Parent claims Tangara School for Girls in Cherrybrook ignored social distancing after outbreak

A Sydney school at the centre of a coronavirus outbreak has been accused of ignoring social distancing and even holding choirs by one worried parent. 

Tangara School for Girls in Cherrybrook has been linked to 19 cases of the deadly virus, including 12 senior students and one teacher.

A parent of one student told 2GB’s Ben Fordham the school was not following health guidelines and was still offering communion along with compulsory mass. 

‘According to this parent, the school has not been practicing COVID-safe measures,’ Fordham said on Thursday.

‘They say the primary school has been doing weekly choir, they’ve continued compulsory mass, students are still taking communion by the hand and teachers have been taking it by the tongue.

‘Last Wednesday there was a primary school food stall run by the high school students.’ 

But the girls school which closed for deep cleaning last Friday, has strongly denied the parent’s claims.

‘We absolutely refute the claims made regarding our COVID-safe practices,’ the spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia.

‘There has been no breach of the rules in regard to any school activities including assemblies, Mass, choirs, and guidance around food items.’

‘We have always observed the NSW Government rules and guidelines for schools, leading up to, during, and post-lockdown.

‘In term 3, in accordance with NSW Government schools guidelines, this has included following the 4sqm rule for assemblies and Mass, no choirs or singing in any form, and a food stall that observed COVID-safe practices including students following appropriate social distancing.’ 

Deep cleaning continued at Tangara School for Girls in Cherrybrook (pictured) on Tuesday

The school closed last weekend and will remain shut until August 24 to undergo deep cleaning

Health authorities are still working to identify the source of the cluster of cases at the Cherrybrook school.

‘We have some hypotheses but that person is not linked to a known cluster,’ NSW Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant said.

It comes as an overnight religious retreat reportedly took place shortly before the first Tangara case was diagnosed.  

An investigation is underway into reports several students attended an overnight religious retreat in Bargo, 90km south-west of Sydney, before they tested positive, the Sydney Morning Herald reported. 

The school insists it had nothing to do with the retreat and that it was organised by the nearby Eremeran study centre with the Catholic organisation Opus Dei. 

‘The school has not held any camps or retreats for its students since March 2020, when the COVID-19 restrictions for schools came into place,’ a school statement read. 

The Tangara School for Girls secondary campus will remain closed until at least August 24.

Health authorities are still working to identify the source of the cluster of cases at the Cherrybrook school (pictured security guards at pop up testing clinic in Castle Hill in Sydney on Wednesday)

All students, staff and support staff at the secondary campus have been ordered to get tested for and self-isolate at home for two weeks, even if a negative test result is returned.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said any extra-curricular activities should not be going on in the midst of the outbreak of cases. 

‘Extracurricular activities, those excursions, overnight things which you would ordinary do are not acceptable during the pandemic,’ Ms Berejiklian said on Tuesday.

‘I’m absolutely paranoid about what I do myself, the worst thing to be would be unintentionally give it to others.’

NSW recorded 12 new coronavirus infections on Thursday and one death.