Carey Grammar the latest school linked to positive Covid cases

Marcellin College is now among dozens of schools who are dealing with positive Covid cases, sending students and staff from campuses across Melbourne into isolation.

A student at Marcellin College in Bulleen has tested positive for Covid, parents were advised on Thursday.

The student was last on-site on October 7 and tested positive on Monday 11 of October.

Although the student was not infectious while onsite, the school has made the decision to close the college to ensure VCE exams can proceed from October 27.

The school is expected to reopen on Monday, 18 October.

Staff and students in the meantime are anxiously awaiting Covid test results. New Education Department guidelines mean VCE students who are close contacts can still sit exams but positive cases will have to get a derived score.

The school is among more than 50 to have on-site exposure, although most are expected to reopen within 24 hours.

A student at Marcellin College has tested positive for Covid.

Campuses in every part of the city are affected, with many trying to reopen as soon as possible.

As of Thursday morning, 49 schools had positive cases among students, staff or visitors. Not all are listed as closed or on the list of exposure sites.

Education Minister James Merlino said schools would be closed for a short amount of time to allow deep cleaning and the identification of close contacts – ideally 24 hours.

Carey Grammar on Wednesday joined the growing list of schools with positive Covid cases.

Parents were notified after a student in on-site supervision at the junior school campus in Kew tested positive to Covid.

Principal Jonathan Walter said all students and staff involved in the program on Monday had been tested and returned negative results.

Close contacts of the infected student are isolating until cleared by the Department of Health.

Mr Walter said parents would be alerted to future cases by SMS and told to get their children from campus, get them tested and keep them home until they had a negative result.

Classes would resume the following day and the part of the school impacted would be subjected to a deep clean.

“We have segmented the school as much as we can to minimise the potential exposure should an infection be brought into a section of the school. This is done in the hope that we will not be required to shut down the whole school if a positive case is identified,” Mr Walter said.

A student in on-site supervision at the Carey Grammar junior school campus in Kew has tested positive to Covid. Picture: Stuart McEvoy

It comes after Dandenong High School closed after a person at the school in Melbourne’s outer southeast tested positive.

The school is one of the largest in Victoria, so even though only students taking year 12 subjects were allowed back on campus, more than 300 students could be impacted.

It comes after authorities last week raised concerns about a growing number of cases in the region.

At this stage it is not clear whether the person was a student or staff member or when the exposure period was.

In a message to parents seen by the Herald Sun, principal Susan Ogden said the school would close on Tuesday 12 October for 24 hours to allow time for cleaning and contact tracing.

“As a precaution, please ensure that your child/ren isolate tomorrow (October 12),” Ms Ogden wrote.

“If we do not contact you tomorrow to say your child/ren has/have been identified as a close contact, your child/ren should return to school on Wednesday 13 October.

“If we inform you that your child/ren has/have been identified as a primary close contact, please make sure that you(r) child/ren remain/s isolated until you are contacted by the Department of Health directly.

Dandenong High School is the latest to be affected by Covid.

“The rest of the family does not need to isolate at this stage.”

The message urged parents with any questions to contact the Health Department’s Covid hotline and to respect the privacy of the person diagnosed with Covid, who the principal said they would not identify.

The school is one of more than a dozen campuses listed as an exposure site following senior students’ return to the classroom on October 6.

The Herald Sun has learned of cases at St Michael’s Grammar, Shelford Grammar, St Mary’s College St Kilda East, Northcote High and Siena College as parents call for more clarity around exams at infected schools.

At Bialik College year 11 and 12 and early learning students have been sent home after a child in the kindergarten tested positive. One frustrated parent said “VCE students are now doing remote learning because of a case which is in a completely different building”.

Other schools closed due to positive cases include Bentleigh West Primary, Thornbury Primary School, Seda College Geelong, Woodend Primary, Queen of Peace Parish Primary, Our Lady of Good Counsel School in Deepdene and Virtual School Victoria in Thornbury.

St Mary’s College has been linked to a positive Covid case. Picture: Mark Stewart

All of those who were at Tier 1 exposure sites at the same time as an infected case have been told to get tested and isolate for 14 days, but officials are trying to clear as many students and staff not in direct contact as soon as possible.

St Michael’s Grammar has confirmed the case — who attended the campus for three days from October 5 to 7 — led to the school being classified as a Tier 1 exposure site.

“The school is working through a process to determine students and staff who are Tier 1 close contacts and who is likely to be Tier 2 with guidance and support from DHHS and DET,” a spokeswoman said.

“Only those who are Tier 1 close contacts will be required to quarantine. Once the assessment of contacts is complete we will notify the students as a matter of urgency,” she said.

At Siena College, it’s understood the infection came from a Covid-positive friend of a year 12 student.

Principal Elizabeth Hannay said the school closed last Friday, has now been deep-cleaned and is awaiting a reopening date from the department.

Our Lady of Good Counsel School in Deepdene had a Covid-positive person attend the site on October 4 and is also a Tier 1 site.

At Bialik College year 11 and 12 and early learning students have been sent home after a child in the kindergarten tested positive.

One family was told to isolate their eight-year-old son from the rest of the family even though he had tested positive.

A spokeswoman for Shelford Grammar said there was a confirmed case last Wednesday and close contacts were isolating, but the school will reopen this Tuesday for the remaining students.

It comes as four schools where Covid-positive students attended the GAT have now been reopened, although some students remain in isolation.

Northcote High School closed after a Covid positive student attended the school to site to sit the GAT.

Parents shared their frustrations on social media with one saying: “Kid managed four days at school before it closed again. Case during the GAT, apparently”.

One parent said there was concern among some families about poor mask use and suggestions at least one family had attended the freedom rallies and did not support the vaccination.

The Health Minister Martin Foley said it was important to “make sure VCE students and higher students are protected”.

St Michael’s Grammar says a case attended the campus, leading to the school being classified as a Tier 1 exposure site. Picture: Mark Stewart

He said a significant protective factor are the high vaccination rates among young people.

Mr Foley said the GAT was a success and there were only about 30 positive cases.

“What we’ve learnt through that process about the importance of ventilation and social distancing in the school environment.”

Associate Professor Caroline Dowling, spokeswoman for the #WhatsThePlanDan parents’ lobby group, said parents were looking for a Covid safety plan for VCE students sitting exams.

“We’ve had no clarity in writing what this plan looks like and we’re looking for some safety in the lead-up to exams and the actual exams themselves,” she said.

“We’re looking for the management of these exposures and being able to sit if you’re exposed.

“If you’re sick with Covid then that’s different, but if you were just exposed we know from the testing of close contacts in those sort of exposure environments, the chance of people converting to positive is extremely low and it needs to be matched with their vaccination status,” she said.