Hundreds of foreign school pupils repatriated amid coronavirus fears

More than 200 international school pupils have been repatriated from Scotland to their home countries amid parental concerns about the spread of coronavirus.

Matt Zhang, 18, is the last pupil supported by Academic Families to be flown home amid the coronavirus crisis.

Academic Families, an Edinburgh-based international education organisation which organises the boarding and guardianship of children from other countries attending some of Scotland’s most exclusive schools, has helped 230 pupils return home.

Today its last ward to go home, Guoheng Zhang – known as Matt, faces a daunting trip of nearly 7500 miles, leaving St Leonard’s school in St Andrews for Heathrow before flying out to Oman and then on to China. Matt, who only turned 18 in March, will have to wear PPE on the flight out of the UK and then faces 14 days of quarantine when he arrives home.

Lorna Clayton of Academic Families said the logisitics in returning children to 29 different home countries had been “overwhelming”, and that many of the pupils, some as young as ten, had been concerned about travelling home alone but had been “very brave”. Just eight of the pupils she supports have remained in Scotland, as they are unable to join their families.

“We have a lot of Chinese students and of course we were aware of what was happening with coronavirus in China, but when things changed here parents wanted their children to go home,” she said. “Around a third of our children have had to travel on long haul flights by themselves, while the other two thirds were based in other parts of Europe.

“BA has only been running one flight a day from Edinburgh to Heathrow so while Matt is flying, we have mostly ended up using the taxi firm Dalmeny Cars to drive the pupils to London and help them check-in. It gives them some support in the airport which is rather ghostly at the moment and would be daunting for anyone.

“It’s been very tough on the pupils as most didn’t want to leave, but the schools have been closed so there’s been little choice. It’s also incredibly expensive – I’ve heard one flight to China cost the parents upward of £8000 – but that’s because the airlines are ensuring they can comply with social distancing of passengers.”

She added: “We have a handful of students who can’t go home so we’re still supporting them. One young girl is Ugandan, but her mother, a single parent, is based with the UN in Mali, so she cannot come to the UK and her daughter is unable to get to her. But we have some amazing families keeping these children safe.”

There are believed to have been around 27,900 non-British pupils whose parents live overseas attending UK boarding schools prior to the outbreak, with 474 schools with boarders. In Scotland there were around 1000 international pupils at private schools.

Ms Clayton said there were fears in the sector that Chinese parents might not send their children back to the UK to study in future, and that instead international pupils might come from Africa and Latin America.

“The schools, like all others, have been adapting to online education and we’ve been supporting the pupils with that, but it is stressful and difficult, and there are worried about what happens going forward.

“We are working to the idea that the schools will reopen in September, but I think the Chinese in particular might be reticent about returning their children to the UK. They don’t agree with the policy of herd immunisation for one thing. The parents might send back those pupils who have already started, as the online teaching will end, but those thinking about sending in September for the first time might well delay it.

“However I think parents in countries where maybe the health care is not as strong as it is in the UK might look to send their children to Scotland. Africa and Latin America for instance, might feel we’re further ahead in terms of dealing with coronavirus. But of course it depends on parents being able to afford it.”

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