Coronavirus lockdown: New term, old woes for Sydney home-school kids

When more than 1.2 million NSW children wake up on the first day of term next week, a great many won’t have their uniforms ironed, their bags packed or a lunch cut.

Jennifer and Chris Eaton with youngest daughter Emily, 3, and school-age children Charlotte, 10, and Tim, 8, who will be studying at their Sydney home. Picture: John Feder

When more than 1.2 million NSW school-age kids wake up on the first day of term next week, most of them won’t have uniforms ironed, bags packed or a lunch made and ready to go.

Instead, schoolchildren across Greater Sydney will walk a few metres from the breakfast table to the spot where they will park up with an iPad or a laptop for the day, returning to school remotely under NSW’s extended third week of lockdown.

Some, without a better place to study, won’t even leave the table.

“The reason why we took the decision around schools not resuming face-to-face learning next week is not because schools aren’t a safe place – they are a safe place – but what we really need to do in Greater Sydney is reduce mobility,” NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said.

“We need to stop literally hundreds of thousands of adults moving around and interacting with each other inadvertently as they drop kids off and pick kids up.

“Of course for those parents who are doing essential work, who have no option, children are welcome on the school grounds, as we did last time.”

Face masks will be mandatory for staff and students in year 7 and above who need to attend school in Sydney. In regional NSW, they will be recommended.

The lockdown measures, although unavoidable, would have a flow on effect, said Grattan Institute education fellow Julie Sonnemann. “I think that there’s a big cost to students in terms of the disruption that it causes and the anxiety. It’s a big change and it’s put a lot of extra stress on families and on teachers,” she said.

“Even though it’s only a week, you can’t underestimate these snap lockdowns. They do have ongoing effects.”

The data assessing the impact that lockdowns have on students was quite staggering, Ms Sonnemann said.

“Probably the best indication that we’ve had so far about the impact of learning on students was in a report at the end of last year which was a NAPLAN check-in assessment that showed students in NSW were about three months behind, particularly in the early years. If that data is accurate, that’s pretty staggering in terms of the impact that seven weeks can have on student outcomes.”

The Australian has previously reported on NSW and Victoria education departments revealing that as many as 20 per cent of students would have fallen behind in their learning during remote learning last year. The guidance was issued to schools following a $600m combined investment to provide extra tutors.

Among those to be cooped up for at least four online learning days next week is the Eaton family of St Peters, Sydney, whose eldest child Charlotte, 10, is an ­advocate for part remote and part in-person learning.

“I sometimes like sitting at home but I also don’t get to see a lot of my friends so that’s not great,” the St Peter’s Public School student said. “Sometimes I don’t get a few things in class and also there’s some stuff that no one in my family gets, like my Korean homework.”

Charlotte said it could be difficult for teachers to provide good feedback to children. “Last year, the teachers would take a long time to answer,” she said.

Her brother Tim, 8, has similar issues. Asked if he learned as much from home, he replied: “No, because most of things you don’t understand and you don’t have the teacher to help you.”

Mum Jennifer, a high school teacher, said her children were lucky: “A lot of kids may not have devices; they may not even have a good ­internet connection.”