Step 5 of 5 · If they say no
The principal said no. Where does the route go 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.
Start here, because arguing the wrong thing costs you the relationship
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.
S1 · Victoria, policy updated 8 July 2025
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 · Victoria, policy updated 8 July 2025
Recommended, not required. Victoria leans your way and stops short of obliging anyone. If someone has told you Victoria requires principals to approve, they are wrong, and running that argument at a principal will cost you the relationship and the placement. [S1]
The fork
What the policies do still require
Victoria — no blanket ban
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 · Victoria, key considerations, updated 8 July 2025
“The school doesn't do NDIS therapy” is not a Victorian school policy that the department's own guidance permits. Each request is decided on its merits. [S2]
Tasmania — a meeting
the parent/carer or NDIS provider can request a meeting with the Principal to discuss the decision
S6 · policy v1.0, 12 May 2023
Note who is named. In Tasmania the provider can ask for that meeting directly, not only the family. [S6]
Victoria — a ladder
School, then the department's regional office, then the Independent Office for School Dispute Resolution as the final step. [S4] Queensland routes concerns through the department's customer complaints process. [S7, S8]
The jurisdictional line
The argument sitting underneath most refusals
Providers usually read a refusal as hostility. It is a jurisdictional line, and the departments draw it the same way in both states that spell it out.
the NDIS does not: replace or duplicate the responsibilities of the education system, fund therapy for the purpose of enabling a student to access their education.
S1 · Victoria, policy updated 8 July 2025
In Queensland, these supports are not provided for educational purposes.
S8 · Queensland, provider fact sheet
The counterweight that survives the refusal
schools remain responsible for providing 'reasonable adjustments' to ensure that students with disability can access education on the same basis as their peers, schools are legally obliged to provide these reasonable adjustments, regardless of whether a student is also receiving NDIS support.
S1 · Victoria, policy updated 8 July 2025
Refusing to host your session does not discharge the school's own duty to that student. That is a far more useful thing to put in front of a family than a grievance, and it keeps you on the same side of the table as the school. [S1]
The branch that surprises people: access can be withdrawn after it is granted
High turnover of NDIS providers or their staff delivering support to a student, resulting in unreliable service provision or administrative burden on the school.
S6 · Tasmania, policy v1.0, 12 May 2023
That is a listed ground for ending an arrangement that already exists, and Queensland publishes near-identical grounds. [S6, S8] If you rotate clinicians through a school placement to fill the roster, you are operating against a documented termination ground. For a growing practice this is a staffing-model fact, not a footnote.
A different, easier ask that people conflate with this one
These requests can generally be accommodated by schools and complement holistic student planning and support processes.
S1 · Victoria, policy updated 8 July 2025
That is Victoria on requests to observe a student in class or attend a Student Support Group meeting, with privacy conditions attached: only that child, with consent, no recordings. [S1]
This document does not cover allowing third party providers, including NDIS providers, to observe a student in classrooms.
S6 · Tasmania, policy v1.0, 12 May 2023
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. If the treating request is refused, the observation request has not been. [S1, S6, S8]
For the call you make after
The refusal page of the sheet has the clocks, the documented-reasons requirement and the reasonable-adjustments counterweight in one place, for the call you make afterwards. Send me every state's gate on one sheet.
The one-pager
Every state's gate on one sheet
The four questions that actually differ, the fork where Queensland and Western Australia contradict each other, and the two jurisdictions nobody has published. Printed to keep beside the phone.
- 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 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