Tangara School for Girls back to remote learning after Covid outbreak takes out teachers, student

An exclusive, invitation-only school has been shut down until ‘further notice’ after a Covid outbreak took out a third of its teaching staff and a single student. 

All students from Year 7 to 11 at Tangara School for Girls, in the north Sydney suburb of Cherrybrook, will return to remote learning for at least the next four days thanks to the handful of coronavirus cases.

Year 12 students have already finished their school year. 

In a letter to the school’s parents, Principal Rita Sakr said the outbreak had left many of the teachers bedridden and unable to attend class.  

‘Over the weekend, one third of our secondary staff have tested positive to Covid placing pressure on teaching, supervision and operational needs at our school,’ Ms Sakr said.

‘At this stage, there is only one confirmed case of Covid amongst our secondary students.

‘School has decided to transition Years seven to 11 to remote learning for four days or until further notice.’ 

Radio host Ben Fordham told his 2GB listeners the school had hit ‘the panic button’. 

‘We all thought Australia had moved on since the bad old days of Covid when we talk about lockdowns, curfews and learning from home,’ he said.

‘Tangara has about 600 students, one student has Covid and they’ve sent the entire senior school home.

‘We can understand the concern with one third of teachers unwell – but when you think about it, shutting down an entire business when one third of workers are unavailable sounds like they don’t have a back-up plan.

‘Sounds like they’re pressing the panic button.’

The principal of the invitation-only school (above) said a third of its teachers had been infected with Covid in an outbreak

NSW had 809 people in hospital with coronavirus as of November 3 with 17 of those in intensive care.

The state also saw 24 people die with Covid in the week up to November 3 from 12,450 positive cases.

NSW has recorded a total of 3,561,546 Covid cases since the beginning of the pandemic and 5,454 deaths. 

The school shutdown comes as experts begin to speculate the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) will advise a fifth jab in the coming weeks with some already calling on the government body to recommend it.

University of South Australia epidemiologist Professor Adrian Esterman told News Corp it was time for ATAGI to recommend a fifth dose given the nation was on the brink of a new wave.

‘By and large I would welcome a fifth dose, we are at the beginning of a new wave,’ said,’ he said.

‘More importantly we have waning immunity, most people had their last dose several months ago.’

Deakin University epidemiologist Catherine Bennett said millions of Australians were still without their fourth dose.

‘Half the people who are eligible for the fourth dose still haven’t had it, I think that is actually more urgent,’ she said. 

Students were told they will learn from home for the remainder of the week or ‘until further notice’, leaving them unsure when they will actually return

Commonwealth chief medical officer Paul Kelly also recently refused to rule out a Covid lockdown for Christmas because a new wave of the virus was on the way.

‘(Cases) are certainly are rising. How it will go in the future is a matter of speculation,’ he told Sunrise.

‘This is another variation of Omicron, from the grandchildren of Omicron, if you like.’

He added that while another lockdown wasn’t his ‘decision’ he didn’t believe another would be ‘likely’.

‘My advice at the moment is be alert but not afraid,’ he said.

Dr Kelly also urged people to stay on top of boosters with officials monitoring if high-risk groups need to get their fifth jab.

‘Now’s the time to get that extra vaccine if you’re due,’ Dr Kelly said.

‘At the moment, we’re not considering further doses if you’re already up to date. But that’s something that ATAGI will continue to look at over the coming months.’