Posted on 09 Apr 2026

School Negligence Claims in QLD: How Families Can Seek Compensation

Am I eligible for a school negligence claim?

You may be able to make a school negligence claim if your child was injured while under the school’s care or in circumstances linked to its responsibility.

A school’s duty of care isn’t limited to the classroom or school hours. It can extend to situations where the school still has supervision or control, such as excursions, travel to and from nearby bus stops, or other school-related activities. It may also apply if your child experienced bullying that the school was aware of but failed to properly address.

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Quick reference: School negligence law in QLD

Source/ case	Key legal principle	What it means for your claim
Civil Liability Act 2003 (QLD)	The general principles (section 9)	To prove negligence, you must show the risk was ‘foreseeable’ and ‘not insignificant’. The court then weighs the probability of harm against the burden of the school taking precautions.
AA v The Trustees [2026] HCA	Liability for intentional harm	A landmark 2026 ruling. Schools are now held to a ‘non-delegable duty’ for intentional harm (like assault) by staff. If the school gave the staff member power or control over the student, the school is directly liable for their actions.
BYM v Brisbane Catholic Education [2026] QCA	The scope of vicarious liability	This 2026 QLD case clarifies that for a school to be liable for a staff member's actions, there must be a strong connection between their specific job role and the incident — mere employment isn't always enough.
Personal Injuries Proceedings Act 2002 (QLD)	Pre-court procedures	QLD requires a strict Notice of Claim within nine months of the injury (or one month of seeing a lawyer). Failing this can significantly delay or jeopardise your right to sue.
Child Safe Organisations Act 2024 (QLD)	Child safe standards	As of October 2025, QLD schools must comply with new mandatory standards. Failure to have robust ‘reportable conduct’ systems can now be used as evidence that a school breached its duty of care.

Examples of negligence in Queensland schools

Not every injury at school is negligence. To have a claim in Queensland, you generally need to show the risk of injury was foreseeable and that the school didn’t take reasonable steps to prevent it.

Some common situations where schools may be held responsible include:

Schools must adequately supervise students whenever they’re under their care. This isn’t limited to the classroom — it can include playgrounds, before and after school, excursions, and even nearby areas like bus stops where supervision is expected.

Schools need to keep their grounds and equipment safe. That means fixing known hazards, maintaining facilities, and making sure higher-risk equipment is only used under proper supervision.

Sport comes with some risk, but schools still need to take reasonable precautions. This includes using appropriate safety equipment, maintaining playing surfaces, and supervising students properly during games and training.

Schools are expected to properly plan and assess risks for off-site activities like camps, swimming programs, and excursions. If something goes wrong due to poor planning or supervision, they can be held liable.

If a school knows — or should know — that bullying or threats are happening and doesn’t take reasonable steps to stop it, they may be responsible for the harm that follows.

When a school is aware of a student’s medical condition or disability, it must take reasonable steps to manage those risks. This can include following care plans, providing extra supervision, or adjusting activities where needed.

Schools have an express duty to take all reasonable steps to prevent the physical or sexual abuse of a child by anyone associated with the school. In these cases, the school is presumed negligent unless it can prove it took every reasonable step to prevent the harm. There is no time limit for bringing a claim involving child sexual or serious physical abuse in Queensland.

These are just some of the examples we’ve helped parents claim for — so if your child’s situation isn’t listed, you may still have a claim.

How much compensation will I receive?

In Queensland, there is no standard amount of compensation for school negligence. While minor injuries might settle for between $10,000 – $50,000, serious cases involving life-altering harm have seen settlements exceeding $1.7 million.

Depending on your situation, your compensation may include:

Pain and suffering: This is a lump sum payment to reflect how the injury has impacted your child’s life. It’s assessed by a medical professional using an Injury Scale Value (ISV) on a scale from 0 to 100. To qualify for pain and suffering compensation, your child needs an ISV of at least 1. From 1 July 2025, the maximum amount available for an ISV of 100 is $484,100 under the Civil Liability Indexation Notice 2025 [PDF].
Medical expenses: Coverage for all reasonable and necessary costs, including surgeries, hospital stays, and ongoing psychiatric or psychological counselling.
Care and support: You can claim for professional help with daily tasks that the student can no longer perform. It’s also possible to get compensation for care provided by a family member or friend, so long as the care is provided for at least six hours per week and for a minimum of six consecutive months.
Future earning capacity: If a permanent injury prevents a student from working or limits them to lower-paying roles, the court calculates their projected lost income from age 18 through to retirement.
Educational support: Costs for tutors to help a child catch up on missed schooling, specialised learning programs, or equipment needed to assist their education.
Equipment and modifications: Funding for home or vehicle modifications, or mobility aids required due to a physical disability.
Travel costs: Reimbursement for fuel and parking for all medical and rehabilitation appointments.

