Coronavirus: School bell rings for … lockdown

The last day of the term is usually one of celebration for children. But this is no ordinary school holidays.

Vanessa Bell picks her children, Noah and Chloe, from St Mary's Primary School in Williamstown, Melbourne on the last day of the school term. Picture: Aaron Francis

The last day of the school term is usually one of celebration. The bulk of the learning is done, lessons are more relaxed and spirits are high in anticipation of the ­glorious stretch of free time ahead.

But as the students of St Mary’s Primary School in Williamstown exited the school gates at 3.30pm on Monday — four days earlier than expected — there were no family camping adventures, sleepovers or trips to the cinema to look forward to.

And they’re hardly alone.

As Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews rang the end-of-school bell, he issued a stern warning about measures deemed necessary to slow the spread of the coronavirus. “These are not ordinary school holidays,” he said. “Kids going to friends’ places. Going out to shopping malls … That’s not appropriate.”

While St Mary’s reported a significant drop in attendance in recent weeks, as parents opted to keep children home, it was a hive of activity when The Australian visited.

Teachers were congregated around a large table in the staff­room, testing online tools, including Google Classroom and Google Hangouts, that would hopefully enable them to continue teaching in the event they are not allowed back after the break.

At one end of the table was a half-eaten box of chocolates — a gift from a concerned parent who wanted to help keep morale up.

“Our parent community has been fantastic,” said principal ­Anthony Hockey. “We’ve done a lot of communicating with them, emailing them constantly, telling them all that we know.”

Like most principals, Mr ­Hockey has had his leadership skills put to the test. Unfortu­nately, this crisis couldn’t have come at a worse time for him. On January 10, his 14-year-old son was ­diagnosed with lymphoma and has been undergoing treatment at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne.

He is now in ­remission but is extremely vulnerable to illness, including corona­virus. “It has been a challenge; trying to be the calm person for the sake of the school community and also trying to be there for my family,” he said.

Mr Hockey said his teachers were understandably anxious but he was confident the school would be able to deliver a comprehensive learning program in the event they were unable to return in April. As well as real-time lessons, the school has set up virtual tours of the Louvre and Guggenheim ­museums and Melbourne Zoo.

“I actually think our students are going to come back with some extraordinary technological skills,” Mr Hockey said.

As Vanessa Bell picked up her children, Noah, 10, wanted to know whether they could get ice cream. Around the corner on usually bustling Nelson Parade, all four ice cream shops were shut.

Ms Bell, a nail technician with her own shop, said business had dropped off in recent weeks so she was preparing to bunker down with Noah and his sister, Chloe, 9, during the holidays. “We were planning on going away, taking the caravan up to Swan Hill, but can’t now,” she said.

“There’s still reading to do, and some online activities. Plus the dog will get a lot of walking.”