CORONAVIRUS —
SCHOOLS — BOARDING SCHOOLS
381. Hon DONNA FARAGHER to the Minister for Education and
Training:
I refer to the minister's
announcement today regarding term 2 arrangements for schools. Can the minister
advise whether a review is underway with
regard to boarding schools and their likely reopening at some point during term
2?
Hon SUE
ELLERY replied:
I thank the honourable member for
the question. This is an important area of work. The advice from the Australian
Health Protection Principal Committee, the
national body of Chief Health Officers, is that boarding facilities should
remain closed. However, the Premier has
today asked as a matter of urgency for some advice from our Chief Health
Officer and through AHPPC, if that is necessary, to see whether they could
consider alternative advice in the event, for example, that we wanted to ensure
that year 11 and 12 students who attend school through boarding facilities, can
attend if we can come up with arrangements to satisfy social distancing and
take into account shared living arrangements with a much smaller cohort than
might normally be the case in a boarding facility. I am hopeful that we will get that advice as soon as possible. In
the absence of that advice for public boarding facilities, the Schools of
Isolated and Distance Education will provide intensive support for those year
11 and 12 students in particular.