On Friday the NSW government settled on a delayed start date for the HSC of November 9, which is when authorities believe vaccination coverage will be high enough to guarantee a safe exam period for both students and supervising staff.
“As Education Minister I want as many students as possible to show us what they know through the written exams… We are all supporting the Year 12 students to get their HSC.” – Sarah Mitchell.
The government also announced that all school staff will be required to be vaccinated to increase safety (an unvaccinated Californian primary school teacher who came to work while visibly sick infected a dozen students with COVID-19, according to a report.)
I am sure that this news is not of any great comfort to you. An example of the reaction of one of your peers in the SMH was:
We do know that the NESA group that advises the government (with representatives from public schools, Independent schools and Catholic schools) have been asked to look into a number of options including:
There will be pressure from schools who have already been locked down for nine weeks, and may not be allowed back on campus before the exams, for the whole examination process to be abandoned this year.
There will be pressure to give students the chance to show what they have learned and what skills they have developed over 13 years in all their subjects.
There will be more statistics, more press conferences and more bad news.
There may be more changes, backflips and confusion.
There will be backroom negotiations where health advice, political imperatives and organisational options are thrown to determine what your final weeks of school will look like.
Who will win this particular showdown is unknown. It feels a bit like going through this:
So, like you, your school waits for those who have control of our HSC fates to:
Like you, we are constantly adapting our timetables and organisational plans to meet the requirements we work under.
At the moment, here is the good news:
Our advice is:
Because
And remember, you have a choice:
Thinking will not overcome fear, but action will. Control what you can, do what you can and, whatever they throw at you, you will know that you have done your best.
Or you can just blame everybody else for what you didn’t do and didn’t achieve……
Your call.
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