Students attending small schools in regional New South Wales could be back in their classrooms full-time before their metropolitan peers.
New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian said it made sense that schools with smaller student bodies could reopen their campuses faster.
"In NSW we have 2,200 public schools and they range in number of students from 10 all the way up to 2,000," Ms Berejiklian said.
"For a lot of country schools it might actually mean going back full time sooner than the rest of the state because of the sheer size of the schools.
"Obviously for schools in Sydney and boarding schools there are different ways to approach that issue."
In NSW, students will attend school one day a week from May 11 — the third week of term two.
Their time on campus would be increased as the term progressed.
"Ideally if we feel that the transition back to school has gone smoothly, there is a chance we could have all all kids back in school full time by the end of May or early June," Ms Berejiklian said.
Schools must be safe
Australian Primary Principals Association president, Malcolm Elliott, said he supported the Premier's staged approach, provided the individual school environments were safe.
"We'd be assuming small public schools in regional areas would only re-open where there's full confidence that the medical emergency in that area is well and truly under control or non-existent," Mr Elliott said.
"We want to see children back at school sooner rather than later, but only under circumstances where it's safe."
Soap, sanitiser stocked
Premier Berejiklian has assured the community schools will be clean when students begin to return to their campuses next week.
"We've taken the time to buy all the things we need whether it’s hand sanitiser or whether it’s soap," she said.
Schools would follow a set plan if a positive case of coronavirus was identified.
"We want to make sure that we have an approach whereby once we have school go back that doesn’t reverse, and that’s why we have a staged approach," Ms Berejiklian said.
Students and teachers would be required to practice social distancing.
