Fears for littlest Victorians playing catch-up post-lockdown

As preps returned to classrooms, worried teachers have said some don’t know how to “hold a pencil” or even sit still after Melbourne’s extended lockdown.

A thousand excited preps returned to Melbourne classrooms on Monday amid concerns many are well behind in reading, writing and sitting still.

The preps, who have been away from school for 74 days, will be on campus until Wednesday. Year 1 and 2 students return on Thursday and Friday. Years 5, 6, 7, 10 and 11 start staggered class on Friday.

One prep teacher told the Herald Sun it was “like teaching term one”.

Jaelee, 5, was thrilled to get back in the classroom. Picture: Toby Zerna

“They don’t know how to sit, listen, hold a pencil still and many can’t do basic sounds let alone reading,” she said.

“Teachers are nervous about reporting and ‘dot points’ as they are going to be rather below,” she said.

The Victorian curriculum states that at Foundation (prep) level, kids should be able to recognise and write upper and lower case letters, read basic texts, and identify rhyming words and punctuation.

Education consultant Adam Voigt said the pressing need was getting kids used to being back at school rather than a race to catch up on learning.

“No one learns fractions by someone standing over them. Most schools are telling me that the hardest part for students is to be in each other’s company,” he said.

Kids were welcomed back to school with a guard of honour. Picture: Richard Dobson

Parents Victoria executive officer Gail McHardy acknowledged that people were “champing at the bit” to get back to school.

She said a mindful transition to a more timetabled learning setting was needed.

Minister for Education James Merlino said the year had been “challenging for our littlest Victorians, and that it hasn’t been the start to school anyone wanted them to have”.

“We’re continuing to fund tutors throughout 2022 to give every child the opportunity to not just catch up, but thrive in their learning,” he said.

Opposition education spokesman David Hodgett said he had “huge concerns regarding the development of preps and grade ones, not just in terms of their learning deficit but also in terms of their socialisation”.

“The Andrews government’s longest lockdown in the world has taken a huge toll on our children,” he said.