Do I need a privacy notice on my tutoring enrolment form?

If your centre is covered by the Privacy Act, APP 5 asks you to take reasonable steps to tell families certain things when you collect their information, and the form is the natural place. Small businesses with turnover of $3 million or less are generally not covered, with exceptions, so check with your adviser. Many centres include a notice anyway because families expect one.

Can I put marketing consent in my terms and conditions?

It is clearer to ask it as its own question with an unticked box. A separate tick gives you a plain record of express consent, and it lets a family enrol without agreeing to marketing.

Should photo consent be one answer for the whole family?

Ask for each child. Families sometimes say yes for one child and no for another, and the answer should sit on each child's record where staff will see it.

What to ask on a tutoring enrolment form

6 min read · Updated 2026-10-18

In short

A good tutoring enrolment form collects the child's details, school and year, every parent and an emergency contact, medical and learning needs, and the family's agreement to your terms and cancellation policy. Photo consent and marketing consent are asked as separate questions, never bundled into the terms. A privacy collection notice tells the family who you are, why you collect the details, who you share them with and how to see or correct them.

General information, not legal advice. Laws and the regulators' rules change: check the sources below, and talk to your own adviser about your centre.

It is 3.50 pm on a Tuesday. A new student's first lesson starts in ten minutes, the tutor asks whether he has any allergies, and the admin at the front desk realises the form never asked. Ten minutes later a second parent rings, upset that nobody told her about the lesson, because only one parent's details were taken. Most front desk problems start with a question the enrolment form did not ask. Ask for what you will use, and ask for it once.

About the child

Full name and the name they like to be called.
Date of birth, school and school year. The year decides which course, class and resources fit, so ask for it plainly rather than working it out from age.
Subjects wanted, and what the family hopes tutoring will do: catching up, keeping up, extension or a particular exam.
Recent results or the worry that prompted the enquiry, in the family's own words.
Days, times and campus that suit, and whether lessons at the centre, online or at home are wanted.

XTutio's public enrolment form already asks each child's year level, school and subjects, plus a mobile number and a preferred campus, and a family can add several children in one go. Each enquiry lands on the centre's enrolments list with those answers, so the admin rings back with the facts in front of them rather than starting from scratch.

Parents and emergency contacts

Ask for every parent or carer who should hear from you, each with a mobile and an email, and mark which one receives invoices. Separated families often want both parents told about lessons but only one billed, and that is far easier to record on day one than to untangle after a missed message. Add at least one emergency contact who is not a parent, with their relationship to the child, and ask who may collect the child. A tutor at the door at 6 pm needs a list, not a guess.

Medical and learning needs

Ask about allergies, medical conditions and medication staff should know about, and what to do if something happens. Separately, ask about learning needs: a diagnosis the family is happy to share, adjustments that help, how the child learns best. Make the detail optional and explain why you ask. Families share more when they can see the answer goes to their child's tutor and not into a drawer.

Medical and learning details are among the most personal things a family gives you. Limit who can see them to the staff who teach or look after the child, and read privacy for tutoring centres before you decide where they are kept.

Consents: one box, or one each

One box for everything

Terms, photos and marketing in one tick
Hard to show what a family agreed to
A no to marketing means a no to everything

One question each

Terms and cancellation policy
Photos, for each child
Marketing, an unticked box of its own

Consents, each its own question

Terms and cancellation policy: the family confirms they have read both, with a link to each. If your policy charges for late cancellations, say so in plain words beside the tick. Our guide to a fair late cancellation policy covers what to put in it.
Photos: a yes or no for each child on whether photos may be taken and used, and where. A family can say yes for one child and no for another.
Marketing: a separate, unticked box asking whether the family would like news and offers by email or text. The ACMA says express consent can be given by ticking a box on a form, and that you should keep a record of who consented, when and how. See emailing and texting families for the rest of the rules.

XTutio keeps these apart for you. The marketing question on its enrolment form is its own unticked box, and a family who leaves it unticked goes onto the centre's opt-out list for promotions, so a holiday workshop email never reaches them by mistake, while lesson notices still do. Photo consent is answered by the parent for each child in their own app, and until a parent answers, the child counts as not allowed.

The privacy collection notice

Australian Privacy Principle 5 asks an organisation covered by the Privacy Act to take reasonable steps to tell people certain things when it collects their personal information, at or before the time it collects it, or as soon as practicable afterwards. The OAIC's guidelines say a form can show these matters or carry a clear link to a notice. A short notice can cover:

Your centre's name and how to contact you.
How and when you collect the information, if it is not obvious.
Whether any law requires or authorises you to collect it.
Why you collect it.
What happens if the family does not give it.
Who you usually share it with, such as tutors, a payment provider or software you use.
That your privacy policy explains how to see and correct their information, and how to complain.
Whether you are likely to send the information overseas and, where practicable, to which countries.

Not every centre is bound by the Privacy Act. The OAIC says a small business with an annual turnover of $3 million or less is generally not covered, with exceptions, and a business can choose to opt in. Whether yours is covered depends on its circumstances, so check with your adviser or the OAIC. Families expect a notice either way, and writing one makes you decide what you really need to collect.

The checklist

Child's full and preferred name, date of birth, school and school year
Subjects, goals and recent results or concerns
Days, times, campus and lesson format that suit
Every parent or carer, with mobile and email, and who receives invoices
An emergency contact who is not a parent
Who may collect the child
Allergies, medical conditions, medication and what to do
Learning needs and what helps, with why you ask
Terms and cancellation policy read and agreed, with links
Photo consent, yes or no, for each child
Marketing consent as its own unticked box, with the date kept
A privacy collection notice covering the APP 5 matters

After the form

Read every form the day it arrives, and ring the family if an answer needs a conversation, particularly a medical or learning need. Put the answers straight into the child's record so the tutor sees them before the first lesson, not a week later. In XTutio, staff can also add an enquiry that came by phone, and an enquiry converts into a family with its children when they enrol. From there the family's welcome is the next job: see welcoming families to a new portal, and the parent and student apps for what the parent sees.

Questions centres ask

Do I need a privacy notice on my tutoring enrolment form?: If your centre is covered by the Privacy Act, APP 5 asks you to take reasonable steps to tell families certain things when you collect their information, and the form is the natural place. Small businesses with turnover of $3 million or less are generally not covered, with exceptions, so check with your adviser. Many centres include a notice anyway because families expect one.
Can I put marketing consent in my terms and conditions?: It is clearer to ask it as its own question with an unticked box. A separate tick gives you a plain record of express consent, and it lets a family enrol without agreeing to marketing.
Should photo consent be one answer for the whole family?: Ask for each child. Families sometimes say yes for one child and no for another, and the answer should sit on each child's record where staff will see it.

Sources

Chapter 5: APP 5 Notification of the collection of personal information, Office of the Australian Information Commissioner. Read 2026-10-18.
Small business, Office of the Australian Information Commissioner. Read 2026-10-18.
Avoid sending spam, Australian Communications and Media Authority. Read 2026-10-18.
Spam Act 2003 (Compilation No. 10), Federal Register of Legislation. Read 2026-10-17.