Students from SA boarding schools stranded in Covid quarantine limbo

They live in some of the most remote places on Earth but that won’t make it any easier – or cheaper – for students like Grace to get back to their SA boarding schools now.

South Australian boarding school students who headed home to remote interstate locations for the holidays are unsure if they’ll get to join their classmates next week.

Their frustrated parents say they can’t get clear information from the SA Government on if their kids will be allowed into the state without having to quarantine.

This is despite the youngsters having been confined to their isolated outback properties in New South Wales for the duration of the school holidays.

The Wakefield family manage a sheep and cattle property at remote White Cliffs, about 255km northeast of Broken Hill.

Oldest daughter Grace, 14, is in Year 8 at Westminster School, and the road trip to get her back to the boarding house takes 10 hours, one way, meaning a last-minute dash isn’t an option.

Mum Sophie said she applied for an exemption on June 28, seeking to be allowed to bring Grace back to her SA school at the end of the three-week break but heard nothing.

Willow, 11, Sebastian, 9 and Grace, 14 Wakefield at their White Cliffs property in remote NSW. Picture: Supplied by family

“For the first week we were able to put it at the back of our minds to just focus on enjoying the limited time we had with our girl but the anxiety levels have gone through the roof over the past two weeks, not knowing if we’ll be able to get her back,” Mrs Wakefield said.

“There are financial pressures too … the cost of having her in high school is great enough, let alone being told we might have to go into hotel quarantine for two weeks.

“It blows my mind to think they want us to remove our kids from one of the most remote and isolated places on the planet, and go into isolation in the city.”

Grace’s cousin, Angus Hodges, 14, is facing a similar predicament, as he prepares to return from his family’s 16,200 hectare property near Mungo National Park in south western NSW, to boarding school at Prince Alfred College.

His mum, Bree Wakefield, an Isolated Children’s Parents’ Association (ICPA) representative, said the uncertainty was affecting the kids’ mental health.

“Our kids need to come home and be with their families … we are doing the common sense thing and isolating our children when they are at home (but) the uncertainty is horrible,” she said.

SA deputy chief public health officer Dr Emily Kirkpatrick encouraged the families to reapply for exemptions. Picture: David Mariuz

“The ICPA has been pushing for a national framework … at the end of the day, we just want to be able to bring our kids home and will do whatever the Government tells us to do.

“We’re 75km northeast of Mildura, on a geographically-isolated sheep station, our kids are isolated here and they pose no risk … the lack of communication is frustrating.”

Deputy Chief Public Health Officer Emily Kirkpatrick, responding to a question on the country kids’ plight at a press conference, urged families to reapply.

“We have certainly been giving exemptions for returning boarding school students from NSW and I would encourage if people did apply three weeks ago and have not heard back, to please reapply into the system again,” she said.