Ballarat Grammar School joins National Redress Scheme

Announced earlier this week, the Anglican school will now be fully available to survivors of sexual abuse to pursue compensation through the scheme.

This includes all the school's former names and institutions.

READ MORE: Ballarat Diocese abuse victim receives multi-million-dollar payout from Catholic Church

Headmaster Adam Heath said the school chose to sign up independent from the Anglican diocese to stay as close as possible to the process.

"We've got a clear approach to working with anyone who has been harmed, and we wanted that to translate that through as much possible to the National Redress Scheme," he said.

"It's incredibly important that survivors have as many different options for them - the important thing is that they're able to find an avenue that works."

Mr Heath added it had taken about nine months for the school to fully join up, as people required additional training and there is a wait list for some courses.

The $3.8 billion scheme also includes the Ballarat Anglican and Catholic dioceses, all state and Commonwealth institutions including schools, and organisations such as the Scouts and YMCA.

A postcode search for 3350 on the 'participating institutions' page on the Redress Scheme website returns 143 results.

Organisations have until June 30 2020 to sign up.

There has been some criticism of the scheme, which survivors and lawyers say requires onerous amounts of paperwork and includes caps on payments.

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