Cairns school return creates more excitement than Covid-19 fear

Excitement for the delayed back-to-school day is overpowering any uncertainties created by Covid-19, but one parent fears the impact of the virus is creating a growing issue.

EXCITEMENT is overpowering the “inevitable” outbreak of Covid-19 in schools as Far North families begin a delayed term 1 on Monday.

Queensland’s chief health officer Dr John Gerrard on Sunday said he was expecting inevitable outbreaks in schools but he was not expecting a substantial impact on hospitals which he said were “prepared for it”.

“Some children will get sick enough to be admitted to hospital,” he said.

He said the greatest risk would be in children going home with the virus and spreading it to unvaccinated or unboosted grandparents.

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“We’re very unlikely to be shutting down schools,” he said.

“That said, certainly it’s a last resort.”

Bayview Heights mum Louise Strugnell said her son Travis, 7, and his sister Marley, 4, who was beginning Prep on Monday, were both raring to hit the classrooms at Woree State School after the summer holidays.

Ms Strugnell said communication between the school and parents in the lead-up to the return had been informative, but feared “the new normal” was going to create a social gap between parents, teachers and students.

“We can take them to their class (for Prep), but we can’t stick around,” she said.

“Normally you get to meet the teachers, build a bit of a rapport. And it’s nice to meet the other parents as well and get to know the friends your child is going to grow up with.

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“Last year all their social events like birthday parties, we’re not doing that as much now, and that aspect is just as important as the education.”

Ms Strugnell said she was now more prepared for the uncertainties of the school year, such as snap closures or remote learning.

“But I feel for parents, I’m not a qualified teacher and it’s not easy. And for parents who work from home, I just think workplaces need to make it easier for those parents, because you can’t teach and do a full-time job at the same time.”

An early education professional herself, Ms Strugnell said she felt for teachers who were required to wear masks.

“It’s much harder to engage with kids when they can only see your eyes. Sometimes your smile can be everything,” she said.

But masks weren’t the only challenges for teachers, with changes to the beginning of Term 1 significantly impacting their workloads.

One high school teacher in Cairns, who asked not to be named, said communication this year had been a lot more difficult.

“Normally at the beginning of the year we review how the past year was and we work together to improve our curriculum, behaviour management and whole school goals” the teacher said.

“This year we were required to Zoom into meetings, most meetings were either cancelled or rescheduled for a later date in the term. We couldn’t communicate with each other over Zoom as all the teachers were on there at once and we had to use emails to communicate with our teaching teams.

“We had to create informal learning activities for students from 7-10 while making proper lessons for years 11-12; this was difficult to manage. And there was the uncertainty of whether kids were actually listening and getting it.”

Originally published as Cairns school return creates more excitement than Covid-19 fear