Classes online, excursions out as South West schools brace for virus

South West schools are making every effort to minimise the impact of COVID-19, postponing excursions, staggering lunch breaks and some even trialling online classes. With non-essential indoor gatherings of more than 100 people banned earlier this week it seems like it may only be a matter of time before West Australian schools have to close their doors. Stephen Baxter, deputy director-general at the Department of Education, said the main focus was the duty of care for students attending school. “Many of our schools already use online devices such as Connect to communicate with parents and I’d like to congratulate them for the hard work they are doing to be able to make greater use of these online tools during this time,” he said. Bunbury Catholic College students have been trialling online classes as a precautionary measure should they have to work from home. The college also has preventative measures in place with the cancellation of all social gatherings and carnivals, extra hand sanitisers around the school and a COVID-19 response team. Bunbury Senior High School students have staggered lunch breaks with each year group allocated a five-minute timeslot to enter the canteen. Acting head of Bunbury Cathedral Grammar School Matthew O’Brien said the school had limited non-essential gatherings and heightened hygiene measures. “We have activated our contingency planning for reduced attendance and school closure, leveraging our current IT systems and learning platforms to be in a position to offer remote learning options,” Mr O’Brien said.