Good Shepherd Catholic School has set up the foundation for online classes, in preparation for COVID-19 to reach Mount Isa.
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Despite North West Queensland having no confirmed cases, Good Shepherd is establishing foundations for student classwork to be delivered online.
Good Shepherd Catholic School principal Kathleen McCarthy said teachers had undergone training in relation to how they could deliver courses online.
"It is never an ideal replacement, the best thing is for students to have a teacher in front of that classroom. But teachers are working hard to prepare resources that students who aren't able to come to school, can access," Ms McCarthy said.
"We have followed the regulations but the message is that schools are open. However it is up to parents, its their decision around whether they need to keep their children at home and that is why we have been trying to provide students with resources at home so they can continue their learning.
"The students are coping well with all the changes and they are very supported by the pastoral leaders and their home room teachers, discussing ways to keep students safe."
Ms McCarthy said the school had developed a number of safety regulations enforced by the Federal Government.
"As soon as the guidelines came in about social distancing, we implemented a whole range of procedures within the school including re-arranging classrooms and cancelling events such as assembles and sporting programs," she said.
"We had already begun to double down on our cleaning procedures and we had additional hand sanitiser placed around the school.
"We haven't been able to hold our church masses which is a vital part of our catholic education curriculum and the identity of our school, but we know that eventually we will be able to keep doing that. We have still continued with classroom prayer and today (March 25) we are participating in global prayer that Pope Francis is running where Christians all around the world."
Ms McCarthy said there was a sense of disappointment in the school among students.
"Young people navigate change probably better then adults do," she said.
"However of course when they've had activities cancelled there is a sense of disappointment around that, but we know that these things are temporary, and things will be postponed, and they won't necessarily miss out but it's the reality of the situation. We are trying to remind them that this will pass and things will get back to normal eventually."
Ms McCarthy said school based apprenticeships and traineeships had not been affected, however most work experience was cancelled.
"Where there are still safe environments for them to complete their work experience they may continue it, however if not students will postpone it until later in the year," she said.
"Those experiences really are important for our students, especially here at Good Shepherd a lot of our students go on from work experience to have trades and apprenticeships in the community."
Coming up to end of term, Ms McCarthy said Year 12s were currently sitting their end of term exams for English and Maths.
"We have tried to keep our exam week as normal as possible, with 80 students coming to do exams as they would normally do," she said.
"We have made arrangements so we can still adhere to the social distancing practices and make it as calm and routine as possible.
"I think the students are coping well for the situation at hand and I think they are reacting to the same way as everybody in the sense that it is uncertain times, but we are here to keep them calm and reassure them."
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