By Callum Ludwig
Primary school students returned to school this week as planned, despite Victoria currently under a Covid-19 cloud.
Millwarra Primary School principal Rod Barnard said despite the concerns, the school was taking sensible precautions and staff and students alike were excited to go back.
“With the Covid side, we have had the purifiers arrive, and we will have those up and running, so that’s a really different start to this year than we’ve normally had,” Mr Barnard said.
“But everybody’s really looking forward to having a year as uninterrupted as possible.”
Staff and students are encouraged to take two RAT tests per week until the wave of Omicron cases reduce but there is no obligation from the state or from the school to enforce anyone to do so.
Mr Barnard was relieved the supply of RAT tests to schools across the state will alleviate the stress of placing the responsibility on the school or parents.
“Being able to have those is a real benefit. I know for struggling families the difficulty of trying to get them, not just paying for them but even just trying to get them,” he said.
Mr Barnard saw students and their families in the local supermarkets, Millgrove Park and in Warburton, and despite the uncertain times, they were all very excited for the return to school.
Another group of Prep students of course started primary school this year, and Mr Barnard outlined how their primary school experiences would begin.
“For the Preps it will be a different type of year, particularly at this school. There will be nine new Preps starting at the end of this January into the start of February,” Mr Barnard said
“Sometimes you have a year where you only get one or two and some years you get eight or ten.”
The school is the only dual-campus primary school in the north-eastern region of Victoria.
Students from both campuses returned on Monday 31 January.
For their first day, Prep students attended from 9am to 1pm, before progressing to normal campus hours, excluding a day off on Wednesdays for the first four weeks.
School hours for Millgrove campus students are 9am to 3.10pm, and 9am to 3:20pm for Warburton campus students.
