Relief for CQ parents as major back-to-school decision looms

HOME-SCHOOLING parents and their children can breathe a collective sigh of relief.

A school student arrives for the first day of face-to-face schooling on Monday. Photo: AAP.

HOME-SCHOOLING parents and their children can breathe a collective sigh of relief.

Some Rockhampton schools have informed parents they won’t be issuing learning materials for the “last week of learning at home” next week.

Instead, they have said next week will be used “catching up and consolidating” on the work provided over the past two fortnights.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk had previously said today would be the day the government announced whether students in years 2-10 would be allowed to return to school, as expected, on May 25.

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The correspondence received by Rockhampton parents, and the fact that Queensland’s coronavirus numbers remain low in terms of new cases, indicates the premier will give the May 25 official green light today.

This week, more than 240,000 Prep, and Year 1, 11 and 12 students were allowed to return to schools in a staged approach to COVID-19 lockdown restrictions lifting.

Schools have had to reinforce personal hygiene practices, remind children and staff to stay home if they are unwell, ramp up cleaning, and reduce the number of students mixing through limiting transitions between classes, staggering lunch breaks, and introducing staggered drop-offs and pick-ups.

Teachers have had to socially distance, and parents have not been permitted to walk their young children into the classrooms, rather saying goodbye at the front gates where teachers have collected students.

Central Queensland has not had any new coronavirus cases for more than a month and some politicians have argued that all students, in all year levels, should have returned to school this week.

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