Term one of school was supposed to start today but instead, teachers and parents are waiting to find out if students will need to wear masks and have regular COVID-19 tests when delayed face-to-face learning returns in two weeks.
Queensland's back-to-school plan is expected to be discussed by Cabinet today as families brace for more disruption.
Only the children of essential workers and those who are vulnerable are being supervised at schools from this week, after the state government delayed the start of the school year because of an expected peak in the Omicron outbreak.
Remote learning will begin for year 11 and year 12 students on January 31, the same day many private schools are kicking off home learning for all year groups.
On Friday, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk downplayed the need for rapid antigen testing.
"Let me say this, there is no health advice, the AHPPC (Australian Health Protection Principal Committee) has not advised that there needs to be testing of children at this stage," she said.
When asked on Friday if face-to-face learning for Queensland students could be pushed back again, Ms Palaszczuk replied: "No, there's no further delay."
On Sunday, Health Minister Yvette D'Ath again signalled Queensland would not require weekly testing of students and teachers.
"It's not a comfortable test at the best of times, and we just don't believe that at this stage we need to be testing children in that way and that regular," she said.
Ms Palaszczuk said with two weeks until most students return to the classroom there was time for Queensland to finalise its plan.
"There is no health advice at this moment that says children need to be tested, from either the Chief Health Officer or AHPPC," she said.
"I want to consider that in detail and make sure we get it right for the parents and students of this state."
What's happening in other states?
New South Wales and Victoria both announced their back-to-school plans on Sunday.
In NSW, all teachers and students will have to take rapid antigen tests twice a week, though in Victoria it's only "strongly recommended".
The tests will be provided by the state governments.
Masks are mandatory in schools in both states, though in NSW the edict only applies to teachers and high school students. In Victoria, it applies to teachers and all students in year 3 and above.
Neither state plans to close schools if there's a positive case. Parents will be asked to notify the school, which will then inform other parents of the infection.
Both states have invested in more air purifiers for use in high-risk areas and have contingency plans to boost teaching numbers if staff members become sick.
In Tasmania, the government will supply parents with two RATs per child so they can be tested if they become symptomatic when school returns there on February 9.
High school students will have to wear surgical masks and thousands of air purifiers are being installed in some classrooms.
If there is a single case in a Tasmanian classroom, families will be asked to monitor students for symptoms.
An outbreak management team will be put in place if there are five or more cases in a classroom within seven days.
'Sticky situation' for parents juggling children and work
Brisbane mother of two Annette Moffitt said the delay to the school year is a "sticky situation for a lot of parents out there."
"We're really grateful for how safe our family has been kept up until this point, but it kind of seems that the horse has bolted.
"There's so many cases out there at the moment we're just trying to do the best that we can to keep our family safe."
Ms Moffitt's youngest son Charlie was due to begin prep today.
"We're very sad for him, he's really excited about starting.
"His older brother loves school, so he's really sharing that passion around getting in there."
The school holiday extension has created challenges, with Ms Moffitt starting a new job today.
"We'll be juggling in between my husband taking unpaid leave from work, which certainly isn't ideal, and also then using our wonderful Grannie Annie as well to help out with the kids where she can.
"We know we're not unique, but we're also not in a position where we can send our kids to school and there's no other care available apart from your home unit and your immediate family," she said.
Vicky Zhu's son is due to start year two and she fears he could be in and out of school if there are outbreaks.
"I think the next year could be tough for us."
She is also worried about her toddler, who is too young to be vaccinated.
Fears COVID-19 is deepening educational inequality
Year 11 and 12 students will be the only cohorts at state schools to start home learning on January 31.
But many private schools will provide students of all year groups with online classes from the same date.
The principal of Brigidine College in Brisbane, Brendan Cahill, said the school had successfully done online learning during past COVID-19 lockdowns.
"Learning is important and it's critical to make sure that no one misses out, particularly our senior students and also the transition to high school for our year sevens.
"We wanted to make sure that it was as seamless as possible."
Mr Cahill said he hoped the delay in face-to-face learning would help the school secure more RATs.
"We have the orders in like everyone else, we have some and we will use those with discretion," he said.
Queensland general manager of children's charity The Smith Family, Alan Le May, said the pandemic is exacerbating inequality.
"It has increased the cost of education, [financially disadvantaged] families don't feel as confident as other families do in supporting their children in at-home learning environments.
"Those families often don't have the digital access that their better-off peers might have so these are all concerns that we have as we go into the new school year," he said.
Mr Le May urged governments to be mindful of disadvantaged students when forming back-to-school plans.
"We want to make sure that the decisions we make are not deepening inequity and not making things more difficult for already struggling families and students.
"A family who's deciding whether they pay the rent or whether they buy school uniforms or not — we could be adding complexity with extra costs such as expecting them to pay for RATs, expecting them to embrace the complexity of testing on a regular basis," he said.
Vaccine drive for children continues as the mandate kicks in for education staff
As of January 23, 25.72 per cent of children aged between five and 11 had received one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, just two weeks after the rollout began.
Ms Palaszczuk said with Queenslanders getting their booster shots and children getting vaccinated, the state was moving forward.
"We've got this window of opportunity of two weeks to get our children vaccinated before schools go back, we're very lucky to have that," she said.
On Sunday, Ms D'Ath urged older children to get their second dose before the start of the school year.
"We are not at 70 per cent double dose for the 12-to-15-year-olds so we really want to see those numbers come up before they start the school year," she said.
The mandatory vaccination requirement for Queensland education staff came into effect overnight.
It applies to anyone who works in a school, kindergarten or childcare centre including teachers, admin staff, volunteers, support workers and university students.
University staff are not included in the vaccine mandate.
