Bacchus Marsh Grammar sends most students back to remote learning
Despite not being in lockdown area, Bacchus Marsh Grammar has made the shock decision to send all but Year 12 students back to remote learning.
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Bacchus Marsh Grammar, which is not in a lockdown area but draws kids from lockdown areas, is sending all but Year 12 students back to remote learning.
When the third term resumed in mid-July the school decided to have Years 9 to Year 12 back on campus.
But on Friday as positive COVID-19 cases mounted in catchment areas, principal Andrew Neal said they had decided to only have Year 12s on campus from Monday for face-to-face learning.
However, Year 11 students doing unit 3/4 VCE subjects can be on campus.
The changes will be in place for at least two weeks.
The school draws around 75 per cent of students from lockdown suburbs including Williamstown, Point Cook and the city.
“As you are aware, Victoria has introduced a series of new initiatives to curb COVID-19. Case numbers in our catchment and the number of schools being forced to close remain of considerable concern,” Mr Neal said.
The school’s Staughton Vale program for those students registered to attend school onsite for their online learning has been cancelled for the next two weeks.
“To enable the school to remain open two things are required at present. One of those is the protections and precautions that we have put in place. The other is that we need to ensure that the number of students onsite remain as low as possible. Families can assist in this by ensuring that only students who cannot work from home come to school,” he said.
The Bacchus Marsh move comes as there was widespread speculation that a number of schools in COVID-19 hotpots would switch the remote learning switch.
“I understand that this is not easy for families and that some, particularly outside of the metropolitan boundary feel that this is an unfair imposition, however, if we are to remain open risks must be minimised,” Mr Neal said.
“One of the best ways of achieving this is by ensuring the number of students on campus are as small as possible. It is very important that we have family’s co-operation in this area.”