Creating a Community Language School
Our step-by-step guide will help you set up a Community Language School in your area, from gathering students to setting up the school structure.
Planning a Community Language School
This is a big and wonderful step that can enrich many lives. It is also a lot of work and requires careful planning.
People often say, “It takes a village to raise a child.” In a similar way, it takes a community to run a Community Language School (CLS). I recommend gathering at least three people who share the vision for establishing a CLS and are willing to share the workload.
Below, you can start with 5 Foundational Steps to help you get started. Following these steps will help you build strong foundations for your school.
After the 5 Foundational Steps, you can read about registering your Community Language School. Many organisations register with the NSW Community Languages Schools Program to receive funding and support. To join the program, you need to submit an Expression of Interest (EOI) before 10 March each year. You will need to provide supporting documentation as part of the EOI, and the steps below will help you prepare these documents.
At the bottom of this page, you will also find information about running an Incorporated Association, including your yearly reporting requirements for NSW Fair Trading.
5 foundational Steps
Do you have enough students?
To register with the Department of Education's Community Languages Schools Program, if you are in the Greater Sydney area, you will need to have at least 20 students who are attending 70% of classes in Term One of the school year. If you are in a regional area they will consider funding a smaller school (talk to Kara about this).
Find a venue for your school
Where will you hold your classes? It has to be somewhere that is safe and suitable. You might start in a community hall or ask your local public school if they will host your community language school (CLS).
Hosting a CLS, or not, is completely up to the government school principal - they are not obliged to host. You might need to ask lots of schools if they will host you before you find one that says "yes".
Please note: To join the Schools which are teaching the same language cannot operate within 2km of each other.
Until your CLS is registered, you are technically not entitled to free use, so you may need to pay a host school until your application for an Establishment Grant is approved.
If a public school agrees to host your CLS, you will be required to sign a Community Use Agreement. This is a contract between your organisation and the host school, so it is important that you familiarise yourself with the Terms of this contract - have a look at one here.
Who will teach?
Who will teach the classes? You do not need to have a trained language teacher (although this would be great), you just need someone with a passion for sharing your language who is willing to prepare lessons with care and to learn about teaching language.
Hunter Community Languages offers lots of courses (free) about teaching languages and planning what to teach, and teachers can watch them in their language. See our Teaching Courses page.
Plan for your organisation's responsibilities
Operating a CLS is a big responsibility. Your organisation will be legally responsible for the safety of the children in your care. You will need policies and procedures to show that you take this seriously and do everything you can to keep the children safe.
You can begin to plan how you will be a child safe organisation by working through the Hunter Community Languages Management Courses: Create a Child Safe Policy; a Workers' Code of Conduct; a Risk Management Policy.
Your organisation will also be responsible for managing finances. If you get grant funding, you will need acquit the grant at the end of the funding period and show that you spent the money on things that you are allowed to spend that grant's money on. You need to be aware of the Terms and Conditions of the grant before you sign the legal document that is the Grant Agreement. Hunter Community Languages also offers courses on managing your income and expenditure and acquitting your grant. See our Management Courses.
Plan your teaching
Planning what students will learn is extremely important. Think of it like planning a holiday - if you plan where you will go and how you will get there you are much more likely to use your time well and include the most important things.
If you register to join the Community Languages Schools Program, you will need to provide a Teaching Program for your first year of classes.
Hunter Community Languages offers free courses to help teachers with their planning. All of our teachers' courses were created especially for CLS teachers. The planning courses include templates. And remember, you can watch them in your language.
Teaching resources are also very important. There are several ways to find resources for teaching your language:
- Ask others who are already teaching your language in NSW - you can look for schools that teach your language here.
- Produce your own materials
- The Sydney Institute for Community Languages Education (SICLE) portal houses resources in various languages that other teachers have shared - openlanguage.org.au
Register a NSW Community Language School
The NSW Government, through the Department of Education (DoE), provides funding for community language schools that meet the requirements of the Community Languages Schools Program (CLSP).
At any time during the year, you can submit an Expression of Interest (EOI) through the Department of Education Portal to begin the process of registering your CLS and applying for funding.
However, funding applications are only accepted once each year. To apply for registration and funding for that year, your EOI must be accepted by the Department before 10 March. Once your EOI has been approved, you can then apply for an Establishment Grant before the end of Term 1.
