In Melbourne’s north west,the courtyards of Resurrection Catholic Primary School in Kings Park buzzed on Wednesday morning as 500 children mingled outside their classrooms,many of them so eager to return to their classrooms that they arrived at least half an hour early.
Rahab Chege dropped off her two daughters Carol,7,and Genevieve,5,before work. An essential worker in the health sector,Ms Chege had continued to go into work each day while her husband,who is in IT,supervised the two children at home.
The two girls used learning packs the teachers had personally delivered to the school’s approximately 500 students.
“They have done really well,” Ms Chege said. “The teachers told us during lockdown,this is what you need to catch up on with your child.”
Sixty-six per cent of students at Resurrection come from families with a non-English speaking background and more than 10 per cent are in Australia on refugee visas.
The school employs three learning support officers who helped parents to support parents who speak no or little English,translating the school’s directions into Vietnamese,Burmese,Dinka and Arabic.
Jenny Le,a staff member and parent at the school,helped about 20 Vietnamese families with remote learning,and said she also took on the informal role of phone counsellor to parents worried about their children’s learning and mental health.
“They did have worries of when the lockdown was going to end … and definitely were concerned about their child’s wellbeing,being at home and not socialising or being with their friends,” Ms Le said.
The eased restrictions also enabled Northcote local Christopher Ong and three-year-old daughter Ava to start their day with a croissant at Northcote cafe Bicycle Thieves.
“Now that lockdown’s over,it’s almost like daddy-daughter time. We spend half an hour in the morning colouring before she goes to preschool,” Mr Ong said.
“During lockdown we would just go to the park,just walk around. It gets freezing,it’s wet and it’s cold,so this is good.
“I just hope that one day it can be somewhat permanent.”
The Herbert Cafe manager Sam Shayler said it was a delight to see the smiling faces of regulars again,even if they were obscured by masks.
“The best part of it is having all our regulars back and seeing everyone in a better mood,seeing everyone happy again,” Mr Shayler said.
The cafe,located opposite Northcote train station,welcomed students from Catholic girls’ school Santa Maria College grabbing a coffee before heading to class.
“During lockdown everyone was in a low sort of place,so it’s sort of back to the smiling faces,” he said.
On Wednesday afternoon,the state and federal governments announced a joint support package for struggling Victorian businesses.
Thousands of hard-pressed Victorian small and medium businesses will benefit fromthe fresh package of measures to help them,and their landlords,cope with the strain on rents due to recent lockdowns.
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