The fight is on for boarders to get back to school

A survey has revealed only 50 per cent of students are back in their boarding houses.

HALF of boarding school students in Australia are still not back in their boarding houses.

That’s the finding from a national survey conducted by the NSW Isolated Children’s Parents’ Association, in which more than 500 families participated.

On May 2, the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee released its guidelines for boarding houses to reopen under coronavirus restrictions.

However, state and territory health ministers have interpreted the rules differently, and boarding school houses have had different approaches to welcoming kids back.

Not all schools have the infrastructure to adequately space children out.

Across the country, some schools have encouraged boarders to return as “day students” and seek alternative accommodation and some schools have welcomed selected boarders back under strict conditions.

As social distancing isn’t enforced in classrooms, this means the children can attend school and interact with their peers as normal, but face tough isolation as soon as they walk through the doors of their boarding house.

Queensland ICPA president Tammie Irons said the conditions were tough on students’ mental health and wellbeing.

“This is impacting every aspect of these kids’ lives,” she said.

“There are some parents who have made the personal choice to keep their kids home, as they are concerned about the quality of life their child will have.

“There are concerns around their mental health, as there are restrictions around who they can interact with among their friends and family.

“There are cases where they aren’t even allowed out with their siblings, in some cases they are allowed out with their parents, in other cases they are not allowed out at all.”

This week, Tammie wrote a letter to Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and chief health officer Jeannette Young pleading for all boarding school students to be allowed to go back to school.

“With no outbreaks in our regional Queensland centres, the schools deserve a chance,” she said.

“We need some certainty and for the Government to put some faith in the boarding houses that they can do the right thing.”

The families who switched their kids into a day student role have faced huge strain too.

“Generally, one parent moves to town and takes up a rental,” Tammie said.

“It’s normally the mother. This means they are away from their husband and family business.”

Other families are fortunate to have relatives or close friends, living near the schools where students can live.

“There are cases also where children are being billeted out with people who they don’t know,” Tammie said.

Some school communities are running “adopt a boarder” programs, matching up students with day-school parents prepared to look after a child.

Although well intentioned, Tammie doesn’t endorse this initiative’s name, as it is strikingly similar to “adopt a pet” campaigns.

NSW ICPA president Claire Butler understands the impacts of switching kids into a day school role all too well.

Her family are from a property in far southwest NSW, but at the moment she is living in her 18-year-old apprentice son’s house, with another bush family, in Melbourne.

She is deeply grateful for her teen son’s support.

“Other families are in rentals,” she said.

“I am running into country mums at the grocery stores around here.”

Given the tyranny of distance all geographically isolated families face, Tammie said they needed answers now.

“Parents are making arrangements for Term 3.

“They need to work out their travel requirements and if they need a lease, and to rent a house out in town.”

Seeing thousands flaunt social distancing rules at capital cities’ Black Lives Matter protests was a bitter pill to swallow for bush parents.

Claire rang into Neil Michell’s 3AW talkback show to have her voice heard.

“They were discussing whether parents would feel safe for their kids to go back to school with students who had been at the rally,” she said.

“I am not detracting from the meaning of the protest, but I wanted to explain the hoops bush kids had to jump through already to get back to school.”

Tammie stressed the severity of the issue, and is eagerly awaiting a response from the Premier.

“At the end of the day, you are toying with someone’s education,” she said.

A Queensland Department of Health spokesperson acknowledged they had received the letter, and said they appreciate the ICPA raising its concerns.

“In Queensland, boarding schools and school-based residential colleges are required to develop a COVID-19 Risk Management Plan in consultation with their local Public Health Unit (PHU) prior to reopening their facility,” the spokesperson told the Rural Weekly.

“This planning should take account of current AHPPPC advice.”

ICPA Queesland President Tammie Irons has sent a letter to the Premier.

WELLBEING ISSUES RURAL AND REMOTE STUDENTS ARE FACING

Those still at home:

• Isolation, not just in a physical sense, but educationally and socially, from their peers and support networks, particularly as extra-curricular activities recommence

• A disconnect educationally as they find themselves disadvantaged in comparison to their classmates

• Strain on their mental wellbeing and disengagement from their social network

• Vulnerability as inconsistencies with restrictions mean they are not able to engage in the return to a traditional form of learning with their peers, and for some, even with their siblings.

Those in boarding:

• Isolation, not just in a physical sense, but emotionally and socially, from their families and friends

• An emotional rollercoaster as they struggle with the concept that during school hours they are able to interact with their cohort, yet after 3.30pm their equality and freedom ceases as they step through the doorway of their boarding house.

• Their home away from home being in such an altered state that it is no longer conducive to their emotional and mental health, which impacts on their learning journey.

Those boarders in alternative accommodation:

• Physical attendance during school hours, however emotional disconnect from their peer group as they struggle with their sense of identity.

• Anxiety and apprehension being accommodated with less familiar surroundings for extended periods of time.