Billeting fears nix sports exchange

Two intermediate schools in New Plymouth and Rotorua have pulled the pin on school sports exchanges in the wake of tough new health and safety laws.

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 of children at Devon Intermediate, it said the health and safety act which came into effect in 2015 was to blame.

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 made the decision 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 marae or holiday parks.

Jill McCausland, who travelled as a supporter with the junior girls’ basketball team from Manu- kura School in Palmerston North to New Plymouth for the national championships on Saturday, said they did not have many interschool trips.

‘‘We have a Maori kaupapa so we generally stay on the marae, for the cost factor and because we are comfortable with the marae setting,’’ she said.

‘‘This time around we have a small group and they are staying in the Top 10 holiday Park.’’

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

‘‘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 it was not a legal requirement for parents to be police vetted, 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, who oversees the health and safety act, said it shouldn’t put an end to school trips.’’Schools have previously asked us whether they would have conduct police checks on billets, and we have advised this would be beyond what would be reasonably practicable,’’ general communications manager John Tulloch said.

‘‘The health and safety act does 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.