What it will be like for the kids who have to go to school
When the children of “essential workers” step into classrooms on Monday they will find an environment worlds away from the one they left just a few weeks ago. This is what they can expect.
QLD News
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TUCKSHOPS will be closed, ballgames banned and students will have to clean their own desks and chairs at many Queensland schools when classes resume next week.
When the children of essential workers step into classrooms, it will be an environment worlds away from the one they left just weeks ago as lunchbreaks are staggered and playtime is discouraged, with strict social distancing measures in place. In some cases, parents are being asked not to go in to schools for drop-off and pick-up.
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The measures, revealed in missives to parents from multiple schools, comes as educators scramble to cope with a surprise surge in student numbers as stay-at-home parents defy directives to home-school kids next week.
WHAT IT WILL BE LIKE FOR THE KIDS WHO HAVE TO GO TO SCHOOL
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Students at Brisbane State High School will have to clean their own desks and chairs to prevent the spread of coronavirus from Monday.
The school expects at least 250 of its 3000 students to attend, to be supervised by teacher aides and relief teachers.
Executive principal Wade Haynes said the parents of 1000 students had not told the school if they planned to send kids to class next week.
“Prior to the holidays, we had between 13 and 20 students of essential workers,’’ he said in an email to parents yesterday. “We now have just over 250 for the start of Term 2 – this presents a different scenario for us to manage.’’
Education Queensland refused to say yesterday if students would be turned away at the school gate, as happened to some students in Victoria whose parents were not deemed “essential workers’’.
“Parents and carers are encouraged to discuss their child’s requirement to physically attend with the school,’’ a spokesman said. “Schools remain open for the children of essential workers – that is workers who are required in their workplace; and vulnerable children. Principals are trusted to consider what is appropriate in these circumstances and no evidence from parents is required.”
The spokesman said schools would keep children apart “wherever practicable’’.
“Schools will be alert to increasing air circulation and ventilation in classrooms, using larger spaces, spreading staff and students out across campuses and facilities, and messaging social distancing reminders,’’ he said. “This may include spacing out lunch breaks and lesson times to minimise student numbers in areas around the school.’’
At Brisbane State High, regular teachers will work online, supervising lessons for students at home or in class.
The school has told parents students may have to share classrooms with kids from other classes or different year levels, with “strict social distancing’’ of one student for every four square metres.
Queensland Teachers’ Union president Kevin Bates urged parents to adhere to the directive that schools were open for only vulnerable and essential workers’ children.
“If there are more students than are anticipated, then the social distancing that’s required, that’s one teacher per 12 students in a 52sq m classroom, that may not be able to be achieved and that’s a real problem for everybody,” he said. “It’s not a matter of inconvenience and it’s a matter of health and safety and we don’t want a scenario where there’s a continuing spread of the virus because people are unable to socially distance in schools.”
Federal Education Minister Dan Tehan said health experts had advised that “it is safe for our children to go to school, but also safe for our teachers’’.
Mr Tehan said teachers and parents should “practise social distancing’’, children should wash their hands before class and students should stay home if sick.
WHAT PRIVATE SCHOOLS WILL BE DOING
PRIVATE school students will follow normal school hours and timetables in uniform at home in a bid to create normality for students during the COVID-19 pandemic which has turned schooling on its head.
THE SCHOOLS ASKING HOME-SCHOOL KIDS TO WEAR UNIFORMS
St Paul’s School in Bald Hills is following a school timetable, with students in uniform with virtual classes and off-screen activities, and teachers reaching out to students to regularly check in on their progress.
The school, which is marking rolls each morning as normal, has a specific remote learning program for pre-prep, primary and secondary students.
“We are following the timetable to help ensure student learning isn’t compromised in any particular area,” a spokesman said.
Essential workers Martin and Danielle Page will be sending their children Emmanuel, 9, Anabelle, 7, and Madeline, 6, to school next week while they work, saying they were glad schools were open for their and others’ children next week.
“The school is still offering a good education, the students are learning the same way they would as if they were at home, but this is also helping my children maintain routine and a degree of normality in their lives while still delivering good learning,” Mrs Page said.
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