Coronavirus Australia: How NSW schools will change in 2022 after a Covid-19-disrupted 2021

School excursions, sports carnivals and band practice will return and masks will be only a recommendation when students return to the classroom.

NSW Education Minister Sarah Mitchell hinted at what school life will look like in 2022 after a year disrupted by lockdown and Covid-19.

Choirs, dancing, camps, and band practice are also back term one next year for all students, regardless of their vaccination status.

The minister is keen to make 2022 a ‘disruption free’ year of face-to-face learning after students spent months being home-schooled, but warned some Covid rules will remain.

‘I don’t ever want to see widespread learning from home across the state happening again, our focus needs to be keeping our schools open, managing whatever variant we are dealing with in a Covid-safe, sensible way for our schools,’ Ms Mitchell told the Sunday Telegraph.  

Some rules are still be tweaked while the full extent of Omicron is still being assessed.

But it’s hoped masks will be only a recommendation by the time students return to class in late January. 

‘Mandatory mask wearing is pretty tough for our staff who of course are all fully vaccinated and of course for students, so I hope we can ease the restrictions on masks, that’s certainly my view,’ Ms Mitchell said.

It’s hoped currently mandatory masks will only be a recommendation for students in 2022

Parents are also permitted back on school grounds for events such year seven and kindergarten orientation.

But as Covid cases rise again with the emergence of Omicron, some rules will remain in place.  

Students must stay in their year cohorts with minimal mingling between grades to reduce potential exposure. 

Staff can only return to the classroom if they’re fully vaccinated.

Additional cleaning on school grounds will continue and close contacts can’t return without a negative Covid test. 

Schools no longer need to close for deep cleaning after a positive case, but shutdowns may still occur in the event of an outbreak across multiple year groups or staff.

‘We’ve got really strict Covid protocols and settings in place, we are doing additional cleaning, we are keeping children within their year groups and cohorts so children are really safe at school,’ Ms Mitchell said. 

The government also looking at ways to overhaul the school day to better suit working parents

The NSW Government is also looking at overhauling school hours to better support working parents and reduce traffic congestion. 

The proposed changes will give principals the option to move to earlier starts 7am or 8am. 

Premier Dominic Perrottet recently used his speech annual Bradfield Oration to declare his plans to bring NSW into the ’21st Century’ by leading a modern government that ‘doesn’t accept the status quo’.

‘Despite the progress we have made, so many public services are still designed around government, not around the people we are here to serve,’ he said.

‘Education should be designed around our children, not simply around the schools themselves.

‘Why does the school day run from 9am to 3pm — and does it still suit the lives of busy working families?’

Students will be discouraged from playing and mingling with other children not in their cohort to reduce the risk of Covid-19