1.1.S.27 Senior secondary school child (FTB)

Summary

This topic defines what is a senior secondary school child for FTB purposes, and covers the following:

• definition
• completion day
• child again becomes a senior secondary school child.

Definition: senior secondary school child

An FTB child aged 16 to 19 years (up to the end of the calendar year in which they turn 19) is a senior secondary school child if the child is either:

• undertaking full-time study in an approved course of education or study that would, in the Secretary's opinion, assist or allow the child to complete the final year of secondary school or an equivalent level of education
• studying overseas full-time in an approved foreign course of education or study that would assist or allow the child to complete a level of education that is broadly equivalent to an Australian secondary qualification, or
• exempt from the full-time study requirement for secondary school children (2.1.1.11).

Note: For the purposes of FTB Part B and MBA, a child is a senior secondary school child only up to the end of the calendar year the child turns 18.

'Secondary school' means a school, TAFE college, or any other educational institution, which provides full-time secondary education. A secondary school also includes a school that caters for the needs of children with learning difficulties and provides a form of education that is accepted as a secondary course. A secondary school may also include a registered educational institution in a foreign country.

Completion day

When an FTB child completes the final year of secondary school or an equivalent level of education, the child is no longer a senior secondary school child. However, the exception to this rule is where a child completes the final year of secondary school or equivalent and returns to repeat the same approved full-time secondary course of education or study at any time in the first term after the end of their last study period. In this situation the child does not cease to be a senior secondary school child (see also 'Child again becomes a senior secondary school child' below).

An FTB child who is completing their final year of study is taken to be a senior secondary school child until:

• 31 December of that year - if the completion day of the secondary school or equivalent level of education is in November or December, or
• the end of the period of 28 days beginning on the day after the completion day - if the completion day is before November.

The completion day for the final year of secondary school or an equivalent level of education is worked out in accordance with the following table:

Child again becomes a senior secondary school child

A child who ceased being a senior secondary school child because they attained their year 12 or equivalent qualification, may again become a senior secondary school child if:

• the child is aged 16 to 19 and the calendar year in which the child turns 19 has not ended, and
• the child repeats the final year of the same approved full-time secondary course of education or study that would, in the Secretary's opinion, assist or allow the child to complete the final year of secondary school or an equivalent level of education and the child goes back to school after the end of the first term following the end of their last study period.