School Facilities: Queensland

The Community Use of School Facilities resource is designed to support access to school facilities by community groups and activities.

Information about Department of Education schools in Queensland

General Policy

At the time of this research, there were no documents available on the Department of Queensland’s website.

Key messages

  • Principals can permit community groups to have formalised access to school facilities e.g. sporting facilities, ICT resources and halls through a licensed arrangement.
  • Principals must be aware that fees and charges are only intended to cover outgoings with a small contribution for maintenance and capital. Local operators of businesses must not feel disadvantaged by these business transactions.
  • School buildings can also be used for elections, during emergency situations and by Qld Health for vaccinations.

Principal responsibilities

  • Screen prospective users (especially commercial licensees) of school facilities to ensure proposed use will align with community and Department values - possible need for client to be Blue Card holder also needs to be checked.
  • Ensure that prospective users (licensees) hold public liability insurance to the required amount.
  • Use the National Competition Policy to guide the setting of fees and charges.

BER Halls

For specific information about using facilities built under the Building the Education Revolution (BER) program, click here.  To find out whether a primary school near you has a BER hall, click here for a list of Primary Schools for the 21st Century projects in Queensland.

Insurance

Public liability insurance of not less than ten million dollars per occurrence is required.

Restrictions

The person named in the agreement must comply with all relevant laws and the requirements of any statutory authority while using the premises.

Fees and Charges

There is a formula for the principal to set the charges.

A = B x C/D

“A” = yearly fee payable during the year of the term under review

“B” = fee payable during the year of the term immediately preceding the year of the term under review.

“C” = index number released for the consumer price index Brisbane for the last quarter immediately preceding the first day of the licence year under review.

“D” = index number released for the consumer price index Brisbane for the last quarter immediately preceding the first day of the licence year last concluded.

In no event will the annual sum payable be less than that paid in the year immediately preceding.

Child Protection

All persons under the agreement must have a “blue card” issued by the Commission for Children and Young People and Child Guardian, which indicates that a person is eligible to work with children and young people in Queensland.

More Information

Further information about community use of school facilities and associated policies is not publicly available from Education Queensland, unlike most other states. In the interests of knowing what you can ask for when contacting the department, we understand that Education Queensland has a resources and policy documents for "Hire and Community Use of School Facilities", "Community Use of Schools", and various documents relating to Joint Development Agreements.  

< Community Use of School Facilities

Music-Count-Us-InMiCN Logo 35kbThis is part of the School-Community Links Project, an initiative of the Music in Communities Network and Music: Count Us In.