The NCCD Guidelines have been updated effective 2026 and will remain in effect until further notice. The key changes affect how schools document Extensive-level adjustments, parent/carer consultation requirements, and imputing disability. Below is a summary of what changed, and how Junipa supports each requirement.
The flexible 10-week cumulative counting (non-consecutive weeks, any amount of adjustment in a week counts) no longer applies to Extensive-level students. Schools must evidence that Extensive adjustments are continuous.
Source: NCCD Guidelines Section C.3.1
Junipa's Continual Adjustment Profile (CAP) provides a dedicated evidence framework for Extensive students, including continuous coverage mapping, gap alerts, and compliance reporting that demonstrates adjustments were in place at all times.
Schools must now record why they did not consult with a parent, guardian, or carer before making adjustments.
Source: NCCD Guidelines Section C.2.3
The student journal includes a structured consultation log. If a consent or consultation event is skipped, the system prompts for a mandatory reason field, creating the documentation trail the guidelines now require.
Before imputing disability, schools must confirm that adjustments are due to disability, not academic performance, learning difficulties, or external factors like attendance or family disruption.
Source: NCCD Guidelines Section C.4.2
When a student's disability status is set to "imputed," Junipa prompts the teacher to complete a structured confirmation that rules out non-disability factors, with a checklist aligned to the guideline's exclusion criteria.
The guidelines now include clear examples such as Individual Learning Plans to help support a student's inclusion in the NCCD.
Source: NCCD Guidelines Section C.5.1
Junipa includes 35+ plan templates aligned to NCCD evidence expectations. Schools can import existing plans or use Junipa's templates, including ILP, Behaviour Support Plan, Health Plan, and Communication Plan formats.
The Continual Adjustment Profile is Junipa's direct response to the 2026 requirement that Extensive-level adjustments must be in place at all times. Under the previous guidelines, schools could count 10 non-consecutive weeks of adjustments - any amount of support in a given week counted toward the threshold. That flexibility is gone for Extensive students. Schools now need to demonstrate that adjustments were genuinely continuous across the entire period, with no gaps.
CAP is a per-student profile that maps adjustments against the student's full timetable, showing which periods, subjects, and staff are delivering support and where coverage drops off. If a student's Wednesday afternoon sessions lapse for three weeks, the system flags the gap and alerts the Learning Support Coordinator before it becomes a compliance problem at census. CAP also integrates SSG (Student Support Group) meeting records, parent/carer consent tracking, and staff interaction logs so the evidence chain is unbroken from plan creation through to review.
For schools, this means the shift from cumulative to continuous evidence doesn't require a new spreadsheet or manual audit process. CAP surfaces compliance status in a traffic-light dashboard - green means full coverage, amber means minor gaps that can be addressed, red means the student's Extensive classification is at risk. The compliance report exports directly as PDF for auditors.
At the end of each plan period, teachers complete a structured review of the plan's impact. PER captures qualitative effectiveness ratings per adjustment, staff interaction profiles, anomaly flags, a system-calculated support score, and a plan transition brief that creates an unbroken audit chain from one plan version to the next. PER operationalises NCCD Element 4: Monitoring and Reviewing the Impact of Adjustments.
Every NCCD student has a journal showing adjustment details, primary need/diagnosis, a snapshot of adjustments across periods and plans, and staff interaction history. For CAP students, the journal gains additional sections for continuous coverage mapping and CAP health checks.
Adjustment evidence is linked directly to students and plans. Upload, tag, and organise evidence against specific adjustments. The system flags students approaching census day with incomplete evidence portfolios.
School-wide and per-student compliance reports, exportable as PDF for auditors or CSV for sector reporting. CAP students have a dedicated report with traffic-light compliance status.
The NCCD is the national approach to collecting data on students with disability in Australian schools. For reference:
Four levels of adjustment
Four categories of disability
Four elements of personalised learning and support
Schools must evidence a minimum of 10 weeks of adjustments for each included student, with the 2026 carve-out requiring Extensive-level adjustments to be continuous rather than cumulative. Census day reporting remains an annual obligation.
See how Junipa supports 2026 NCCD compliance at your school.
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