How to prove a school negligence claim

To successfully prove a school negligence claim in Queensland, you must meet four specific criteria.

Requirements for proving QLD negligence claims

Criteria	Legal source	Key requirement
Duty of care	Common law	Prove a teacher-student relationship existed.
Breach	Section 9 (Civil Liability Act)	Show the risk was foreseeable, ‘not insignificant’, and that a reasonable school would have taken precautions.
Causation	Section 11 (Civil Liability Act)	Prove the school’s failure was a directly caused your child’s injury (the ‘but-for’ test).
Damage and loss	Civil Liability Act & Personal Injuries Proceedings Act	Provide medical evidence of a diagnosed physical or psychiatric injury and associated financial costs.

Schools in Queensland owe students a ‘non-delegable’ duty of care. This means the school authority is personally responsible for ensuring reasonable care is taken and cannot offload this liability to third-party contractors, like excursion providers or bus companies.

As of 2026, the High Court has further clarified that this duty is ‘special’ (AA v The Trustees). It requires the school and all its delegates (including staff, volunteers, or even priests in religious schools) to prevent foreseeable harm to students.

This duty isn’t limited to the 3:00 pm bell. It can extend to:

Transit times: If students are waiting at known bus stops or school-supervised pick-up zones.
Off-site activities: Camps, sporting events, and overseas trips.
New child safety standards: Under the Child Safe Organisations Act 2024 (QLD), as of October 2025, schools must comply with mandatory Child Safe Standards, including creating safe physical and online spaces and implementing policies and procedures that prioritise child safety. Failing to meet these standards can be used as evidence that the school breached its duty.

Under Section 9 of the Civil Liability Act, a school isn’t negligent just because an accident happened. You must prove the risk was ‘not insignificant’ and that a reasonable school would have acted to prevent it. The court looks at:

Probability: How likely was the harm?
Seriousness: How severe would the injury be?
Burden: Was there a low-cost, easy precaution the school skipped?
Social utility: Did the benefit of the activity (like a chemistry lab) justify the risk?

You must prove that the injury would not have happened ‘but for’ the school’s breach of duty of care. In other words, the school’s failure was a ‘necessary condition’ of your child’s injury (Section 11 of the CLA).

This means that if an injury was a freak accident that would have occurred even with a teacher standing right there, causation is very difficult to prove. The school’s lack of oversight must be a contributing factor to the outcome.

In Queensland, you must prove that your child suffered actual harm or loss, such as medical costs, pain and suffering, future economic loss, or a reduced quality of life.

To win a school negligence claim, you’ll need solid evidence that covers all four key elements — from the school’s own incident reports through to medical opinions. Every situation is different, so it’s worth having a free chat to see if your case meets the legal requirements.

Do time limits apply to school negligence claims?

Yes, time limits apply to all school negligence claims in Queensland. There are two different deadlines: the Notice of Claim deadline (to start the paperwork) and the statutory deadline (to protect your right to sue).

1. Notice of Claim deadline

Before you can even step into a court, the Personal Injuries Proceedings Act 2002 (PIPA) requires you to send a formal ‘Notice of Claim’ to the school or the Department of Education within either:

Nine months of the incident occurring.
One month of first consulting a lawyer about the claim.

If you miss these windows, you must provide a ‘reasonable excuse’ for the delay. While a delay doesn’t automatically end your case, it can make the process significantly more difficult.

2. The three-year limitation period

Under the Limitation of Actions Act 1974, adults generally have three years from the date of the injury to file a lawsuit on behalf of their child.

If the child is bringing the claim themselves, the three-year period starts when they turn 18. This means they have until their 21st birthday to start the claim.

No time limits for institutional child abuse

Following the Royal Commission, Queensland removed all time limits for claims involving intentional child abuse (physical or sexual) in an institutional setting. This means you can bring a claim for historical abuse decades after it happened.

What to do if your child is injured at school: Action checklist for parents

Task	Why it matters
Take your child to the GP	Creates a medical paper trail for your school negligence claim.
Get the school incident report	Ask for a copy of the report immediately, as this ensures the school cannot claim they were unaware of the risk. If you speak to the Principal or other staff member about the incident, follow up with an email summarising what was discussed.
Request CCTV immediately	Many QLD state schools only retain footage for 30 to 90 days (depending on the system) unless a ‘preservation request’ is made. Send a written request to the Principal to save the footage.
Keep a receipts folder	In Queensland, you can claim for everything from pharmacy bills to the cost of extra tutoring if your child falls behind, so it’s important to track every receipt.
Start a care diary	To claim for time spent caring for your injured child, you must meet the 6/6 requirement (six hours a week for six months). A written record will help confirm this for the court.
Monitor your child’s recovery process	Keep a diary of your child’s symptoms and recovery, especially if their injuries are ‘invisible’, like a psychological condition or concussion.
Consult a specialist lawyer	A lawyer can give you free advice about your rights in this situation. This is particularly important if you’ve already signed a waiver or the school has offered you a settlement. Accepting a small payment from the principal could mean giving up your right to claim a larger amount later.

