Who is responsible for what
School education is one of the mainstream systems the NDIS cannot replace. The NDIA lists school education among the areas where supports are not NDIS supports because the education system is responsible. It will not fund those supports even if the school does not provide them.
Schools have their own legal duty under disability discrimination law, including the Disability Standards for Education, to make reasonable adjustments so your child can take part in learning on the same basis as other students.
What the school is responsible for
- Teaching and the curriculum, including adjusting how it is taught
- Learning support and teachers' aides for learning
- Reasonable adjustments, such as modified assessments, accessible classrooms and equipment used for learning
- Supporting your child's participation in school activities, camps and excursions
- School fees, uniforms, tutoring and educational equipment
What the NDIS can fund
The NDIS funds reasonable and necessary supports for the impact of your child's disability on daily life. For school aged children that can include:
- Therapy such as occupational therapy, speech pathology, physiotherapy or psychology that builds everyday skills, usually at home, in a clinic or in the community
- Assistive technology your child uses across their whole life, such as a wheelchair or communication device that also goes to school
- Support workers before or after school, or in the holidays, to build independence and community participation
- Specialised transport to and from school, as a quoted item in the plan, where your child cannot travel the usual way because of their disability
- Personal care at school in some cases, which in some states is delivered as an in kind support by the state government
- Support to plan the move from school to work or further study
Transport and personal care at school
These two are where the lines are blurriest. Where the NDIA funds student transport or personal care at school as in kind supports, you need to use the state or territory government provider for them. Arrangements differ between states, so ask your school, your local area coordinator or the NDIA how it works where you live.
Remember that families are expected to provide what any parent would for a child of the same age. For example, the NDIA treats driving a child to after school activities as something parents usually do.
NDIS therapists at school
Some schools and education departments allow NDIS funded therapists to visit and work with a student during the school day, for example to practise skills in the classroom or train staff in a strategy. It depends on the school's policy and needs the principal's agreement. The session is still paid from your NDIS plan, and it should focus on your child's NDIS goals rather than on teaching.
Before booking, check that the therapist and the school are both comfortable, agree on the time and place, and make sure the service agreement says where sessions happen.
Getting school and NDIS working together
- Share relevant therapy reports with the school, with your consent, so strategies line up
- Ask for a meeting with the school's learning support team to agree adjustments, and keep a written record
- Include school related goals in your child's NDIS plan, such as getting dressed for school or communicating with classmates
- For children 8 and under with developmental delay or autism, ask about Thriving Kids, which began rolling out from 1 October 2026 outside the NDIS