To combat the expected surge in COVID cases in late January, the Queensland government has announced a delay to the start of Term 1 – from January 24 to February 7.

The two week delay to the school year was described by Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk on January 9 as a “common sense move” due to modelling showing the likely peak of Omicron cases would be in the last week of January and the first week of February.

The government also announced:

  • Schools would still open on January 24 for vulnerable children and the children of essential workers
  • Year 11 and 12 students would commence home learning from January 31
  • Remote learning for other grades won’t occur during those two weeks
  • Parents and carers of children in Years 10 and below can decide what their children do over the additional two weeks of ‘holidays’
  • The new February 7 start date also applies to sessional kindergartens and kindergartens delivered on state school sites. 
  • **While it was initially announced that state schools would extend their school year by one week until December 16 as a result of the delayed start, Queensland Education Minister Grace Grace announced on January 17 that this decision had been reversed.

(Please note, all Queensland independent schools do things slightly differently in terms of the timing of holidays, so please wait to hear from your individual independent school about back-to-school and school holiday arrangements for 2002.)

FAQs for Parents and Carers

The Queensland Education department has created a lengthy FAQ page for parents and carers about the delayed start and its implications. (Scroll down slightly to find the FAQs.)

The definition of an ‘essential worker’

The Queensland Government describes an essential worker as “someone who provides essential services and who is unable to work from home. This includes but is not limited to doctors, nurses and other front-line medical staff, retail workers, haulage drivers and police officers”.​ 

Educational resources for children

Parents who wish to look into educational activities for their children for the additional two weeks may find the following links useful:

  • Queensland Government’s learning@home website
  • The Australian government’s learning potential website
  • Five from Five is an initiative of the Centre for Independent Studies and has a range of evidence-based resources, tips on reading and activities for parents to do with their children

  • ABC Short & Curly is a podcast designed to get children and families thinking and brainstorming together

  • ABC Education has free educational resources for primary and secondary students, including videos, games, apps and articles

  • Curious Kids is a series for children by The Conversation, an independent source of news and views from Australia’s academic and research community. Children can send in any question they’d like an expert to answer. Questions experts have answered for children have included: ‘where do flies sleep?’ and ‘is x-ray vision possible?’.

  • The Nature Play website provides parents with ideas on how to engage their children in fun, inspiring and engaging outdoor play.

  • Reading Rockets is a US-based website with a comprehensive range of resources, ideas and support to help parents “grow readers”.

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