School billeting under threat

New health and safety laws endanger a much-loved Kiwi tradition. David Burroughs and Catherine Groenestein report.

Billeting on school sports and chess club exchanges has been part of every Kiwi’s childhood.

But this week, now that tough new health and safety laws are in force, intermediate schools in New Plymouth and Rotorua have pulled the pin on school sports exchanges.

The cancellation is expected to be the first of many, and experts warn the Health and Safety at Work Act 2016 could be the final nail in the coffin for the muchloved New Zealand institution of billeting.

This is because school boards, nervous that principals could be prosecuted if any harm comes to their pupils while billeting, are setting in place policies to require all parents and older siblings in billet households to be vetted by police

Devon Intermediate in New Plymouth has put its sports exchange with Rotorua’s Mokoia Intermediate on hold for at least a year.

In a newsletter to parents, Devon Intermediate blamed the new legislation.

It read: ‘‘The changes meant we could no longer billet students, and the Mokoia staff and students would have to stay elsewhere meaning the cost would be too much.’’

Mokoia principal Deborah Epp said the decision was made based on the Vulnerable Children Act, which she said goes ‘‘hand in hand’’ with the health and safety act.

‘‘We would have to police vet all the adults and all the older children in the household,’’ she said.

Devon Intermediate would not be able to complete the checks on time, she said, and the school’s board had asked for it to be postponed.

Both schools had decided to make the police checks standard practice.

‘‘It just seems prudent. There’s some disappointment among students but I think the parents understand.’’

Some schools have already done away with the age old tradition of billeting, preferring to stay at a

It just seems prudent. There’s some disappointment among students but I think the parents understand.

Mokoia principal Deborah Epp

marae or holiday parks.

Dee Davies, coach of the Napier Boys’ High team at the national schools’ basketball championships in New Plymouth said he would still allow his team to be billeted, but was mindful of their safety.

‘‘It is always on my mind. I usually have a good relationship with the coach (of the other school) and if they assure me the places are safe, I am happy with that.’’

Lynda Stuart, a member of the New Zealand Teachers Council, said there were valid concerns about ensuring the safety of students.

‘‘While the Vulnerable Children Act and Safety at Work legislation do not directly apply to parent volunteers, many schools understandably have a heightened sensitivity to risk because of legislative changes and are taking extra steps to ensure child safety,’’ she said.

Stuart, who is also an executive of the New Zealand Education Institute, said police-vetting of parents was not a legal requirement, but some schools were choosing to do it as an added precaution.

‘‘It would be a great loss if schools were to start permanently cancelling camps and exchanges, but it appears that, more often, schools are instead doing extra vetting to ensure the safety of their students.’’

The Ministry of Education said it encouraged schools to vet all volunteers as best practise, especially when they had contact with students overnight.

WorkSafe, which oversees the Health and Safety Act, said it shouldn’t put an end to school trips.

General communications manager John Tulloch said the health and safety act did not preclude students being billeted.

He said if a student was injured at a house they were being hosted in, it was likely it wouldn’t even come under the act as it wouldn’t be a workplace incident.