COVID-19 continues to disrupt the Illawarra's schools, with one local school forced to ask parents not to send their kids to get on top of a virus outbreak.
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On Wednesday, Warilla High School Principal Michelle Brook told parents of students in Years 7-10 to stay home due to concerns about increased virus cases.
"As you may be aware, from the regular notifications you receive when there is a positive case in your child's year group, many of our students are testing positive for COVID-19," Ms Brook said in a letter seen by the Mercury.
"We are seeing that many students that are at school one day are testing positive the next day.
"We worry about the increasing spread amongst these year groups. In an attempt to stop this spread, this Thursday and Friday we are asking all students to stay at home and work from their Google Classroom.
"There will be minimal supervision provided at school if required, but we are trying to stop this spread."
Year 11 and 12 will continue with normal lessons, she said, but were advised to wear masks "to try and keep themselves safe while this peak in infections occurs".
It seems to have really hit schools in the past two weeks, some days I have half my class out as close contacts.
She recommended all students test themselves before returning on Monday.
At other schools, a number of local teachers, who are prevented from talking on the record without permission from the NSW Education department, said they have been particularly hard hit in the past fortnight.
"It seems to have really hit schools in the past two weeks, some days I have half my class out as close contacts," one teacher said.
Another said eight children in one class had tested positive in one day this week, with many others being sent home with COVID-19 symptoms.
Other schools, like Keira High, reported staff shortages because of positive cases - which, combined with this week's flood-related issues, left them on minimal supervision for two days this week.
NSW Teachers Federation Senior Vice President Amber Flohm said the union was aware of the situation at Warilla High School.
She said teachers and students had been infected with the virus.
"The federation has ensured there is a health and safety response to any localised transmission in a school community, so moving students and staff to learning from home is an important risk mitigation measure," she said.
"We're really happy about this circuit breaker at Warilla."
Ms Flohm said there were not a lot of COVID-19 outbreaks across Illawarra schools, but said significant teacher shortages and unfilled vacancies in the area were exacerbating the pressure cases were putting on teachers.
"This is a workforce under extreme pressure, the work load before these incidences was crippling, and the staffing shortage has made the situation inside the school gates almost untenable for many schools," she said.
"We commenced the year this year, significantly understaffed. What that means for schools, is that they are scrambling every day just to cover the current shortages."
According to NSW Health, school-aged children account for the highest number of COVID cases in the past week.
This is the second week since the NSW Government relaxed testing rules for students, moving to a "on demand" system instead of the twice weekly stipulation which was in place at the beginning of term.
Parents received eight rapid antigen tests per student, to be distributed in two drops, which Premier Dominic Perrottet said were to be used at their discretion "for peace of mind, for example, when a student is feeling unwell with a sore throat or cough, or if family members are sick".
The Mercury asked the NSW Department of Education and the local health district for details about how many Illawarra schools and students have been affected by the virus in recent weeks.
The health district said the Department of Education was managing COVID in schools, and the education department said case numbers were collated by NSW Health.
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Kate McIlwain
For more than a decade, I've helped the Illawarra Mercury set the news agenda across the region. Currently I'm the paper's health reporter - covering the stories of Illawarra workers and residents in the wake of a global pandemic and at a time where our health systems are stretched to the limit.
For more than a decade, I've helped the Illawarra Mercury set the news agenda across the region. Currently I'm the paper's health reporter - covering the stories of Illawarra workers and residents in the wake of a global pandemic and at a time where our health systems are stretched to the limit.
