As Darwin mother Elizabeth Adamson prepares to send her son Jake to school in the midst of the Northern Territory's Omicron wave, she knows there will be significant challenges ahead.
"I think we have to expect the kids are going to get [COVID]," Ms Adamson said.
"The biggest impact will probably be when teachers get it and that may mean the classrooms have to close for a few days or a week."
Since opening its borders in December, the number of coronavirus infections in the NT has been steadily climbing, with a record 625 daily cases recorded last week.
Most of the cases have been in the Greater Darwin area.
Ahead of school returning on January 31, Ms Adamson said she was reassured by the fact that her five-year-old son Jake had received his first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.
But she said if an outbreak resulted in the closure of her son's school, remote learning would prove difficult.
"I don't actually have any sick leave left … so it would be challenging," she said.
NT's back-to-school plan
On Friday, the NT government released its back-to-school plan, which it said aimed to "keep kids safe and in school".
It included a raft of new COVID-safe measures including "strongly encouraging" students in Year 3 and up to wear masks.
The plan also outlined new directions for schools to follow if a positive COVID-19 case is detected, with close contact primary school students allowed to continue attending school if they are asymptomatic.
And while health authorities have warned that the Territory is expected to reach a peak in COVID-19 cases early next month, the government has said it will not be delaying the beginning of term one.
"We are entering uncharted territory returning to school in the middle of a large outbreak," NT Chief Minister Michael Gunner said.
"But this has to be done … we can't all hide at home waiting for COVID to leave us alone, we need to manage COVID and get on with it."
Jonathan Carapetis, a paediatrician and director of the Telethon Kids Institute, said governments should not delay the return to school amid the Omicron wave, noting that there were a range of benefits associated with face-to-face learning.
"The educational benefits, the mental health benefits, the economic benefits to our society and the inequities of online learning have to be balanced against the risks,” Professor Carapetis said.
"We know that every single day of attendance at face-to-face schooling counts.
The Territory government has encouraged parents to get their children vaccinated against COVID-19 ahead of the beginning of term one.
NT Health said 5,538 children have received their first dose since the vaccine rollout was expanded to include 5-11-year-olds earlier this month.
Union expects 'rough start' to 2022 school year
The Australian Education Union NT welcomed the government's plan, but said it expected the year would get off to a "rough start."
"We do have concerns, particularly about some of our more vulnerable staff," branch president Jarvis Ryan said.
"We will look at plans to ensure they're as safe as possible."
All government school staff will have access to three rapid antigen tests a week as required and remote school staff will be required to take three tests in their first week in the community.
Mr Ryan said with COVID-19 cases expected to surge in the next few weeks, the union anticipated staff shortages.
"It's concerning because we don't have a large teacher workforce here in the Northern Territory … we are struggling just to fill out our key vacancies," he said.
"We have principals, assistant principals, teachers, who may not necessarily be on class, but who can step in to teach.
"This will be a bumpy road to begin with … but as we've seen from around the world, there's no getting around COVID."
The NT Education Department said more than 100 registered teachers were on stand-by to redeploy if required.
