Weekly return to school in NSW from May 11
School students across NSW will receive face-to-face learning one day a week from May 11, Ama Certifications building up to a full-time return to the classroom in late July.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian says public, Catholic and independent schools are all on board with the plan.
Schools are currently open amid the coronavirus pandemic but students are encouraged to learn from home.
Current guidelines will remain in place for the first two weeks of term two through to May 11, after which students will need to attend school one day a week.
No more than a quarter of the school cohort will be on campus at one time and students will learn the same unit of work regardless of their location.
Schools will also have the ability to check students’ temperature where appropriate and cleaning protocols will be ramped up.
NSW Department of Education secretary Mark Scott describes it as a “hybrid model” that will allow for appropriate distancing at schools while giving students and teachers a more normal learning setting.
Schools will have the first two weeks of term to work out how they’re going to make the new guidelines work, he told ABC television on Tuesday.
Medical advice states the highest transmission risk in schools is between teachers rather than students.
Elderly or ill teachers have been advised to remain at home and teachers suffering from respiratory symptoms will receive priority coronavirus testing.
The government is aiming for a full-time return to school in term three, starting in late July, but pledged to pay close attention to the data and change tack if required.
“Will it be the same as kids going to school under normal circumstances? No, it won’t,” Ms Berejiklian said on Tuesday.
Opposition Leader Jodi McKay argued there was confusion and inconsistency, with school principals left to work out a way forward on their own.
She also said the Berejiklian government should prioritise getting year 11 and year 12 students back to school first given they’re young adults and should understand social distancing.
The NSW parliament will also be recalled the week starting May 11, with the government set to introduce legislation relating to its rent relief package.
Labor’s manager of opposition business in the NSW lower house, Ryan Park said they want to see the legislation debated and improved.
“We don’t want a situation where mum and dad landlords are left out of pocket and we don’t want a situation where renters are left without a home,” Mr Park said.
Meanwhile, six new cases of COVID-19 were confirmed in NSW on Tuesday, taking the state total to 2969 with 21 people in intensive care.
It’s the second consecutive day in which six new cases have been confirmed.
Ms Berejiklian said there’s a definite trend forming with reduced cases but stressed it would take just a handful of people doing the wrong thing to have “all this hard work go to waste”.
More than 1750 people have fully recovered from COVID-19 in NSW, Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant said.
Three-quarters of those cases recovered within three weeks while 95 per cent were fully recovered within six weeks.
However, authorities remain focused on stopping the spread of COVID-19 cases linked to a nursing home in western Sydney, where 42 people have become infected.
NSW Health on Monday confirmed a 94-year-old man had died at the Newmarch House nursing home in Caddens.
He was the second person from the facility to die of the virus after a 93-year-old man died the previous day.
The men’s deaths brought the state’s toll to 30.
Newmarch House is home to about 100 people with 28 residents and 14 staff now infected with the coronavirus. Strict isolation protocols are in place.
A worker with mild symptoms entered Newmarch House on six consecutive days, leading Dr Chant to warn even those with minimal symptoms should avoid work and get tested.