The announcement by the Queensland Government that schools will re-open two weeks later than planned this year has been met with concern by many working parents in the region.
The start to the 2022 school year for all students from kindergarten to year 10 will now commence on Monday 7 February however, from 31 January year 11 and 12 students will undertake remote learning for a week, until the revised formal start of the school year.
Government has announced schools will be open earlier for “students experiencing vulnerability and those whose parents are essential workers will be able to attend school and will be provided supervision on school sites.”
According to the Education Queensland website: “An essential worker is someone who provides essential services and who is unable to work from home. This includes but is not limited to doctors, nurses and other front-line medical staff, retail workers, haulage drivers and police officers.”
Teachers and workers entering education settings, including schools, kindergartens, and childcare centres, will need to have received two doses of the Covid-19 vaccination by 23 January 2022.
Parents who are volunteers or workers attending a school site must be fully vaccinated for Covid-19 by 23 January 2022.
However according to Education Queensland “students of all ages are able to attend school regardless of their vaccination status”.
Concerns have been raised within the Cooloola Coast community with several parents choosing to home school this year due to the mandates.
They held an information session on Tuesday at the Rainbow Beach Community Centre Hall for parents wishing to know more about home schooling and find support for each other.
Organiser Tina Goodwin said some parents were choosing to leave mainstream schools, because as unvaccinated parents, they can’t volunteer or be involved in their children’s activities including school excursions, tuckshop, P & C meetings, school help or sporting events.
She said with the late start planned for the school year, it has put parents in a difficult position, so the idea of the community meeting is to support parents within the community and learn more about home schooling options.
Tina said they had heard from about 10 families who are interested in the home-schooling option and while the schooling is done at home, they have the community centre and local church as venues to connect and swap ideas and give each other support.
Prior to the meeting Tina said: “Our children are six and four and we are holding the meeting to connect with other families and support each other to give our children the best learning experience while they are young. We want to keep them grounded.”
“We like to be a part of our children’s education but if we can’t do tuck shop, P and C, excursions, and a good solid part of their education as parents, then we can’t be parents to our full capacity.”
“We don’t want to be drop and run parents and we want to be involved in our children’s education and part of the school community as a whole.”
“We are choosing not to vaccinate as it is a trial vaccine, it has not been tested even though the TGA and FDA say it has been. I have heart disease in the family and I not taking a chance of getting pericarditis or myocarditis from the trial vaccine.”
“We will not be getting our children vaccinated. Queensland health have actually said in the past, these children are not at risk and now they are saying children are susceptible to getting Covid and my husband and I are against a trial vaccine for our children.”
“There are too many inconsistencies with what Qld Health and the Government are telling us. At the end of the day, that is my biggest issue, we need truthful and consistent facts.”
“We have had such good feedback about the community meeting, and this is not about vaccinated and unvaccinated, there is a much bigger picture. “
Tina said families from Rainbow Beach, Tin Can Bay and Cooloola Cove have expressed interest and said home schooling is easily accessible now with a lot of website information and options available.
Tina and husband Aido, have home schooled previously with Riverside Christian College in Maryborough and the enrolment includes sports day and excursions so children can mix and socialise.
While they were happy with the school, they wanted to have a ‘goal set plan’ where you set your goals depending on the child’s abilities, strengths, and how they learn.
Tina said: “For one of our children, we set plans for a dive course, bronze medallion, photography course, surfing, and then used the curriculum link for maths, english, science and physical education.”
“It is part of the Queensland Curriculum, and we get the templates and information from the Education Queensland website to set short- and long-term goals for their education.”
She said there are checks and balances for parents before commencing home schooling including a suitable study area and learning environment, and you must sign off on a program.
She said there are now a lot of education providers offering home schooling options with Distance Education which send programs which you follow, or Nature Study Australia where you follow the curriculum links.
You can also keep up to date via the Department of Education website education.qld.gov.au
