NSW Health defends decision to let elite Sydney schoolboys escape lockdown

Students at an exclusive private school have been allowed to leave Sydney while their peers remain in lockdown.

NSW Health has defended its decision to allow an exclusive Sydney private school to send students to Kangaroo Valley despite the city’s strict lockdown.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian yesterday announced an extension of the city’s lockdown until July 30 with the majority of school students ordered to learn remotely.

However, students at the prestigious Scots College, where school fees near $40,000 per year, have been allowed to send year nine students out of the lockdown.

Scots College in Bellevue Hill

The teenagers have been “relocated” to their Kangaroo Valley campus.

A NSW Health spokesman told news.com.au that the school was not given an exemption for the current public health order.

“Based on the information provided to NSW Health, the relocation of Scots College students from a campus in Sydney to a campus in Kangaroo Valley is permitted under current public health orders,” he said.

“This is not an excursion or a school trip. The students will be based at the campus in Kangaroo Valley for a period of about six months.

“Staff and students relocating from the campus in Greater Sydney are subject to the stay-at-home order when they relocate. NSW Health has provided advice in relation to Covid safety measures.”

Health workers have been testing people for Covid-19 across the city. Picture: AFP

Sydney students who do not attend the college will be largely forced to learn remotely until the lockdown ends.

Some teenagers at public schools have been allowed to attend their campus for HSC preparation and students of essential workers can also go to school in person.

Police were called to Scots College Bellevue Hill campus yesterday after a member of the public called to report a possible breach of the public health order.

“Officers from Eastern Suburbs Police Area Command received a report from a member of the public regarding students moving between school campus’ at Bellevue Hill and the Kangaroo Valley,” a NSW Police spokeswoman said.

“The school is liaising with NSW Health to ensure compliance under the current Public Health Order. At this time, there is no evidence of noncompliance.”

The school’s principal said the students would go into lockdown once they arrive at the sprawling country campus.

“Those staff who live on campus and have children in the local school are not to have any contact with the boys or other staff during this time so that we can be in total lockdown. These staff will do their lessons online and the boys will be supervised in class,” he told the Sydney Morning Herald.