Year 12 students in western Sydney’s eight coronavirus-hit council areas will not return to in-person schooling when the remainder of the city’s students re-enter the classroom on August 16, the government says.
Education Minister Sarah Mitchell said in a statement on Friday that HSC students in the eight local government areas of concern would not return to school, allowing time for vaccinations to take effect.
Students who reside in the eight council areas but go to school in other council areas will also be barred from attending school.
Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney Olympic Park will from Monday be available to Year 12 students in the virus-hit areas for Pfizer vaccinations.
The eight council areas in question are Blacktown, Campbelltown, Canterbury-Bankstown, Cumberland, Fairfield, Georges River, Liverpool and Parramatta.
For locked-down Year 12 students in other parts of Sydney, all school assessments and trial HSC exams will be completed from home.
Schools will have individualised plans to help ensure social distancing between on-site students and to “leverage their physical spaces”.
“Education is essential and we must provide our HSC students the opportunity to receive the curriculum and wellbeing support they need during the last few months of their schooling,” Ms Mitchell said in a statement.
The NSW Teachers Federation said in response that it would continue to prioritise the health and safety of students and its members.
It comes as people in Newcastle and the Hunter region join Greater Sydney in lockdown for at least one week after local coronavirus cases were uncovered.
The seven-day snap lockdown was called after five new cases turned up in Newcastle and eight more were found in the Central Coast region.
NSW recorded 262 new local cases in the 24 hours to 8pm on Wednesday, of which at least 72 were in the community while infectious.
Five people died in the 24-hour period – three men in their 60s, a man in his 70s and a woman in her 80s. None were fully vaccinated.
The paramedics’ union, meanwhile, says paramedics – including those transporting COVID-positive patients – have been queuing up to seven hours at Sydney’s Westmead Hospital to transfer patients.
“We accept a certain level of risk when we step into this job, but we also expect our employer to do everything within its power to minimise this risk and to support us on the road,” APA NSW President Chris Kastelan said.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian says vaccination is the way out of the crisis which has shut down Greater Sydney for almost six weeks.
She said restrictions will remain in some form until 80 per cent of people are vaccinated, and wants 50 per cent jabbed by the end of the month.
NSW Labor on Friday said the government should provide more “Dine and Discover” hospitality vouchers to those who get the jab.
Meanwhile, Sydney developers are warning they’ll need to put people out of work if restrictions remain in place past August 28.
The Urban Development Institute of Australia surveyed its members, with a quarter saying they’ll need to make large cuts if restrictions linger.
AAP
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