When should I speak to a lawyer?

If your child has been injured at school, getting legal advice is the best way to understand where you stand. You don’t have to deal with the Department of Education or a private school board on your own.

Here are some of the ways a lawyer can make a genuine difference — and since we operate on a No Win, No Fee basis, you can get help with any of these situations for free.

Meeting all deadlines: Queensland has the strictest pre-court notice periods in Australia. Your lawyer will ensure you meet all time limits for your claim. And if you’re already outside the deadline, a lawyer can help draft a ‘reasonable excuse’ for the delay to ensure you don’t miss out on compensation.
Securing evidence: Schools often overwrite CCTV footage or misplace incident reports within a month or two. A lawyer can immediately issue a ‘preservation notice’ to ensure vital evidence is saved, even if the school is currently refusing to show it to you.
Maximising the ISV: A lawyer will ensure your child’s ISV accurately reflects the severity of their condition, so you get the maximum possible payout for pain and suffering. Your lawyer can also help you challenge an unfairly low ISV with second opinions from leading independent medical experts.
Assessing settlement offers: If a principal or insurer offers you a payment, do not sign anything until a lawyer reviews it. These offers often include a release clause that prevents you from suing the school for negligence in the future.
Calculating future loss: For children, the biggest part of a claim is often an estimate of their future lost wages. If a permanent injury changes their career path or educational potential, a lawyer will ensure these losses are fully accounted for in the settlement.
Getting mandatory court approval: In Queensland, a settlement for a minor cannot be finalised without court approval. This is a safety rule to ensure the settlement is fair, reasonable, and in the child’s best interests. A lawyer will handle this entire court process for you, looking at past cases to ensure your settlement will be approved.

Frequently asked questions

If you’re outside the time limit in Queensland, you can petition the court for an extension under Section 31 of the Limitation of Actions Act 1974.

To get an extension, you must prove that you didn’t know about a ‘material fact’ until the very end of the limitation period (or after it expired). If the court grants the extension, you typically get exactly one year from the date you discovered that fact to start your claim.

Examples of situations where the court may grant an extension include:

Delayed diagnosis: Your child’s injury was not apparent right after the incident and was only diagnosed at a later date.
Discovery of negligence: You knew your child was hurt, but you only recently discovered that school negligence was involved. For example, a new piece of evidence might come to light proving the school was aware of the hazard prior to your child’s injury.
New expert evidence: A medical or liability expert has provided a new report confirming that the school’s actions failed to meet the required standard of care, where previous advice was unclear.

When determining whether to grant an extension, the court looks at:

The reason for your delay and whether it is reasonable in the circumstances.
Whether a fair trial is still possible.
Whether you took reasonable steps to investigate the claim as soon as you suspected something was wrong.

In Queensland, most school negligence claims take between 12 and 18 months to resolve. However, if the case is complex or requires a court hearing, it can extend to three years or more.

Key factors that influence the timeline include:

Medical stability: You generally cannot settle a claim until your child’s injury has reached Maximum Medical Improvement (MMI). This is the point where the injury is ‘stable and stationary’ and unlikely to change significantly. For many physical or psychological injuries, doctors will not provide a final assessment until at least 12 months after the incident.
The PIPA process: Most state school claims are handled by the Queensland Government Insurance Fund (QGIF) and follow strict PIPA deadlines. After you lodge a Notice of Claim, the insurer must respond, investigate, and assess medical evidence within set timeframes—so the process usually takes several months, even when aiming to settle without going to court.
Gathering evidence (RTI requests): Obtaining internal school documents (such as risk assessments, supervision rosters, and incident reports) often requires a Right to Information (RTI) request. These government processes can take 30 to 60 days to complete.
Compulsory conference: Before going to court, both parties must attend a mandatory settlement conference. If the school disputes liability or the ISV rating of the injury, this negotiation phase can add months to the process.
Court approval for minors: Because the claimant is a minor, a judge or the Public Trustee must officially approve the settlement to ensure the funds are protected for the child’s future. This adds a final procedural step at the very end of the claim.

Yes, you can make a school negligence claim for psychological harm if your child is diagnosed with a recognised psychiatric condition. While it’s we know it’s hard to see your child upset or distressed, this is unfortunately not enough to make a school negligence claim.

To support your claim, you’ll need to see a psychiatrist for a formal diagnosis. A general GP note or a school counsellor’s report is insufficient.

Some of the most common conditions you can claim for include:

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
Major Depressive Disorder.
Adjustment Disorder.
Severe Anxiety Disorders.

