Coronavirus QLD: Elite schools in plea to help ‘forgotten students’ kept away due to boarding restrictions

Some of Queensland’s most elite schools have issued a plea on behalf of a group of their students who they say are continuing to suffer and have been forgotten after being left stranded despite schools reopening fully last month.

BOARDING schools are calling for restrictions to be lifted so that thousands of Queensland students can go back to class, with rural parents fearing their children have been forgotten.

Australian Health Protection Principal Committee issued advice on May 1 which limits the number of boarders in facilities, in some cases to 25 per cent, while boarding schools are also required to have a COVID-19 risk management plan to reopen.

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Rural Queensland parents are worried about their children’s education, with some having already been remote learning for months with no guarantee of when they can return.

Hannaford mother of three Fiona Maher said her son Toby, 14 had not been offered a bed at The Southport School which has been forced to operate at a limited capacity.

“My daughter [13, at St Hilda’s] could go back but the restrictions in place are so rigid, she would still be very isolated,” she said.

“Both of my children’s schools are doing an incredible job with dealing with the COVID situation but the impacts have been huge.”

The Maher family: Zoe, 13, Ben, Fiona, Toby, 14 and Ruby, 8.

She’s now forced to decide whether she should relocate with the children, including moving her 8-year-old from her local school, causing them significant financial burden, Ms Maher said the situation was “so frustrating”.

“I feel they have been completely forgotten and caught up in a slow moving bureaucracy that hasn’t updated the boarding school restrictions quickly enough to reflect the current COVID

situation.

“It would be a lot easier to contact trace a student at a boarding school than a patron at a Westfield or say, a protest of 30,000 people.”

Toowoomba Grammar School Principal headmaster Peter Hauser in a video to parents online said while he supported the government restrictions, they meant only 50 per cent of boarders could return, frustrating him and the boarding community.

“As a school we want everyone back together, the boarders who are forced to remain at home, they’re still getting their online education and that’s fine but schooling is more than that, I want the boys to see the teachers face to face,” he said.

“While the restrictions remain in place it’s certainly my wish and hope, and I’m doing all I can through political channels, to encourage officials to enable the boys to be back in full at the beginning of term 3.”

Independent Schools Queensland executive director David Robertson said about 700 boarders and 400 Indigenous students in rural and remote communities yet to return.

Mr Robertson said ISQ wanted to see all students at school as soon as possible, and shared schools’ concerns for the education and welfare of rural students, who rely on hard copy materials with limited or no access to internet.

“In light of the easing of restrictions across the state, reuniting these students with their teachers and friends must be a priority.

“We would also like to see the movement and social limitations placed on boarding students who have returned to their schools also eased.

Queensland Catholic Education Commission executive director Lee-Anne Perry said there were still more than 1,000 boarding students unable to return to Catholic boarding schools.

This week Dr Perry wrote to the Premier calling for her to intervene in the delay of updated AHPPC boarding school guidelines.

“The release of this updated AHPPC guideline, which has been ongoing for several weeks, is taking far too long and disadvantaging a significant number of students who are forced to remain learning at home, often in very remote locations and with poor internet connectivity,” Dr Perry said.

Opposition leader Deb Frecklington said the Premier needed to provide certainty for rural families and re-open boarding schools for all students.

“Kids from the bush shouldn’t miss out on their education just because they need to go to a boarding school.”

Queensland Health said they appreciated the challenges faced by boarding students.

“Boarding schools by their very nature increase the risk of transmission of disease.

“Boarders sharing facilities such as bedrooms, bathrooms, dining areas and communal areas on an ongoing basis will be at higher risk of transmission of disease compared to their day-student colleagues.