This document provides a framework of guiding principles and general steps addressing the construction of safer and more disaster resilient education facilities. It is aimed to be adapted to the local context and used to develop a context-specific plan to address a critical gap to reaching the Education for All (EFA) and Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The guidance notes consist of four components: (1) "General information and advocacy points" (Sections 2-4) briefly address the need and rationale for safer school buildings as well as the scope and intended use of the Guidance Notes. They also feature several success stories and list a number of essential guiding principles and strategies for overcoming common challenges; (2) "A series of suggested steps" (Section 5) that highlight key points that should be considered when planning a safer school construction and/or retrofitting initiative. Each step describes the processes, notes important decision points, highlights key issues or potential challenges, and suggests good practices, tools to facilitate the actions, and references resources to guide the reader to more detailed and context-specific information; (3) "A compilation of basic design principles" (Section 6) to identify some basic requirements a school building must meet to provide a greater level of protection. These design principles are intended to facilitate a very basic understanding of the measures that can be taken to make a school building more resilient to hazard forces; and (4) "A broad list of references to resources" (Appendix 3) for more detailed, technical and context-specific information. The document should be used by policymakers and planners of local, regional and national government bodies and all other organizations interested or engaged in enhancing the safety of school populations through improved hazard resistant construction and retrofitting of school buildings. The guidelines can be used to promote discussion, planning and design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of school construction. They could also be utilized to strengthen Education Sector Plans and to develop a National Action Plan for Safe Schools. Appended are: (1) Rationale for and Background to the Development of Guidance Notes on Safer School Construction; (2) Safe and Child Friendly School Buildings: A Save the Children poster; and (3) Acknowledgments and Links to Additional Information, List of Documents Consulted. (Contains 6 tables and 15 figures.) ["Guidance Notes on Safer School Construction" was developed as a collaboration between the Inter-Agency Network for Education in Emergencies (INEE) and the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR) at the World Bank, in partnership with the Coalition for Global School Safety and Disaster Prevention Education, the IASC Education Cluster and the International Strategy for Disaster Risk Reduction.]