Boarding school students forced to quarantine in rooms for 14 days

October 5, 2021January 31, 2023 journo

Some Canberra boarding school students have been forced to quarantine in their rooms for 14 days as part of ACT government travel restrictions. Tony Wallace said his daughter found out on Sunday evening that she would have to quarantine in her room at Canberra Girls Grammar without access to laundry facilities and limited access to the outdoors for 14 days in order to get back to school for the ACT Scaling Test. He said she had tested negative to COVID-19 and had been staying on a 10,000 acre farm in a NSW local government area that was not in lockdown. “It is a perverse situation that she will be locked up whilst her day friends can go to school as can those from the bubble,” he said. “It is extremely upsetting for this group and their mental health and wellbeing is being sorely tested.” MORE COVID-19 NEWS: He said it was illogical for the ACT government to require students who all had negative tests and posed very low risk of transmitting the virus to quarantine. ACT Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith said the families shouldn’t have been taken by surprise by the quarantine requirements. She said the 14 days’ quarantine was mandatory for any traveller from NSW coming from outside the postcodes included in the regional bubble, regardless of whether that local government area was in lockdown. “The team is working closely with the Girls Grammar School to ensure that the girls can quarantine safely and have provided them with advice around access to courtyards, fresh air that kind of thing,” Ms Stephen-Smith said. “And the school I understand has lots of activities that are planned for the girls to support them through this, and they will be allowed to leave quarantine to do their year 12 exams.” READ MORE: Canberra Girls Grammar principal Anna Owen said ACT Health had been supportive in providing constant advice to the school and it was understandable that the announcement of the quarantine requirements was relayed close to the start of term. “Nobody’s doing that deliberately they’re simply doing that so that they have as much information as I possibly can in order to make an announcement that is the best possible outcome for everybody involved,” she said. Of the 14 boarders, six have returned to school because they spent the holidays in the ACT and the remaining eight will be in quarantine at the boarding house. All students will be able to sit the AST. “It’s certainly not a normal return to school but in these really challenging times … it is the least worst outcome of all the challenges that we’re facing.” Our coverage of the health and safety aspects of this outbreak of COVID-19 in the ACT and the lockdown is free for anyone to access. However, we depend on subscription revenue to support our journalism. If you are able, please subscribe here. If you are already a subscriber, thank you for your support. You can also sign up for our newsletters for regular updates. Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content:

Tony Wallace said his daughter found out on Sunday evening that she would have to quarantine in her room at Canberra Girls Grammar without access to laundry facilities and limited access to the outdoors for 14 days in order to get back to school for the ACT Scaling Test.

He said she had tested negative to COVID-19 and had been staying on a 10,000 acre farm in a NSW local government area that was not in lockdown.

“It is a perverse situation that she will be locked up whilst her day friends can go to school as can those from the bubble,” he said.

“It is extremely upsetting for this group and their mental health and wellbeing is being sorely tested.”

MORE COVID-19 NEWS:

He said it was illogical for the ACT government to require students who all had negative tests and posed very low risk of transmitting the virus to quarantine.

ACT Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith said the families shouldn’t have been taken by surprise by the quarantine requirements.

She said the 14 days’ quarantine was mandatory for any traveller from NSW coming from outside the postcodes included in the regional bubble, regardless of whether that local government area was in lockdown.

“The team is working closely with the Girls Grammar School to ensure that the girls can quarantine safely and have provided them with advice around access to courtyards, fresh air that kind of thing,” Ms Stephen-Smith said.

“And the school I understand has lots of activities that are planned for the girls to support them through this, and they will be allowed to leave quarantine to do their year 12 exams.”

READ MORE:

Canberra Girls Grammar principal Anna Owen said ACT Health had been supportive in providing constant advice to the school and it was understandable that the announcement of the quarantine requirements was relayed close to the start of term.

“Nobody’s doing that deliberately they’re simply doing that so that they have as much information as I possibly can in order to make an announcement that is the best possible outcome for everybody involved,” she said.

Of the 14 boarders, six have returned to school because they spent the holidays in the ACT and the remaining eight will be in quarantine at the boarding house. All students will be able to sit the AST.

“It’s certainly not a normal return to school but in these really challenging times … it is the least worst outcome of all the challenges that we’re facing.”

Some boarding schools students will begin the term in quarantine for 14 days in line with health advice. Picture: Shutterstock

Our coverage of the health and safety aspects of this outbreak of COVID-19 in the ACT and the lockdown is free for anyone to access. However, we depend on subscription revenue to support our journalism. If you are able, please subscribe here. If you are already a subscriber, thank you for your support. You can also sign up for our newsletters for regular updates.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: