All students at Calwell High School will be returning to campus on Monday after WorkSafe ACT lifted the prohibition notice on the school.
The year 7 and 8 Calwell High School students were banned from attending school since March 31 after WorkSafe inspectors saw occupational violence and unsafe situations caused by a lack of staff.
Inspectors found teachers and administration staff were being abused, sworn at, screamed at and subjected to sexualised behaviour or violence from students on a daily basis.
Teachers were regularly taking classes of more than 40 students as COVID-19 swept through the understaffed school.
Education Minister Yvette Berry survived a no-confidence motion in the Legislative Assembly after the extent of safety issues at the school were revealed.
"I know this has been a challenging period for the school community. Thank you to teachers, staff, families and students at Calwell High School for your patience and commitment to ensuring that everyone feels safe and welcome at school, so the best learning can happen," Ms Berry said.
"We want every ACT public school student and staff member to thrive, and that is why we will continue to prioritise the safety and wellbeing of our school communities."
The directorate has sent two extra teachers to the school and appointed Steve Collins as an extra member of the leadership team.
A spokesperson said the directorate was committed to professional development and ongoing training for staff, as well as implementing the positive behaviours for learning program.
Opposition spokesman Jeremy Hanson said the situation should never had reached a point where WorkSafe ACT had to intervene.
"It is a disgrace that that happened," Mr Hanson said.
"Instead of a response from the minister that acknowledged accountability, we've heard denials."
Mr Hanson said parents had told the Liberals they were concerned they were not informed about the extent of problems at Calwell High School.
"They are happy [the students] are going back but they are nervous."
In a letter to parents, principal Megan Altenburg said the school would have greater consistency around how it managed and communicated incidents and it would communicate more frequently with parents.
She said there would be improved monitoring of staff absences and the impact of COVID-19.
"As you know, we have been working with the Education Directorate and WorkSafe ACT to improve our working and learning environment," she said.
"Much of this work has involved reviewing processes around incident management and work health and safety. Our staff have also participated in refresher training and professional development in these areas."
Australian Education Union ACT branch president Angela Burroughs said the union was satisfied that a range of measures had been put in place to ensure the safety of students and staff.
"The fact that it took such a long time for the notice to be lifted says something about the seriousness of the issues to be addressed," Ms Burroughs said.
"[The directorate] recognise this is a journey and the implementation plan needs to be developed and very actively evaluated."
She said lessons had been learned from the case of Calwell High School that would be implemented across the system.
