{"id":571373,"date":"2026-03-29T04:44:20","date_gmt":"2026-03-29T04:44:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/571373\/"},"modified":"2026-03-29T04:44:20","modified_gmt":"2026-03-29T04:44:20","slug":"students-at-coastal-secondary-college-get-ready-to-walk-to-school-for-the-first-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/571373\/","title":{"rendered":"Students at coastal secondary college get ready to walk to school for the first time"},"content":{"rendered":"

High school students on the New South Wales Far South Coast will soon be able to walk to school for the first time, after a 32-year misunderstanding with the local council.<\/p>\n

Carroll College in Broulee banned students from walking or cycling to school in 1994 in response to a motion passed by council prohibiting pedestrian or cycle access for students due to concerns about traffic.<\/p>\n

In March, the school approached the Eurobodalla Shire Council asking for permission to overturn the restriction.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Father Joshua Scott said traffic conditions have changed since the school was built in 1994. (ABC NSW South East: Jacinta Counihan)<\/p>\n

However, during discussions with council, the school representatives were informed the motion had never been legally enforceable.<\/p>\n

“It wasn’t placed into the development conditions that come under our development consent,” Moruya Parish Priest Father Joshua Scott said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“That means it would not be enforceable, but we \u2014 as a college \u2014 were under the impression it was enforceable.”<\/p>\n

“[The discussions] allowed us to have hope that \u2014 after 30 years \u2014 this misunderstanding was able to be rectified.”<\/p>\n

Carroll College principal Andrew Kenneally said the ban was based on an “interpretation” of the consent conditions.<\/p>\n

“I guess the vision that students couldn’t ride or walk to school was sort of the message that sat within that DA and it might not have been contested for many years.<\/p>\n

“Over the past few months we’ve really got down to that, and working in consultation with council we’ve realised it’s not part of that agreement.”Students ‘should have been able to’ walk to school<\/p>\n

At a recent council meeting, the prohibition was rescinded and council approved a six-month trial allowing students to walk and ride to school.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Carroll College principal Andrew Kenneally said the change will give students more independence, improve their physical activity and reduce traffic congestion. (ABC NSW South East: Jacinta Counihan)<\/p>\n

“We’re so excited \u2014 particularly as a community \u2014 it’s been a long time coming,” Mr Kenneally said.<\/p>\n

“We feel that finally our students, our community, can access the school like they should have been able to for many years.”<\/p>\n

Carroll College Year 12 student Lukas Muir lives locally and catches the bus.<\/p>\n

He said being able to ride to school would not only save time but also save him money on fuel when he gets his driver’s licence.<\/p>\n

“I’ve got a mountain bike and not being able to take that into school has been a bit rough, especially since I live so close to school,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Fuel prices are crazy at the moment, so I reckon riding will be a lot cheaper [than driving].”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Year 12 student Aimee Harris is looking forward to the change. (ABC NSW South East: Jacinta Counihan)<\/p>\n

Year 12 student Aimee Harris said the change will help students become more active.<\/p>\n

“It’ll encourage them to move and get out of the house, instead of sitting in the car maybe on their phone.”<\/p>\n

Better accessibility<\/p>\n

When the Catholic secondary school was built in 1994, the speed limit on the main road next to the school was 100 kilometre per hour.<\/p>\n

“When this meeting happened, George Bass Drive was a 100-kilometre-per-hour speed zone, and there was not much infrastructure on the road,” Fr Scott said.<\/p>\n

The speed limit has changed significantly since then.<\/p>\n

“We now have a roundabout on Broulee Road, we also have a 40km\/h zone in front of the college during school hours, and hopefully there’s the possibility of another roundabout in the area, which will slow down traffic,” Fr Scott said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The trial will require students to walk south 600 metres along the west side of George Bass Drive to a roundabout where they can use a pedestrian refuge to cross the major road. (Supplied: Google Earth)<\/p>\n

Mr Kenneally said they want to work with council to make sure they move forward in a safe way.<\/p>\n

The new trial will require students to cross the road at a pedestrian refuge 600 metres south of the school.<\/p>\n

“We will create a grass path on the western side of George Bass Drive and also put up signage,” the principal said.<\/p>\n

A permanent solution will then be discussed, such as a pedestrian crossing at the front gate.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

The trial will require students to cross George Bass Road at a pedestrian refuge 600 metres south of the school. (ABC NSW South East: Jacinta Counihan)<\/p>\n

Mr Kennelly said the positives are endless, from student independence and fitness to reduced traffic congestion.<\/p>\n

“We’ve got about 40 families that will benefit from this trial period next term, so we’re excited about that.”<\/p>\n

He hopes the changes will also boost enrolments in the future.<\/p>\n

“We’ve been a little bit blocked with not having that accessibility for our students,” he said.<\/p>\n

“But now that we can open that up, there’s more scope for people who live in Broulee to consider that they come to Carroll College, [as] they can walk and they can ride.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"High school students on the New South Wales Far South Coast will soon be able to walk to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":571374,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[280560,17652,280561,237684,230557,182980,280559,43,44,246694,5327,41,39,42,40,1424,280558],"class_list":["post-571373","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-andrew-kenneally","tag-ban","tag-broulee","tag-carroll-college","tag-catholic-school","tag-eurobodalla-shire-council","tag-father-joshua-scott","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-riding","tag-students","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-walking","tag-walking-to-school"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/571373","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=571373"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/571373\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/571374"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=571373"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=571373"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=571373"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}