For Year 12 student James Pinkett, the upcoming Higher School Certificate is a daunting prospect.
The final exams in New South Wales have been pushed back to November 9, but the months of learning from home due to COVID-19 restrictions have left him feeling underprepared.
"I’m worried that I’m not able to process most of the work learned over this COVID period," he told SBS News.
"It’s just very challenging to understand most work without a face-to-face conversation to ask for help or advice."
A study of 419 Year 12 students by tutoring service Cluey Learning found 84 per cent believe they deserve special consideration for their final mark.
James Pinkett says homeschooling hasn't been without its challenges. Source: SBS News
Sixty per cent worried that their mark would be worse due to COVID-19 interruptions and 87 per cent agreed that their cohort is more disadvantaged than those from previous years.
Dr Selina Samuel from tutoring service Cluey Learning told SBS News that many final-year students are struggling to cope with the disruption to schooling.
“We did have responses from students that they’re rethinking their options,” she said. “(They're thinking about) what university course they’re going to do, whether they’re going to go to university at all."
“It’s a very difficult time for them.”
Higher School Certificate marks will be released in mid-January.
Kim Paino from the Universities Admissions Centre told SBS News that this delay will not disadvantage students hoping to go to university in 2022.
“This really will not impact university entry for next year," she said. "Yes, the timelines will have to change … but it's still plenty of time to get your offer and get enrolled at university for next year."
Mandatory vaccinations and mask rules
Under the NSW government plan for schools, all students are due to return to school by November 8, and the HSC will be pushed back to November 9.
It follows a shift to online learning in July amid the state's COVID-19 outbreak.
Strict restrictions will be in place for schools, including banning large gatherings and mandating vaccinations and mask-wearing for staff.
It will also be compulsory for high school students to wear a mask, while primary school students will for the first time be encouraged to do so.
"Minimal mixing, not having extra adults, no assemblies or large gatherings," Education Minister Sarah Mitchell told reporters.
She said precautions are being taken, including allowing NSW Health to decide if a school in a local government area must return to online learning, in the event of a high rate of COVID-19 transmission.
"It is in line with how we expect to see increasing vaccination rates in our community; and we will also be having the strict COVID settings on our school site."
According to the new roadmap, students will begin returning to classrooms from October 25 for kindergarten, year 1 and year 12.
Years 2, 6 and 11 will return on November 1. The rest of students will head back on November 8.
Parents like Samantha Pinkett are pleased to have some guidance.
"It would be better if they could go back even sooner. But again there’s not much we can do about it, we just have to roll with the punches," she told SBS News.
"They really do need to go back, just for the social aspect and the connectivity between their friends and their teachers."
Mandatory vaccinations will be required for all school staff by November 8.
A recent survey of 50,000 state school employees found that almost 80 per cent have received their first vaccine dose.
“If there is any area of New South Wales which comes out of lockdown before October 25 ... those children will automatically go back to school,” New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian said.
The New South Wales Teachers Federation has "cautiously" supported the staggered return of students to school.
"It's not without its challenges ... but these are the health measures that are necessary to keep people safe," Mr Gavrielatos told AAP.
"The road map is something that we would aspire to ... ultimately we want students to return to face-to-face teaching and learning."
Additional reporting: AAP
SBS is providing live translations of daily New South Wales and Victoria COVID-19 press conferences in various languages.
