‘Kiss and go’ the drop-off sign at South Auburn primary advises. But not today

“Kiss and go”, orders the sign at the South Auburn Primary School’s drop-off lane. “Stay with your car – 2 minute limit.” It says too much today.

No vehicles stop to deliver children. A parent and child bring flowers to South Albury Primary School alongside the “kiss and go” drop-off lane. Credit: Joe Armao Not here, where overnight-erected steel mesh and a tarpaulin enclose a small section of the school playground where children sat only yesterday, idling away their afternoon recess at a garden table beneath a shade sail.



Before the unthinkable intruded. Occasionally, parents hurry by on the footpath, clutching flowers. Clutching children, too – a father’s hand on a small shoulder, a mother’s and daughter’s arms entwined.

It is a day to hold children close. The floral tributes grow outside South Auburn Primary. Credit: Joe Armao South Auburn Primary is open, but its classrooms are quiet.

There is no carefree shouting in the playground. Many parents, it is clear, are holding their children at home..