Tasmanian schools begin to close as UTAS moves to online teaching

Two Tasmanian private schools have made the decision to shut its doors, with students to participate in online learning for at least two weeks.

School and university campuses will be looking empty with the state’s university and two schools closing their doors to transition to online learning.

Following Launceston’s Scotch Oakburn College’s move to online teaching for two weeks, Southern Christian College announced yesterday it would close from tomorrow.

In a letter to parents, College Council chairman Adrian McKenna said the school’s campus would close, with students to move to online learning for at least two weeks.

The college will be open today and parents can choose whether to send their children to school for what will be a regular school day.

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“College staff will be on site and will be preparing for the full rollout of our online teaching modules,” Mr McKenna said.

“We are keenly aware of the difficulties this decision will create for many families. We can only ask for your support, in hope that the spread of the virus in our community will be successfully limited.”

Government schools have not yet begun closing. However, activities such as assemblies, camps, and parent teacher meetings have been cancelled or postponed.

Catholic schools will remain open for the time being.

Catholic Education Tasmania last night confirmed schools would remain open while it was still deemed safe.

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Measures were in place in Catholic schools aimed at minimising risk to students, families and staff.

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Catholic Education Tasmania said it would continue to take advice from public health officials and the Minister for Education and Training in relation to coronavirus.

Scotch Oakburn College became the first Tasmanian school to close its campus due to coronavirus, moving students to full e-learning from home for at least the next two weeks.

The University of Tasmania yesterday began a staged transition to get students and staff working from home.

In an email to staff, Vice-Chancellor Rufus Black said their first priority would be the delivery of lectures online, and then to add online tutorials, with the aim to move towards a whole institution test on Friday.

“Given the scale of our population, of 40,000 students and 3000 staff, along with all of our families, we can make a material contribution to good management of COVID-19 in Tasmania if we work together to manage this well,” he said.

“We know there are 121 subjects which will not be able to get fully online in the course of the next couple of weeks,” he said.

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“For any activities where online delivery is not possible, alternative approaches are being developed, including, for example, intensives once it is possible for students and staff to physically gather.” As academic staff moved towards online delivery, they would be encouraged to work from home.

“Before people do that, it is important that we make sure those places are safe and suitable. A working-from-home procedure for this will be provided to all staff,” he said.

They would be directed by Public Health Services on the need to close campuses, with shared facilities such as libraries and on-campus catering to remain open for now.

“We need to be able to position ourselves so that we are ready to take the steps they advise us as that unfolds,” he said.