“One of the features of school returning is going to be twice-weekly rapid antigen tests,” Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said at a press conference on Sunday.
“That surveillance testing is all about detecting cases. Not necessarily every case — that would be almost impossible given the amount of transmission that is in the community.
“It is about finding as many cases as we can and shutting down those chains of transmission.”
Rapid antigen testing will be in place for at least the first four weeks of term one.
During the press conference, Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne paediatrician Sharon Goldfeld spoke about the importance of attending school for children’s social and emotional health.
“I think that probably for the first time during the pandemic, we know that children will go to school on day one,” she said.
“As a paediatrician, I can say that I think it's a really exciting time for parents, even with all the anxiety of kids going to school, and I do really recommend to parents if at all possible, that you get your primary school-age child vaccinated.”
The Victorian Government worked closely with the NSW Government, creating nearly identical plans for the sake of consistency between the states.
More than 14 million rapid antigen tests will be delivered to Victorian schools and early childhood education and care services, including 6.6 million tests to be delivered in the first week of term.
Surveillance testing will be strongly recommended for all primary and secondary school students and staff, and early childhood education and care staff, twice-weekly at home before school or childcare.
It is recommended students and staff at specialist schools test five days a week due to the higher risk of severe illness for medically vulnerable children.
Victorian Education Minister James Merlino said all of the promised 51,000 air purifiers would be in place in government and low-fee non-government schools across the state by the first school day of 2022.
He said purifiers would be placed in high-risk settings, such as music rooms, staff rooms, indoor canteens, sick bays and rooms where there was poor ventilation.
At the end of the 2021 school year, more than 99.7 per cent of school staff were double-vaccinated.
School and early childhood staff will be added to the list of workers in key sectors who must receive a third dose of a COVID-19 vaccine by February 25, if they are already eligible, or within three months and two weeks of receiving a second dose to continue working in education settings.
Mask wearing will continue indoors, with students in Year 3 and above required to wear masks.
Teachers will be required to wear masks at all times when not actively teaching or communicating with students.
Remote learning will be considered only as a localised, short-term last resort, the government advised.
