Page 61 - Week 01 - Tuesday, 11 February 2020
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I want to specifically thank Erindale College and Dickson College for providing the evacuation and relief centres and for the work that they did in supporting our community, overlapping the period when students were returning, particularly with regard to Erindale College, and how welcoming that school community was to people who were needing to evacuate or get some support or respite at those centres.
Our schools are places for children to learn, and this means that they need to be comfortable places for both students and staff. The ACT government has invested more than $5.3 million since 2016 to keep public schools cooler during summer and has a plan to make sure that students can keep learning during days of extreme heat and poor air quality.
Our new schools, Margaret Hendry and a new school in Denman Prospect, will be completely draught proof. The upgrades that we are making to our older schools and retrofitting will mean that these will be more able to deal with smoke and heat exposure and air conditions as we make sure that these schools are more appropriate and can be adapted to meet the conditions that we are all now starting to face. It has been described as unprecedented, but we expect to see more of these weather conditions in the future.
We have had very good support from Asthma Australia on the government’s approach to managing air quality in schools. The CEO, Michele Goldman, said that the resources were timely, comprehensive and reassuring. As a parent of a child who has asthma, I know that it is important that our schools are doing the right thing by our children who have sensitivities, particularly sensitivities to smoke and dust, making the right decisions to ensure that our children and our staff are kept safe in our school environments.
Mitigations that can occur during mild conditions can include ensuring that younger children remain indoors and limiting physical activity. In poorer conditions, schools can implement measures for the general population, such as cancelling outdoor activities and excursions. All this information has been made available and will continue to be made available for parents, through schools and throughout the school year on the education website. The government has not proposed closing schools during these smoky day events but instead will consider carefully the advice of experts and make adjustments as required.
We all recognise that this has been a difficult start to the year for everyone in the ACT, particularly those who were directly impacted and evacuated to beaches or evacuation centres. If we were not impacted directly, we were reminded every day by the smoke and dust and the fire on our doorstep.
That is why the government has been ready to ensure that we meet the mental health and wellbeing needs of students, families and staff in our school communities. Since 2016 the government has funded 20 additional school psychologists, with 81 now working across our schools. All our school psychologists received additional training in trauma and disaster responses before the start of the school year. Teachers have received additional professional learning so that they can support students and each other through what is a very difficult time.
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