Public school students across St George and Sutherland Shire will continue to learn remotely this week, with the NSW Education Department refusing to bring forward the school holidays.
Catholic school students across Sydney got an early mark on Friday when Sydney Catholic Schools decided to suspend lessons from the end of last week, effectively giving its students an extra long Easter holiday break.
Instead of setting remote lessons, Catholic school teachers will use the next few days as staff development days to prepare remote learning lessons for next term, a spokesman said.
He said schools would remain open for those students who needed to attend, but there would be no lessons.
A NSW Department of Education spokesman said the current term dates would remain in place.
"The dates for school holidays remain unchanged. The department will be using this time to help teachers and principals prepare for term two," he said.
"The NSW Department of Education's advice regarding schools is very clear. Schools will remain open for parents who want their children to attend.
"The decision to keep schools open has been made based on advice from NSW Health, which has not changed.
"The NSW Department of Education does not make operational decisions regarding Catholic and other independent schools."
The NSW school term is set to end on Thursday, April 9.
Term two will commence on Monday, April 27, although some schools hold staff development days at the start of each term.
