Happy days return for our school kids

WE’RE told by the Deputy Premier and Education Minister James Merlino that one million kids went back to school on Monday this week, including 77,500 kids in Preps.
But, as it turned out, a lot of schools around here held a professional development day on Monday, January 31, and were proposing a staggered start to school over the next few days.
The state’s newest school, the San Remo Campus of Bass Coast College starts Tuesday, again a staggered start for kids there. Primary schools in the Wonthaggi area get underway Tuesday as well and there’s a staggered start at the private colleges too.
Just as well because in many cases the linchpin of the COVID-safe back-to-school strategy, the rapid antigen test kits, still hadn’t arrived at many schools in Gippsland by Monday this week.
“They’ll be delivered today (Monday),” the Minister promised at his morning briefing.
One school that did start on day one was the Leongatha Primary School where all year levels were in and the school welcomed a bumper cohort of 84 Preps, all or almost all of whom arrived with broad smiles on their faces.
OK, there were plenty of masks, mandatory for students in Grade Three and up, lots of social distancing, hand sanitizer and all the rest but there was a strong sense of a welcome return to normality even if the pandemic still presents its challenges.