Everyone in our school community deserves to be respected, valued and treated equally. Discrimination or abuse based on religion or race is not tolerated in our school communities.
Report discrimination or abuse to your school
If your child has been the target of, or has witnessed, religious or racial discrimination or abuse, we encourage you to report it to your school. They will make sure appropriate action and support is provided.
You can also make a
formal complaint about the incident to the school.
Report the incident on the Report racism hotline
If you are not comfortable reporting the incident to the school, or you are not happy with their response you can contact our Report racism hotline.
In an emergency, contact Victoria Police on 000. If your concern is non-urgent but you would like to contact the police, call 131 444.
If you would prefer to write to the Department's Report Racism Line, you can contact us via email at
report.racism@education.vic.gov.au.
If you require translation services, you can make a complaint using the National Translating and Interpreting Service by calling 131 450.
Get telephone counselling and support through Parentline
You can also contact Parentline if you would like to seek counselling and support from a qualified counsellor who is independent from the Department of Education and Training.
Parentline is a confidential and anonymous phone service for parents and carers of children from birth to 18 years old.
Counsellors are available to talk about a wide variety of parenting issues, including discrimination or abuse at school. Visit Parentline for further information.
Relevant policies
These policies may help describe how we can resolve your issue:
Information about bullying
Bully Stoppers is our resource for Victorian parents, students and school staff to work together to help put a stop to bullying.
Bully Stoppers includes a section on
racist bullying to help schools understand, prevent and respond to this type of bullying
Bullying. NoWay! is the joint Australian Education Authorities website.
National Safe Schools Framework is a set of nationally agreed principles for safe and supportive school environments.
Koorie students can get extra support from VAEAI.
Safe Schools is a Department of Education and Training program that ensures schools are safe places for all students, including lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) students, and are free of discrimination.
Courage to Care offers mobile exhibitions and education programs that explore racism, discrimination and bullying. The programs are available to all Victorian schools.
VEOHRC can provide information regarding discrimination in education.
Foundation House provides professional learning workshops, advice and resources to support schools in their work with students from refugee backgrounds
Schools Standing Up To Racism this suite of online resources has been developed by the Centre for Multicultural Youth (CMY) to support schools to address racism and strengthen inclusion