11/05/2020
I know a lot of people have been waiting for this, so I'll cut to the chase.
On Tuesday 26 May – all Prep, Grade 1 and 2, and all VCE, VCAL and specialist school students will return to classroom learning.
All other year levels will return on Tuesday 9 June.
And Monday 25 May will be a pupil-free day to make sure everything's ready to go.
We'll still be offering on-site supervision during those two interim weeks for families who need it – but by 9 June, all kids will be back to face-to-face learning in the classroom.
Our Government will provide additional funding for daily cleaning – and extra sanitiser and soap supplies.
We'll prioritise testing for any Victorian school staff members who wish to do so, including those without symptoms.
And we'll support teachers and staff at greater risk to continue working remotely. That includes older staff or those with underlying health conditions.
Schools will be taking extra precautions too – such as staggered drop off and pickup times to avoid lots of parents being in the same place at the same time.
While we were working so hard to flatten the curve, it was really important not to have a million kids and their parents and carers moving around the community every day. But thanks to everyone's hard work, we're now able to make some changes.
We always said we'd follow the advice of the Victorian Chief Health Officer, and that our decisions would be based on evidence – and they are.
But it's only because people stayed home and stayed apart – and hundreds of thousands of Victorians got tested – that we have the data to back this up and the confidence to move forward.
The next couple of weeks will be crucial, and I'll keep you posted every step of the way.
I know wrangling a preppy while you're trying to work from home is a challenge.
That studying for a SAC or an exam from the kitchen table was never going to be ideal.
And that teaching a class of five-year-olds online is something no-one's ever been asked to do before.
But thanks to the hard work and patience of parents, carers, teachers and staff, and students – we've done it.
And done it so well.