NSW schools return to face-to-face learning after Covid lockdown
Kindergarten, year 1 and 12 students have returned to school this morning as the education minister revealed a change to mask rules.
NSW
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Primary school students will no longer have to wear masks while outdoors at school, the NSW education minister has revealed.
Kindergarten, year 1 and 12 students returned to school today while all other grades will return on October 25.
Sarah Mitchell said on live radio this morning that a change to the rules for schools “late last week” meant young students wouldn’t need masks outdoors.
“We got updated advice towards the end of last week that they don’t have to wear them outdoors anymore, which is just common sense,” Ms Mitchell told 2GB’s Ben Fordham.
“It’s just in those indoors settings that it’s an extra layer of protection because obviously kids can’t be vaccinated.”
Ms Mitchell added the recommendations like indoor mask wearing wouldn’t be around forever.
“Common sense will prevail, some kids will wear them, that’s great, others may not and that’s fine too,” she said.
“These are recommendations for our return to school settings, but they won’t be in place forever … it’s about having kids back at school and to me that’s the most important thing.”
Ms Mitchell and Premier Dominic Perrottet also announced an extension to the state’s tutoring program, at a cost of $383 million.
“We had had a very successful school tutorship program last year where 7,500 tutors were put into classrooms across the state,” Mr Perrottet said.
“Today we’re announcing that we will extend that program all through 2022.”
EXPERT TO PARENTS: YOUR KIDS WILL BE SAFE
A leading vaccine expert has reassured parents that their children will be safe against Covid-19.
UNICEF Australia senior vaccine adviser Chris Maher said children aged under 12 years were at low risk of getting seriously ill from the virus but urged schools to not get lax with infection control measures.
“Children do seem to be much less susceptible to serious infection than older people. It’s pretty well documented now,” Mr Maher said.
“(They have) basically created a pretty low risk setting overall. The benefits of having kids going to school far outweigh any issues of potential risk.”
Mr Maher said despite the low risk it was critical for schools to maintain hand hygiene, mask wearing where appropriate, good ventilation and social distancing.
“All the old things we did still apply. Hand washing, excellent hygiene, cough and sneeze etiquette, mask wearing for adults and potentially for children in certain settings, still should stay enforced,” he said. “They have already demonstrated their usefulness over and over again. Very high vaccination levels don’t mean any school should be relaxed about the basic risk.”
Mr Maher said that it can be difficult to ensure compliance among children but “schooling offers you the opportunity to get kids into really good habits.”
“(We need to) instil in children the necessity for them to practice personal hygiene through hand washing and the contact with others and contact with their hands and nose.”
He encouraged parents to reinforce the same messages at home.
Mr Maher said parents need not worry about schools becoming super-spreading sites with the evidence suggesting they were never a “major driving force” of transmission.
“Children can become infected but very few of them manifest serious symptoms. And many of them are virtually asymptomatic. The risk of serious disease in children is quite low,” he said, adding the risk was also mitigated by a decline in case numbers.
FRIENDS THE MAIN ATTRACTION TO RETURN
Kindergarten student Jaelee Merrit had only one thing on her mind ahead of returning to school today after months of lockdown.
“Seeing my friends and seeing everyone,” the five-year-old said.
Jaelee, a student at Sydney’s Gawura Indigenous school, will have an hour in the morning to talk to classmates about lockdown before doing some literacy and numeracy activities later in the day.
Her mum Melissa Merrit said juggling homeschooling and working from home had been a bit of a struggle
“Jaelee just wants to see her friends and be back in that learning environment where the teacher is physically there and can guide her,” she said. “Credit to the teachers because I have found remote learning quite difficult.”
Principal John Ralph said both the teachers and students had missed school.
“The kids want to see their friends, teachers want to be in the classroom teaching the students,” he said.
“Aboriginal people on the whole are very relational, they want to be together but during lockdown that hasn’t been able to happen.
“Kids love the routine and structure of school.
“School is about academics but it is more than that – it is social interaction and building social competency when they’re really little.”
Children at the school complete an intensive program of literacy and numeracy with a mission to celebrate and strengthen Indigenous culture.
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