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Trauma support and NCCD inclusion

A student can need serious trauma-informed support and still need a separate NCCD inclusion decision.

The national NCCD Guidelines are the source of truth. They say students affected by trauma should only be included in the NCCD when they have a disability under the Disability Discrimination Act and meet the other NCCD inclusion criteria.

Start with the national rule​

Use the NCCD Guidelines: Effective 2026 Onward first.

The relevant sections are:

  • B.3 Which students must be counted? A student must have a diagnosed or imputed disability, receive adjustments because of the functional impact of that disability, and have evidence of those adjustments for the required period.
  • C.4.2 Imputing disability. If the school imputes disability, the decision must be based on reasonable grounds and evidence. The evidence must relate to disability, not only to other circumstances around the student.
  • C.4.3 Students affected by trauma. Trauma can have serious effects, but trauma itself is not the NCCD decision. The student still needs to meet the disability and inclusion criteria.
  • C.5.1 Recording evidence. Schools need records across assessed need, consultation, adjustments, monitoring and review, and the disability decision.

That means a trauma history, attendance concern, family disruption, re-engagement need, or wellbeing concern can be important school context without automatically becoming an NCCD inclusion.

Why state guidance appears in a national program​

The NCCD is national. State and territory governments still appear in the process because they are approved authorities for their own government schools.

For clarity:

  • Government schools, often called state schools or public schools, usually receive local NCCD process instructions from their state or territory education department.
  • In Victoria, that includes guidance about CASES21 data entry and Victorian timelines for Victorian government schools.
  • That state guidance is not a separate national rule. It is local operating guidance for the schools that report through that approved authority.

Independent schools are different. A standalone independent school, or the body approved for that school, is usually the approved authority for Commonwealth school funding and reporting. Non-government schools submit NCCD information as part of the Non-Government Schools Census through SchoolsHUB, unless they are part of an approved system or other arrangement that sets an internal collection process.

If you are unsure which pathway applies, ask: who is the approved authority for this school?

What this means inside Junipa​

Use Junipa to keep two ideas separate:

  1. Support record: what the school is doing for the student.
  2. NCCD reporting decision: whether the student meets the criteria to be counted.

A student can have case notes, plans, behaviour support, wellbeing records, medical conditions, consultations, and evidence in Junipa without being counted in NCCD yet. That can be correct.

The review question is not "has anyone helped this student?" The better question is:

Is the support being provided because of disability, and is the evidence strong enough to support NCCD inclusion?

Use Medical Conditions before writing disability-specific adjustments​

When the support relates to a disability, record the student's Medical Conditions and use the Adjustment Library while building the plan.

Medical Conditions help staff write from a shared understanding of the student's condition. The Adjustment Library can then show condition-specific definitions, presentations, and suggested adjustments while staff build the student plan.

Use this when a school needs to connect:

  • the diagnosed or imputed condition
  • the way the condition presents for the student
  • the adjustment being provided
  • the evidence showing the adjustment happened
  • the review of whether the adjustment helped

For the product steps, see Using the Adjustment Library in a plan.

A practical review pattern​

Use this pattern when reviewing trauma, wellbeing, mental health, or re-engagement records before NCCD sign-off.

  1. Open the student record.
  2. Check whether a relevant medical condition, diagnosis, or imputed disability decision is recorded.
  3. Review the plan, case notes, and evidence entries.
  4. Confirm whether the adjustments are for disability-related functional impact.
  5. Check consultation records with the student, parent, guardian, carer, or associate where applicable.
  6. If the student should be counted, confirm the adjustment level and disability category.
  7. If the student should not be counted, keep the support record but leave the NCCD decision clear.

The important thing is not to delete support records just because the student is not NCCD-included. Those records still matter for school support. They just need a deliberate reporting decision beside them.

Words to use with staff​

Use plain language when following up:

  • "This student has support activity. Can we confirm whether it is disability-related for NCCD?"
  • "Do we have evidence of the adjustment, not just evidence of the student's circumstances?"
  • "If this is a medical or mental health condition, has it been recorded clearly enough for the plan and adjustment library to use?"
  • "If this support is for trauma or re-engagement but not disability, can we record that decision clearly?"

For broader pre-census review work, see Find NCCD gaps and the NCCD Guidelines page.

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