Coronavirus Australia: It’s all a class act for 800 ‘so happy to be back’ students

There was an unmistakeable air of excitement around Adelaide High School when about 800 teenagers returned for term two.

Dev Patel and Eliza Wong at Adelaide High on Monday. Picture: Roy VanDerVegt

There was an unmistakeable air of excitement around Adelaide High School on Monday, when about 800 teenagers, more than half the student population, returned for term two.

“The vibe around the school has been amazing,” principal Cez Green said. “I’ve been everywhere and the kids are just so happy to be back.”

But school life in the midst of a pandemic won’t be the same as it was before, with measures to protect vulnerable members of the school community and minimise the potential for the coronavirus to spread.

School leaders such as Ms Green are finding themselves in uncharted territory, having to manage staff and students’ safety — and the resultant anxiety — while ensuring students continue to learn.

Adelaide High will aim to reinforce social distancing between individuals, meaning competitive sports and extra-curricular social activities have been scrapped, while teacher-student mentoring sessions, previously face-to-face, will be conducted online.

The school now has a policy to prevent students gathering in groups at lockers in the narrow hallways. Instead of stowing large school bags at the start of the day, students will be encouraged to bring a small bag and take it class to class.

Vulnerable staff are supported to work from home, which 12 of 147 have opted to do, while isolated spaces have been designated around the school to help ease staff anxieties. “We are doing absolutely everything we can,” Ms Green said, adding the school’s science lab assistant, Rose Zhou, had spent the school holidays whipping up her own hand sanitiser to ensure a steady supply.

Ms Green said the school continued to give students the option to learn remotely and those who chose to remain at home were accessing the same lessons as those in the classroom.

“We want to ensure continuity of learning for everyone and, fortunately, due to the professional learning we undertook at the end of term one, we are able to do that,” she said.

“And if some families chose to do that we don’t want them feeling any guilt about not sending students to school.”