SA border locks out more than 120 students from Victoria
Families on the Victorian side of the SA border face keeping their school-aged children home. But border schools say their communities are up for the challenge.
SA News
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About 120 students and at least 20 teachers living on the Victorian side of border communities will be affected by the restrictions on people entering South Australia for education.
Some small schools will be most heavily disrupted, including Frances Primary School northeast of Naracoorte.
“It’ll have a big impact, more than half of our students are from Victoria,” said Joyce Dinan principal of the school which has 28 students.
“We do have a contingency plan. We want to keep the students engaged in their learning and connected to the school community.
“We think of ourselves as a border community, not as being South Australians or Victorians.
“And we’re a strong community, people will pull together.”
Under new coronavirus restrictions which take effect on August 21, students will no longer be able to enter SA for local schooling unless they are in years 11 and 12.
Preliminary estimates from the Education Department list about 100 students and 20 teachers with Victorian home addresses.
Catholic Education SA said it had 22 students and two teachers who cross the border in the South-East and Riverland.
“We are aware of at least one family that has relocated to SA to avoid border crossings,” director of Catholic Education SA Neil McGoran said.
“We already had a few students learning remotely due to living beyond the current border regulations. With this tightening of restrictions, more students will be supported to learn remotely.”
A spokeswoman for the Education Department said there was no guarantee at this stage that staff would be exempt from the new rules.
“If not, staff will be supported to work from home where possible,” the spokeswoman said.
“Teaching and learning materials will be supplied to ensure learning can continue, and ICT equipment (laptops, Wi-Fi dongles etc) will be provided to staff and students who don’t have access to a device or internet.
“This is a very difficult time for our border communities and we are here to support them.
“We’re working with principals and will make use of the next seven days to help prepare and provide assistance to those affected.”
Penola Primary School principal Anna Copping said eight of about 180 students would be affected.
Having trialled online learning earlier in the year, the school was well prepared.
“Teachers are very flexible, they’ll make it work,” she said.
Students would be given work to do at home and join in some lessons via online programs.
“We’re working closely with families,” she said.
While border schools are preparing to batten down the hatches, Thebarton Senior College is preparing to re-open.
Students and staff have been in isolation following three COVID-19 cases.
From August 17, year 12s will return to school, followed by year 11s the next day and then students in a new arrivals program on August 19.
Nearly 90 close contacts of the infected students remain in medi-hotel quarantine.