When Peter Kim farewelled his daughter from Seoul in South Korea for a Sydney boarding school last month, he thought he was sending her to a "home away from home".

But one day after the year 10 student, an Australian citizen who did not wish to be named, arrived at Ravenswood on Sydney's north shore she was asked to leave her dormitory amid concern about the spread of coronavirus - even though she had not been to China since visiting Shanghai in October.

Ravenswood School for Girls on Sydney's upper north shore. Credit:Michele Mossop

The NSW government last week asked students who travelled to any part of China to quarantine themselves until they clear the 14-day incubation period for coronavirus.

The initial federal government advice said only those who had been to Wuhan or in contact with an infected person should be concerned. The government has since banned non-citizens who have been to mainland China from entering Australia.