1400 Canberra students need to attend school next term

It comes as education is set to be the central focus of Prime Minister Scott Morrison's national cabinet meeting with premiers and chief ministers on Thursday.

Mr Morrison has called for increased student attendances in coming weeks while Australian deputy chief medical officer Nick Coatsworth said the national cabinet would look at making schools safe places for learning and work. Mr Morrison said medical experts still advised the coronavirus risk remained very low for children attending school, but added the health of teachers was a priority.

In the ACT, schools are preparing for online learning through term 2. NSW has subsequently announced it is looking at increasing some classroom learning from week three, and the ACT has generally been matching the state's social distancing rules.

READ MORE:

Following the announcement from ACT Education Minister Yvette Berry last week that learning would be entirely online in Term 2, with selected hub campuses remaining open to provide supervision for children who require it, hundreds of kids have been registered as needing to attend.

Parents had been asked to register their children online by Friday April 17 if they could not stay at home, and so far about 1400 students have been registered. That equates to 800 students a day, as not every child needed full-time supervision.

The ACT Education Directorate will use the information to determine which school sites will be open for the start of Term 2. The ACT government will provide an update early next week after the registration deadline.

"If your circumstances change and you need to have your children at school but didn't register, don't worry. All children will be welcome," an Education Directorate spokesperson said.

Meanwhile, more NSW students will return to classroom learning from the third week of the next school term as the state government considers relaxing restrictions in place to reduce the spread of the coronavirus.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian in March said no child would be turned away from a public school in the state but urged parents to keep their kids at home if possible.

Ms Berejiklian on Thursday confirmed the first two weeks of term two in NSW would operate the same as the end of term one, but from week three "there'll be more face-to-face contact for students".

The first day of term two in NSW is April 27, with week three beginning on May 11.

READ MORE:

At the end of Term 1 when Canberra schools began the shift to remote learning, about 1000 students attended public schools every day.

The ACT directorate spokesperson said transport would be provided to ensure students could get to school and more information would be available when the open campuses had been confirmed.

"Transport Canberra will continue to provide special needs transport services for all students enrolled in this service who are attending a school site in Term 2," they said.

While all classes will be delivered remotely, teachers have the option to work from their home or their classroom.

School sites will be attended by a mix of out of school hours care providers, teachers, allied health and support staff depending on the needs of students attending.

- with AAP