HUNDREDS of smiling faces walked through school gates across Tamworth on Tuesday, ready for another year of learning.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
While there were some tears, students were for the most part happy to be reunited with their peers after the novelty of the summer holidays had worn off.
It's a brand new learning environment for children, with Rapid Antigen Tests (RATs), masks and increased cleaning measures the new norm - but that didn't dampen the excitement of staff and students, eager to catch up on weeks of face-to-face learning.
Tamworth Public School welcomed 30 new students and 120 new Kindergarten kids on Tuesday as government schools began Term 1.
Principal Chris Connor said all the children were very excited about being back at school, and staff had worked for hours leading up to their return.
"They were looking forward to meeting up with their friends," he said.
"There was a lot of telling of stories of what they got up to in the holidays with each other. The school is providing them with that opportunity to meet up with their friends again which is good.
"We've done a lot of planning ahead of time to make sure the day was going to run very smoothly and create a COVID-safe environment for all the students coming in.
READ ALSO:
"That planning has really benefitted the kids and my staff and everyone felt quite safe in returning to school and the kids went off to their various new classrooms and met their new teachers."
While some students have reported to staff they had done their RATs, schools aren't asking for proof, with the focus more on getting kids settled and back into learning.
Mr Connor said schools rely on an "honesty system".
"The RATs were distributed to all the families in the school who wanted them," he said.
"The tests themselves are not mandatory but they're highly recommended to be used twice a week.
"It's a system where we're trusting the parents and the community to undertake those tests with the kids."
Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content:
- Bookmark northerndailyleader.com.au
- Make sure you are signed up for our breaking and regular headlines newsletters
- Follow us on Twitter
- Follow us on Instagram
- Follow us on Google News