Premier of Queensland Annastacia Palaszczuk has announced this morning that Queensland schools will partially reopen from next week.

On May 11 Kindergarten, prep, grades one, 11 and 12 will return to the classroom. Then on May 15 the easing of restrictions will be assessed and if everything goes to plan all students will be back at school on May 25.

The decision of who gets to return has been made based on who the Premier believes to be at the most critical points of their education.

“These are the children who are at the most important junctures of schooling – the beginning and the end of their educational journey,” she said.

According to Chief Health Officer Dr Jeanette Young, Queensland’s early response to COVID-19 is being credited as the reason they are able to take these measures to return students to school.

“You only have to look at what we were dealing with prior to the school holidays with what we have now to appreciate why Queensland is in the strong position it is,” she said.

Social distancing rules will still be upheld in schools as they reopen to try and prevent this from causing a spike in infections.

Assemblies and school excursions will also still be banned.

State Education Minister for Queensland Grace Grace has said that other states aren’t in the same position as Queensland and shouldn’t rush their own back to school measures.

“We’re in a bit of a different situation from New South Wales and Victoria,” she said.

As of yesterday Queensland only had one new case of coronavirus.

Photo: Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk by US Department of Defense available HERE and used under a Creative Commons Attribution. This image has not been modified.