 29 January 2024. Parents/carers wishing to apply for CSEF payments for 2024 must submit their application form to the relevant school prior to the end of Term 2.
However, a parent/carer will only be required to submit an application form to the school in the following circumstances:
- the parent/carer is applying for the CSEF payment for the first time – i.e. an application form was not lodged with the school in the previous year, or
- circumstances have changed – for example, there has been a change in the care arrangement of the student, a change of name or CRN, or a new sibling has started at the school and the parent/carer wishes to apply for the CSEF payment for the new sibling also.
Where a parent/carer is not required to submit a new application, schools can rollover/copy the previous year’s application on the CSEF system to the current school year.
Schools must retain application forms for a minimum of 7 years.
CSEF applications may be audited by the department.
Application forms
Schools are able to accept and process applications up until Thursday 27 June.
For more information go to https://www2.education.vic.gov.au/pal/camps-sports-and-excursions-fund/guidance/submitting-application
Child Safe Standards
The Child Safe Standards were introduced in response to the recommendations from the Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry into the handling of Child Abuse by Religious and other Non-Government Organisations. The Child Safe Standards began in Victoria in 2016, and all schools and organisations are required to meet the standards to ensure that safe environments are provided for children and young people. Changes were made to the Standards to strengthen them, and schools/organisations had until July 1 2022 to comply with the new standards.
There are eleven new Child Safe Standards:
Child Safe Standard 1 – Organisations establish a culturally safe environment in which the diverse and unique identities and experiences of Aboriginal children and young people are respected and valued.
Child Safe Standard 2 – Child safety and wellbeing is embedded in organisational leadership, governance and culture.
Child Safe Standard 3 – Children and young people are empowered about their rights, participate in decisions affecting them and are taken seriously.
Child Safe Standard 4 – Families and communities are informed and involved in promoting child safety.
Child Safe Standard 5 – Equity is upheld, and diverse needs respected in policy and practice.
Child Safe Standard 6 – People working with children and young people are suitable and supported to reflect child safety and wellbeing values in practice.
Child Safe Standard 7 – Processes for complaints and concerns are child-focused.
Child Safe Standard 8 – Staff and volunteers are equipped with the knowledge, skills and awareness to keep children and young people safe through ongoing education and training.
Child Safe Standard 9 – Physical and online environments promote safety and wellbeing while minimising the opportunity for children and young people to be harmed.
Child Safe Standard 10 – Implementation of the Child Safe Standards is regularly reviewed and improved.
Child Safe Standard 11 – Policies and procedures document how the organisation is safe for children and young people.
Ministerial Order 1359 provides the framework for child safety in schools.
The new standards recognise the critical importance of families and the broader school community in maintaining and promoting child safety and wellbeing.
We have reviewed and updated our child safety policies and procedures to ensure they meet the requirements of the new standards. The policies have been presented to the school council and can be found here.
The Wellbeing Team at Nossal which consists of the tutorial teachers, Heads of House, Mental Health Practitioner, Youth Worker, counsellors or the Assistant Principal Wellbeing at Fiona.DeZylva@nossalhs.vic.edu.au These matters can be reported to any trusted adult.
There are a number of ways a student can seek help:
- Talk to their Tutorial teacher or a trusted adult.
- Talk to their Head of House
- Use the "Report a Concern" function on the Nossal Staff and Students Team
- Consult a School Counsellor.
External resources that might be useful incl
We are committed to continuous improvement in our approach to child safety and wellbeing and welcome feedback from families and members of our school community on ways we can further strengthen our child safety policies, procedures and practices. Please do not hesitate to email the school nossal.hs@education.vic.gov.au for further information.
Keep up to date with Nossal
Are you following our social media channels?
While we post notifications on Compass, send home emails and/or text messages when important events and information need to be shared with our families and community, and keep you informed about what has happened with our fortnightly newsletter, Nossal also has a number of social media pages which we use for reminders and also to share exciting news.
If you don't already follow us though one of these, please consider joining or liking our pages and get all the reminders and news we share on social media!
Follow us at:
Did you know?
Did you know our newsletter can now be translated into a number of different languages? This is a relatively new feature of the software program we use and can be turned on or off using the language selector in the lower left corner of each page.