Schools call for travel exemption as NSW students return to Victoria

Many rural NSW boarding students have made it back to Victoria for the start of Term 3, but schools are now calling for certainty about when parents can see their children again.

Ballarat Grammar director of boarding Chris Van Styn (left) pictured last year with boarding students Alice Dufty, from Hamilton, Brait Headon, from Hay in NSW, and head of Woodbridge House Hannah Wise. Picture: Chloe Smith

In a stressful end to the school holiday break, dozens of rural NSW boarding students have rushed back to Victoria before the border closure came into effect on Sunday at midnight, so they can start Term 3 with their peers today.

Some students, however, are stranded in NSW red zones, awaiting news about permits or travel exemptions, while others travelled from the border-bubble zone yesterday.

Ballarat Grammar head of boarding Chris Van Styn said two bus-loads of boarding students from the Riverina successfully crossed to Victoria at Echuca and Swan Hill yesterday at about 1.30pm.

“We’ve been lucky in that most of our NSW kids are from that Riverina border bubble which extends to Griffith,” he said.

Melbourne Grammar School director of boarding Geoff Guggenheimer said he anticipated all his school’s rural and regional NSW students – about 20 in total – would be back in the boarding precinct by this morning.

“They had all made arrangements to get their sons back prior to the closure (Sunday) night,” he said.

At The Geelong College, just two NSW boarders had been stranded in Sydney, while the rest of the school’s students had safely returned yesterday.

“The timing of these restrictions on movement has been favourable in relation to the end of the mid-year vacation,” principal Peter Miller said.

“This has meant our families with children in boarding from regional NSW have been able to adjust their plans and return to Geelong while complying with the regulations.

“Students who have been in Sydney have made the appropriate arrangements with their families to comply.”

Geelong Grammar has about 140 boarding students from NSW, some of whom live in red zones. It expected disruption to their return, and told families it would broadcast classroom lessons via Zoom for students who were not able cross the border.

Principal Rebecca Cody issued five written updates to interstate families over the past week, to help them apply for travel permits.

The school had hoped the state government would approve a “phased return to boarding quarantine” program at Avalon College, where students from red zones could safely await Covid test results.

The program has not yet been approved by the state government.

Ballarat Grammar’s Mr Van Styn said the coeducation school was now working with the state education department, to request Victoria’s Department of Health put in place a boarding family travel exemption.

“What we are hoping for is a similar arrangement to what NSW put in place last year, which was the 8B classification allowing for boarders and their families to travel,” he said.

The NSW Government created such an exemption in that state in October last year.

“What we are talking about is kids coming from regions where there is no Covid to regions where there isn’t Covid,” Mr Van Styn said.

He said if the border closures continued for a long period, the exemption would be critical for the wellbeing of young people and their parents.

“We are preparing for supporting parents with the anxiety about coming into Victoria to spend time with their children.

“We will need to think carefully about how we support families.

“A few of those students – six or seven of those – are in Years 7 and 8. We are talking about 12- and 13-year-olds. It is a long time to be locked away from Mum and Dad.”

Melbourne Grammar’s Mr Guggenheimer said the school was also hoping boarding students would have the ability to travel home for term breaks.

“We will certainly be in regular contact with NSW health and the cross-border commission,” he said. “Particularly in preparation for the midterm break, when many families would like students to be going home.”

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