The ‘normal fortitude’ test

For psychological injury claims, Queensland law applies an objective test: would a ‘person of normal fortitude’ have suffered a psychiatric illness in these specific circumstances?

If the answer is yes, the school may be held liable for the full extent of the harm. However, if the student has a pre-existing vulnerability, the school is generally only liable if they were aware of it and failed to adjust their care accordingly.

Yes, in Queensland, you can sue a school for bullying — but you need to prove that the school was negligent, not just that your child was bullied.

A school is generally found negligent if it was ‘on notice’ about the risk and failed to take reasonable steps to prevent it. In practice, this usually looks like:

Ignoring reports: You or your child reported the harassment, but the school failed to investigate or intervene.
Breaching their own policy: The school has a student code of conduct or anti-bullying plan, but failed to follow it or applied it inconsistently.
Inadequate supervision: Bullying occurred in high-risk areas (like playgrounds or ovals) where staff presence was below the required standard.

Yes, in Queensland, you may be able to make a school negligence claim if your child was injured at a local park, a campsite, or on a bus. A school’s duty of care follows your child whenever they are under school supervision. However, like with incidents that happen at school, you’ll need to prove that your child’s injury resulted from negligence, such as poor supervision or inadequate planning.

Under the Queensland School Excursions Procedure, the school must perform a risk assessment of the area before allowing students to play. If they failed to spot an obvious hazard — like broken glass in a public park — or didn’t provide enough teachers to manage the group, the school is likely liable.

Importantly, signing a permission slip does not waive your child’s legal rights. While you accept the obvious risks of an activity (like a minor trip while hiking), you do not consent to a school’s negligence.

When is a school not liable?

If the injury was caused by a physical defect in park infrastructure (like a collapsed swing), the local council may be responsible.

To successfully claim against a Queensland council, you must prove they breached their duty under the Civil Liability Act 2003.

Key factors for proving a council’s negligence include:

Actual knowledge: You generally must prove the council knew (or should have known) about the defect. This is often proven by finding previous reports from other parents or maintenance logs showing a missed inspection.
Australian standards: Councils must meet AS 4685 standards for playground equipment.

In Queensland, the Department of Education does not provide automatic student accident insurance. This means that if an injury occurs and the school is not at fault, the financial responsibility typically rests with the parents. However, there are two other ways you may be able to recover basic compensation:

Minor medical expense claims: If the injury was caused by a minor oversight or equipment issue, you can request that the school cover immediate out-of-pocket costs (like a dental repair or a specialist consult). For claims over a few hundred dollars, they will likely refer the matter to the Department of Education’s claims management team.
Student accident insurance (Private and Catholic schools): Many non-government schools in Queensland purchase student personal accident insurance on behalf of all enrolled students. This insurance often pays out even if the school wasn’t negligent and can cover things like school fee relief, emergency transport, and ‘non-Medicare’ medical expenses like dental or physiotherapy.

You cannot make a school negligence claim without proving fault, but your child may still be eligible for compensation through student accident insurance. In Queensland, the availability of this cover depends on whether your child attends a state, Catholic, or independent school.

Unlike a negligence claim, this insurance can often pay out for no-fault accidents, such as a child tripping while running or sustaining a sports injury.

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What's on this page

Am I eligible for a school negligence claim?
Examples of negligence in Queensland schools
How much compensation will I receive?
How to prove a school negligence claim
Do time limits apply to school negligence claims?
What to do if your child is injured at school
When should I speak to a lawyer?
Frequently asked questions

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School Negligence Claims in QLD: How Families Can Seek Compensation

Am I eligible for a school negligence claim?

Start your free online claim check

Quick reference: School negligence law in QLD

Examples of negligence in Queensland schools

Lack of proper supervision (on or off-site)

Unsafe premises or equipment

Poorly managed sports activities

Inadequate planning for excursions or camps

Failure to address bullying or violence

Failure to support medical or additional needs

Institutional child abuse

How much compensation will I receive?

How to prove a school negligence claim

Requirements for proving QLD negligence claims

Duty of care

Breach of duty

Causation (The ‘but-for’ test)

Damage and loss

Do time limits apply to school negligence claims?

1. Notice of Claim deadline

2. The three-year limitation period

No time limits for institutional child abuse

What to do if your child is injured at school: Action checklist for parents

When should I speak to a lawyer?

Frequently asked questions

What if my claim is outside the time limit?

How long will my school negligence claim take?

Can I claim for psychological harm?

The ‘normal fortitude’ test

Can you sue a school for bullying?

Can I claim if my child is injured off-site (excursions or parks)?

When is a school not liable?

Can I get compensation without making a negligence claim?

Can I make a claim even if no one was at fault?

Get free legal advice

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