To complete the EOI, you will need to provide the following documents:
- Your organisation’s constitution
(This must state that one of the organisation’s objects is to teach your heritage language and culture to children and young people in your community.) - Certificate of Incorporation from NSW Fair Trading
- ABN & GST registration
- Public Liability Insurance Certificate of Currency
- Workers Compensation Insurance Certificate of Currency
OR, if you do not need this insurance for your workers, an exemption letter from a lawyer or accountant, or a Statutory Declaration - Your organisation’s bank details on organisation letterhead
(You cannot use a personal bank account. The account must be in the organisation’s name.) - A Teaching Program
More details on some of these are below.
Please read the Terms and Conditions Guidebook:
more details on EOI documents
Becoming incorporated
You must set up an incorporated association before you can register with and be funded by the NSW Community Languages Schools Program (CLSP).
Under the terms and conditions of the CLSP, your incorporated association must be able to demonstrate close links with a community whose first/heritage language is a language other than English.
You can read more at NSW Fair Trading: Setting up your incorporated association.
Your first meeting will be the Annual General Meeting (AGM), when the committee members are voted in. The minutes (a transcript of the meeting) of this meeting are often needed for opening a bank account.
Minutes have to be written in English.
The on-going governance of your incorporated association is a big responsibility. Learn more about Governance here.
Getting an ABN number & registering for GST
Your Community Language School needs to have their own Australian Business Number (ABN). To apply for an ABN visit the Australian Business Register.
To apply for a CLSP grant, the DoE requires that you are registered for GST.
You can register for GST in your ABN application.
Opening a bank account for your school
Open up a bank account for your non-profitable organisation. To open a bank account you will need the minutes of your Annual General Meeting.
The Committee members who will be signatories have to go and meet at the bank together with their identification papers. Please ask your bank for further details about what is needed.
Organising your public liability and volunteers' accident insurance
Your Community Language School needs to have Public Liability Insurance and insurance for your volunteers.
Members of Hunter Community Languages are able to purchase their Public Liability Insurance and Volunteers Insurance at a much reduced cost. Contact us for more information.
Planning your financial management
If you are successful in your application for funding and you receive a grant, in the year following the grant payment you will need to acquit the grant. This means you fill in a grant acquittal form and tell the DoE how you spent the money. You must spend all of the money in the year that it is give to you, according to the terms and conditions of the grant, or you will be required to give the money back.
It is important that you plan and track your income and expenditure, this will make the grant acquittal much easier. You can learn how to do this in our Financial Management Courses, available in multiple languages.
Your CLS Team
Running a Community Language School (CLS) is community work. A CLS is not a one-person business. It is usually a not-for-profit incorporated association run by a team of people who share responsibility for supporting the school and community.
A strong CLS team often includes people helping with teaching, administration, enrolments, communication, finance, events, and supporting families and teachers. Sharing the workload helps schools grow in healthy and sustainable ways.
As an incorporated association, your organisation also has legal responsibilities. Your committee must act transparently, manage finances carefully, and report to members about how the organisation is run.
About running an incorporated Association (NFP) in NSW
Your Committee, Constitution and Members
Your association must have:Every incorporated association must have a management committee. At least 3 committee members must live in Australia and all committee members must be over 18 years old.Your organisation must also appoint a Public Officer who lives in NSW and is over 18 years old. The Public Officer is the main contact person for NSW Fair Trading.Your association must operate under a constitution. This is a legal document that explains:
- the objects of the organisation
- who can become a member
- how meetings and voting work
- how committee members are elected
- how decisions are made
- how finances are managed
- committee members
- current members
- a management committee
- members
- a constitution (rules)
- regular meetings
- financial reporting to members
Good governance helps create a healthy and sustainable school community.
Your Yearly Fair Trading Reporting Responsibilities
Every year, your association must hold an Annual General Meeting (AGM) within 6 months of the end of your association’s financial year. Your financial year is stated in your constitution.
At the AGM, the committee presents financial reports to members and members elect committee members and vote on important decisions.
Within one month after the AGM, your association must lodge annual financial reporting documents with NSW Fair Trading.
Most Community Language Schools are Tier 2 Associations. This generally means:
- gross receipts under $500,000, and
- current assets under $1,000,000
Tier 2 Associations must lodge:
- an A12-T2 Annual Summary, and
- the financial statements presented at the AGM
You can access the form here:
courses
What can we help you achieve?
Join Hunter Community Languages and be a part of our community. We provide access to coaching and skills-building to help plan, manage and grow your Community Language School.
