NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian and Minister for Education and Early Childhood Learning Sarah Mitchell have outlined their plan to get students back into classrooms in term two, but not everyone is in favour of the move.
Parents, teachers and unions are among those who have voiced their concerns over the proposal to gradually bring students back to school from the week starting May 11, with many labelling it a logistical nightmare.
It follows Ms Berejiklian's announcement earlier this week that students would start returning to school one day a week from the third week of term two, with schools tasked with setting up their own rosters.
The Independent Education Union of Australia NSW/ACT is seeking urgent discussions with the Association of Independent Schools (AIS) and Catholic Diocesan directors.
The union said the decision to send children back to school so soon came without consultation and showed a disregard for the professionalism of teachers and support staff.
"The union seeks to clarify a careful and agreed plan that ensures a safe return for teachers and support staff in non government schools," its acting secretary Carol Matthews said.
The union has argued there should only be one mode of teaching during the transition back to school.
Ms Berejiklian said that during the first stage of on-campus learning, parents would be encouraged to keep their children home, "except on their allocated day of face-to-face learning".
Initially, about one-quarter of students would be expected to be on site at any one time. The specific days students will be required to attend each week will vary from school to school.
Classes will be split across schools, allowing schools to "appropriately social distance students and teachers", she said.
"As always, schools will remain open for students who need them and no child will be turned away from school," she said.
Ms Berejiklian said parents, teachers and students could be confident that based on the current health advice, schools were safe to attend.
She thanked those families that kept children home from school at the end of term one while teachers worked to deliver online education.
She said this allowed "critical time to prepare our schools to develop better online learning options and for considering additional hygiene measures to allow schools to return".
"We know that nothing is more important than a child's education and we must begin to return our students to their classrooms in a considered way," she said.
Ms Berejiklian said she supported a staged return to school, and hoped all children would be back at school full-time by term three.
She thanked Catholic and Independent schools for working with the NSW Government and acknowledged it was a "tough month" for parents, who often juggled working from home and caring for children.
"We hope the partial resumption of on-campus learning will provide some much-needed relief to those families," she said.
Ms Mitchell said the plan provided a "clear path" that balanced "community concerns with a need to deliver continuity of quality education".
"Hand sanitiser will be available in all classrooms and provisions are in place for at-risk teachers to work from home," she said.
"Drop-off, pick-up, recess and lunch times will also be staggered to ensure social distancing."
The first day of term two has been pushed back to Wednesday, April 29, to give teachers more time to prepare.
