Elphinstone Primary School had planned an end-of-year gathering this week, but it ended up with a party of one.

A COVID-19 outbreak has spread through the school community after a three-day trip last week, leaving principal Brendan Stewart the only person on campus.

Elphinstone Primary School in central Victoria.Credit:Brendan Stewart

“I’m a full-time teaching principal, and we’ve got another full-time teacher, and we’ve got a part-time teacher and two educational support staff,” he said.

“One by one they all tested positive to COVID over the weekend, so I’m the last one standing. And not only that, we’ve had quite a significant number of students testing positive also over the weekend.”

Stewart said about half of the school’s 21 students had tested positive to COVID. A couple turned up to class on Monday morning, but the parents quickly changed their minds and withdrew them, leaving the principal on his own.

The government school, south of Bendigo in central Victoria, had taken an excursion to Ballarat, Bendigo and Hanging Rock last week. Stewart drove the minibus, but he has so far avoided the virus.

The view from Hanging Rock, which the students visited on their trip last week.Credit:Istock

“The kids were in a confined space all week, probably [explaining] the ferocity of the whole thing,” he said.

The school’s final assembly was held online on Monday, celebrating its three year 6 graduates. “They unfortunately didn’t get their last day,” Stewart said.

The assembly brought back memories of Victoria’s long lockdowns during the first two years of the pandemic.

“We revisited Zoom,” he said. “Back to the old days.”

“The ironic thing is the teacher we farewelled [on Monday] started day one of lockdown. So she was a graduate teacher who started in the second term of 2020, which was online, and she finished her farewells online yesterday.”

Statewide remote learning is a thing of the past, but COVID-19 and other illnesses remained a challenge for schools this year. More than 200 Victorian children have been hospitalised with COVID in the past three months, according to recent data.

Andrew Dalgleish, president of the Victorian Principals Association, expressed his sympathy for the Elphinstone school community.

“This is ‘COVID normal’, but it’s the last thing you need before Christmas,” he said.

“Schools have worked as hard as they can to manage it, not just minimising infections but staff shortages [caused by illness].”

Advice on managing COVID in schools has changed this year. Staff and students are advised to report positive results to their schools and isolate for at least five days. COVID-19 vaccines are no longer mandatory for staff or visitors. And schools are advised to use air purifiers, to open windows and doors to maximise ventilation, and to make face masks available.

Victorian Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said last week the COVID wave seemed to have plateaued, but he warned case numbers could rise over the festive season.

“The current COVID-19 wave appears to have plateaued, with several key measures – including active cases, cases in hospital and cases in intensive care – decreasing slightly for the first time in almost eight weeks,” he said.

There were 24,652 COVID cases reported in Victoria last week, an 11 per cent drop on the previous week. On average, there were 3522 new cases reported each day, down slightly from 3970 cases the previous week.

Eighty-four COVID-related deaths were reported to the Department of Health last week – an average of 12 each day.

With Ashleigh McMillan

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