Geelong Grammar makes face masks mandatory

One regional school has taken it upon itself to make face masks compulsory, as Victoria’s health chief stands by his claim that masks are not feasible for teachers in class – even in lockdown areas.

Geelong Grammar School’s Corio campus, where face masks are now compulsory.

GEELONG Grammar has made it mandatory for all students and teachers to wear face masks in classrooms on its Corio campus, as middle and senior students prepare for a return to face-to-face learning next week.

In a departure from the Victorian Government’s advice that masks are not practical in a classroom setting, the regional independent school implemented the strict measures even though it is not in a coronavirus hot spot.

In a statement released to parents on July 8, the school said masks would be mandatory in “all classrooms, indoor common areas and shared spaces” and students would be required to take a COVID-19 test “within 24 hours of arrival at Corio”.

Speaking to the press today, Victorian Chief Health Officer professor Brett Sutton deviated from his previous stance that masks were not necessary for students and teachers.

“I don’t think teachers should be wearing them (in classrooms). I have said it before,” he said.

“It is difficult from a teaching point of view. You need to see facial expressions. You need to understand the intent; you need to be able to hear and follow classroom teaching.

“For their social interactions within the school – going to and from school – for students or for teachers, they should absolutely consider masks and I’d encourage them to do so.”

Geelong Grammar principal Rebecca Cody sent an additional letter to parents on July 10, explaining that baseline testing was the best method available to determine if the school population was COVID-free.

“Given the school’s ‘high risk’ setting, we cannot afford an initial return to school where there are students and staff within our community who are infected with the virus but asymptomatic,” she said in the letter.

Geelong Grammar has more than 1600 day and boarding students across four campuses, making it Australia’s largest coeducational boarding school.

The Corio campus at Geelong is home to its middle and senior schools, with more than 660 boarding students.

Campus-wide coronavirus testing was completed yesterday and today by a private provider.

Remote learning is in place while the school awaits test results, which are expected to be confirmed by the end of this week.

Face-to-face learning will resume at Corio on Monday, July 20.

All students and staff at the school’s Year 9 Timbertop campus have already been tested.

Meanwhile, nearby at The Geelong College, students who travel to school from metro Melbourne are receiving daily temperature checks.

“These checks will be a part of a wider strategy of social distancing, increased cleaning, education, health checks and monitoring,” principal Peter Miller said.

“At the moment we do not have the means to temperature check every student every day but this is something we are investigating.

“Our approach is based on the situation we find ourselves in at this very moment and may change in the coming days or weeks.”

Even further from Melbourne, regional boarding school Ballarat Grammar is also conducting daily temperature checks for students that have visited Melbourne in the past 14 days.

Boarders who have been to a locked down area in the past fortnight will be required to stay in a single room and have daily health checks for 14 days from the time they return to the boarding house.

In a statement, the school said it was closely following the emerging World Health Organisation recommendation about the use of face masks in high density situations.

“While we will await and follow all recommendations from the Victorian health authorities, who are not yet recommending the use of face masks in schools, we have communicated that it would be prudent for families to purchase a reusable WHO-endorsed face mask for children should this become a recommendation,” the statement said.

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