With the new school year a week away, anxious parents have been waiting for a COVID-19 plan for 2022 given the very infectious nature of the Omicron variant.

Twice weekly Rapid Antigen Testing of students for at least the first four weeks of school has been confirmed by the NSW Premier and the Education Minister as the return to school plan.

“It is incredibly important that we get kids back in the classroom in a safe manner,” NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet said as he confirmed the objective of the government is to keep schools open and operational.

More than 6 million RATs will be distributed to schools by this Tuesday in preparation for the return to classrooms with schools responsible for distributing these to parents.

According to the Minister for Education, Sarah Mitchell, all students will be required to undergo a COVID-19 RAT prior to the first day of school and will then be required to test twice weekly with the hope of detecting infection.

“We will no longer be closing the school if there is a positive case, and we won’t be doing contact tracing however parents will be notified if there are cases in the school,” Ms Mitchell said.

Students who return a positive result will be required to isolate along with their family as close contacts with parents required to log the diagnosis on the Service NSW site.

According to the Minister, any children required to stay at home either following a diagnosis or as a close contact will be supported with home learning.

Ms Mitchell confirmed that a range of COVIDsafe practices will continue in schools including mandatory mask wearing for all teachers and high school students, students from year 3 up are encouraged to wear masks, staff are required to be vaccinated, visitors will be limited and cohorting of classes will continue.

Music, sport and some excursions will continue however the Minister has warned against a large amount of socialising outside of class to assist in limiting the spread particularly in the first four weeks.

Ms Mitchell also confirmed that parents of Kindergarten children would be allowed on-site for their first day.

“We appreciate how big a milestone this is for families,” she said.

“As a parent, I know many parents are anxious about getting their kids back to school.” NSW Premier said.

“I share the premiers support in engaging in face to face learning,” NSW Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant said.

“We expect to see that schools will mirror what is happening in the community with cases.”

“We are calling on any parent to not send your child to school if they have symptoms,” Dr Chant said.

“Even if they receive a negative test, please don’t send them to school unless they have an alternate diagnosis.”

“We know how important it is for kids to be at school not just for their education but also their mental health and their social needs,” the Education Minister said.