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It’s the small things about life in a primary school that you don’t notice until they’re gone, says principal Carly Pluck.
A trundle of bikes chained-up, racks chock-a-block with school bags, a sea of uniforms in the yard and laughter billowing from classroom windows.
“You just hear the school come alive again,” says Ms Pluck, who leads Canterbury Primary School.
A breezy and masked-up music lesson at Canterbury Primary.Credit:Wayne Taylor
The school this week is almost like any normal day pre-pandemic. The new preppies hold hands in over-sized uniforms, there’s a young student in the sick bay asking for a Band-aid and the grade 5 girls are braiding each other’s hair in the shade of a tree.
But there are differences in 2022: teachers and grades 3 to 6 all wear masks, every door and window is flung wide open, a shade cloth is being installed for outdoor classes and assemblies are held on the oval instead of the gym.
“They have these things that clean the air for COVID,” says grade 4 student Teddy Smart, describing the 28 new air purifiers that hum quietly in the corner of every classroom.
But aside from the shiny new appliance and his slight annoyance at wearing a mask indoors, for Teddy the most remarkable thing about returning to school is he can play with friends again and will soon get his coveted pen licence.
“It felt much better, [being at school],” the nine-year-old says.
Teddy’s younger sister, Annie, 8, is happy about the return to in-person classes, being able to ask her teachers questions easily, as well as the thrill of stepping up for grade 3 responsibilities.
“You get to feed the [school] chickens and you get a pencil case,” she says.
Moving through the school, there’s a surprising amount of mask compliance from the students – even in PE where they aren’t required, some students chase a basketball while wearing a face covering.
“When they ask [me] and I say, ‘you don’t have to wear it’, 80 per cent of [the masks] are off straight away,” says physical education teacher Adam Kelly.
“[But] some of them probably feel more comfortable [with a mask on].”
After long stints of teaching through a screen, Mr Kelly says he’s focusing as much on his students’ wellbeing as increasing their fine motor skills and fitness.
“I’ve definitely seen a growth since I’ve been back in their general coordination, their endurance and the other life skills you learn in PE: resilience, respect for each other, learning to win and lose properly,” he says. “You just can’t beat face to face”.
Ms Pluck, who is in her first month of the role of principal after stepping up from assistant principal, says she has one main aim for her students this school year: “Just keep them here.”
It’ll be no mean feat – the 607-student primary is among hundreds of Victorian schools that were already dealing with positive COVID-19 cases in the first week of term.
More than 2900 students and 410 staff returned a positive test this week, according to the Department of Education.
Canterbury Primary School principal Carly Pluck.Credit:Wayne Taylor
These days parents, armed with rapid antigen tests, register positive cases through an online portal set up by the Education Department, and a school email alerts parents to the number of new cases per day. Those who are sick stay home for a week, but otherwise school continues as normal.
Air purifiers have been a key component of back-to-school plans amid the Omicron wave. Credit:Wayne Taylor
So far, no Victorian schools have had to close due to outbreaks or staff shortages, and a spokesman for the Department of Education said the attendance rate for government schools this week was “within the normal range of attendance typically seen in the first week of the school year”.
Although Principal Ms Pluck describes her school students as the “most resilient people in the whole pandemic”, she says the invisible impacts of the last two years on students could still emerge.
The school is focusing on kids who might have slipped behind socially during multiple school closures, with programs such as a lunchtime club where uncertain children can head along to the garden, choir, rock band, library, yoga or chess.
“There are going to be the odd kids that perhaps feel, ‘oh I’m not sure who I’m playing with today, but I know I’ve got the safety of that lunchtime club’,” Ms Pluck says.
For all the stress and disruption of the past two years, when the bell rings for the end of class, the school yard is flooded with shrieks and chatter. Lanky boys take up a serious downball game with masks tucked under chin and the preppies are making mud pies.
“I don’t think [remote learning] will happen again,” says Ms Pluck. “And I hope it never does.”
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