Canberra's Catholic schools could cancel excursions, camps and other extracurricular activities as they try to prepare for an expected wave of COVID cases.
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The director of Catholic Education in the Canberra Goulburn archdiocese, Ross Fox, wrote to parents on Tuesday notifying them of the decision.
"Catholic Education will request that schools limit movement of students and staff. This means that excursions, camps and many extracurricular activities may not take place this term as we focus on keeping our schools open and limit staff being out of school, thereby maximising their availability to teach classes," he wrote.
"We acknowledge that some families will be disappointed."
Schools in the Catholic, public and private sectors have been hit hard by staff absences caused by sickness this year
He said the decision had been taken to try to reduce the impact on teacher absences, and the resulting impact on classes.
"Catholic Education Canberra-Goulburn aims to do everything we can to ensure our schools remain open and every teacher is available to teach classes," he said.
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In the letter, Mr Fox said the schools were preparing for a potential tripling of cases and high infection rates for COVID and the flu could last until October, or possibly beyond.
"These infection rate predictions and widespread teacher shortages mean many school staff are likely to be significantly impacted and it may be a challenge for our schools to operate normally throughout Term 3," he said.
"At times, schools may only be able to supervise combined classes, supervise specific year levels only, or may even need to close for most or all students for a period of time."
In Term 1 this year, an average of 348 teachers were absent each day across the ACT public school system, figures from the Education Directorate show.
Education Minister Yvette Berry on Monday said teachers and students should not soldier on if they have any mild symptoms of COVID-19, but she remained confident the school system could handle absences in term 3.
"My very clear message is that if you have COVID-19, and even if you have mild symptoms, you should not be coming to school ... there's no need to soldier on," Ms Berry said.
"We will work our way through this together as we always have. I know it's going to be difficult, but I've got confidence in our school communities that we'll be able to continue to do that."
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Olivia Ireland
Olivia is a reporter for the Canberra Times. She has covered federal politics and public sector, court and crime, local news, arts, education and business. Olivia started as an intern in August 2021 and began her career with the Times after completing her studies in November 2021.
Olivia is a reporter for the Canberra Times. She has covered federal politics and public sector, court and crime, local news, arts, education and business. Olivia started as an intern in August 2021 and began her career with the Times after completing her studies in November 2021.
Jasper Lindell
Jasper Lindell joined The Canberra Times in 2018. He is a Legislative Assembly reporter, covering ACT politics and government. He also writes about development, transport, heritage, local history, literature and the arts, as well as contributing to the Times' Panorama magazine. He was previously a Sunday Canberra Times reporter.
Jasper Lindell joined The Canberra Times in 2018. He is a Legislative Assembly reporter, covering ACT politics and government. He also writes about development, transport, heritage, local history, literature and the arts, as well as contributing to the Times' Panorama magazine. He was previously a Sunday Canberra Times reporter.
