Plans for outdoor exams so the HSC can go ahead in October

Education authorities are looking at ‘all contingencies for the HSC to go ahead’, including making students sit the exams outdoors. Tell us what you think in our poll.

HSC exams will be held outdoors and school nurses tasked with rolling out Covid vaccinations to students under proposals to get pupils safely back to school.

A series of groundbreaking measures has been mapped out to ensure all of the state’s Year 12 students can sit their final exams properly as authorities look at “all contingencies for the HSC to go ahead”.

St Marys students on the first day of the 2019 HSC exams. Picture: Jonathan Ng

“The government is committed to running the Higher School Certificate,” a spokesman said. “It is the fairest way for students across the state to complete their 13 years of schooling.”

Options being considered include clearing schools of other pupils to give Year 12 students space to safely gather for the exams, which make up half of their final grades.

Higher school certificate exams are scheduled for the end of October after being postponed for a week.

There are also contingencies to postpone the final Year 12 exams a second time in order for NSW to reach safe levels of vaccinated students.

Senior government sources said the government had ­demanded education bureaucrats think outside the square to ensure the HSC could take place.

The Sunday Telegraph has learned the Education Department’s Covid Taskforce has been meeting almost daily since the Delta crisis took hold.

HSC students wait to receive the Covid vaccine at special hubs. Picture: Getty Images

A government spokesman confirmed the NSW Education Standards Authority was “working on all contingencies for the HSC to go ahead”.

“Vaccines are now available to all students aged 16 years and over in the 12 LGAs of concern. We are encouraging everyone to receive whichever vaccine is available to them.

“We are exploring every ­option   to   ensure   schools have enough space and resources to safely run the HSC ­examinations.

“A back-to-school plan is being finalised between education and health.”

With vaccinations on track to reach 70 per cent by October, authorities are also looking at how to get younger children immunised.

The Therapeutic Goods Administration last month cleared Pfizer for use in 12- to 15-year-olds.

Establishing vaccination hubs in schools or adding Covid jabs to the in-school ­immunisation schedule or to flu-shot hubs are measures that are also being considered.

Under current stay-at-home rules in place until the end of September, children in Sydney, the Blue Mountains and Wollongong are to be homeschooled unless they have no choice, for instance if their parents are essential workers.

Regional NSW is also under this order until August 28, but there are concerns that spiking infections in the state’s west may see these restrictions continued through September.

The focus now is on getting kids back to school for the final term, and education authorities say vaccination levels reaching 70 per cent by October should make this possible.