Jamberoo Action Park in Kiama is under fire after kicking 150 Canberra Telopea Park School students out of its water-themed venue after an apparent “risk assessment” mix-up on Thursday. Photo: Supplied.
Jamberoo Action Park has apologised to Telopea Park students it evicted last Thursday (5 December) and pledged to issue them with full refunds and give them each two free tickets to its water-themed venue to use by April 2025.
This followed multiple complaints when 150 teenagers on a Year 10 graduation excursion were told to leave the premises soon after entering the facility near Kiama on the south coast.
The eviction was due to a mistake by Jamberoo staff, who allowed the high school students to book the trip three months ago but then made the venue open to primary school kids only on the day of the Telopea Park excursion.
Some students were forced to leave without having the chance to retrieve their shoes and belongings.
After silence from Jamberoo management for the first 24 hours after the incident, the park’s managing director, Jim Eddy, emailed Telopea Park principal Michelle Morthorpe late on Friday (6 December).
“We are writing to sincerely apologise for the upset, distress and inconvenience that we have caused as a consequence of Telopea Park School’s visit to Jamberoo. We have all been seriously affected by this mistake that we have made. We would like to assure you that we will do everything possible to rectify our mistake,” the email stated.
“We will issue a full refund to Telopea Park School, including transport costs. We are in the process of emailing the school with two complimentary tickets per student to return to Jamberoo Action Park between now and the end of our 2024/2025 Season, which is Sunday, 27 April 2025.
“We wish you a Happy Christmas and a safe holiday.”
Telopea Park Year 10 captain Lachlan Li says it’s not a satisfactory solution.
“I still think the way they dealt with the situation in the moment was wholly unacceptable and inexcusable,” he said.
“Still nothing on shirts and shoes left at the park is disappointing. However, they’ve owned up to their mistake, refunded us and provided passes for us to return. The problems that students have been bringing to me are: the passes are only valid for this season (some wanted passes for this season and the next), and what we’ll never get back is the time we were supposed to spend with friends making end of high school memories.
“Personally, I’m satisfied, even though I’m unsure whether I’ll be able to make it back to Jamberoo this season.”
Telopea Park students were turfed out of Jamberoo soon after arriving. Photos: Supplied.
He also hit back at unverified claims on social media that the students’ behaviour may have contributed to them being kicked out.
“From what I heard from both Jamberoo and school is that nothing like this happened,” he said.
“People were unhappy at being kicked out, this was communicated to staff, but students were not rude or disrespectful.”
Jamberoo management did not make any complaints about the students’ actions on the day.
Kathryn Andrewartha, whose 16-year-old daughter Belle was one of those evicted, said it’s not the students’ behaviour that should be under scrutiny.
“As parents, we are extremely disappointed by Jamberoo’s treatment towards the kids. There was no empathy or acknowledgment of the fact this was their last excursion as a school group,” she said.
Telopea Park Principal Michelle Milthorpe told families in an email that the school will make things as easy as possible for parents.
“[We] will be working through refunding the cost of this excursion to all families. This will automatically be done on your behalf unless we do not have your bank details. In this instance, we will send to those families a refund form,” she wrote.
The ACT Education Directorate told Region it is working with other schools who have bookings to visit Jamberoo this season to ensure arrangements are all in order.
Original Article published by Oliver Jacques on Riotact.
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