Melbourne Girls Grammar students go mask-free inside boarding house during coronavirus
A prestigious Melbourne private school is letting its boarding students go mask-free inside its boarding house, saying it wants to maintain a ‘family’ environment despite its communal features. And they get one hour a day to exercise outside.
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Boarding students have been given one hour of outdoor exercise a day and shuffled around rooms to prevent a coronavirus outbreak at a prestigious Melbourne private school.
Students living on campus at South Yarra’s Melbourne Girls Grammar have also been spared from wearing face masks inside its boarding house despite its communal features.
The school’s director of boarding, Amanda Haggie, said it was treating the boarding house as a ‘family’ environment with the optional mask rule, but concerned boarders could wear one if they wished.
“It’s a decision most boarding houses have made, to make this a home,” she said.
“Staff are coming and going and some live on site, so all staff wearing masks inside, and the girls are free to wear one if they wish.”
Ms Haggie said the school moved some students into different rooms and put dividers in double rooms in its initial response to the coronavirus outbreak.
She said the boarders were also placed in small groups for use of bathroom facilities and each group was restricted to using the same one inside the house.
Ms Haggie said the boarding house was about half full with only students from Years 10-12 on campus as per government guidelines.
The school is allowing students to do one hour of exercise outside the South Yarra campus each day, but can make additional trips for other needs if supervised by staff.
Year 12 student Rosie Yates, whose family is based in rural NSW, said she’d walked about 10 laps of The Tan in her three weeks back on campus.
Rosie said she and her boarding mates had kept their spirits high and managed the outbreak well despite being away from family and the pressure of VCE studies.
“Most of the girls in year 12 have been living away from home for about four years now … we’ve made friends and learnt to be there for each other before the pandemic,” she said.
“Obviously we are all going through the same thing and no one’s changed, and banding together has really lifted the morale and what gets you through.”
Principal Dr Toni Meath said she admired the boarders’ resilience during the pandemic with the school organising activities such as crafts and social dinners to keep them occupied.
”It’s about looking after every girl’s needs and we have excellent guidelines in place not only for their safety, but their wellbeing,” she said.
“They’re intrepid, they look after each other and I’ve been overwhelmed by how they’ve pulled together.”
Meanwhile, Melbourne Grammar headmaster Philip Grutzner said none of its boarders had tested positive or had been forced to self-isolate while residing in its boarding houses.
Mr Grutzner said all its boarding students had to comply with the State Government’s directions on campus including wearing face masks, social distancing and regular hand sanitising.
He said all but three of its 50 male boarders in Years 11 and 12 were living on site, with the others unable to return to Victoria from their hometowns.
Mr Grutzner said each boarder had their own room, ate meals in line with social distancing requirements and participated in “recreational activities in a manner consistent with health regulations”.
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