Children will start returning to school in Victoria NEXT WEEK but will be forced to wear masks to stop the spread of coronavirus

Year 7 students will finally be able to return to school as the Victorian government continues to ease COVID-19 restrictions.  

They will join primary school students, students studying VCE and VCAL and students attending specialist schools in returning to school next week. 

Under initial plans by Premier Daniel Andrews' government, Year 7 students were to be excluded from the initial return to school. 

Melbourne children will return to school next week after spending weeks in home schooling

James Merlino delivered good news for the parents of Year 7 students, but bad news for older students desperate to return to school 

Education Minister James Merlino said the move recognised the importance of getting new high school students into class. 

'Today is a really, really great day,' he told a press conference on Monday.   

Under the plan, all students returning to Victorian schools will be required to wear face masks to restrict the spread of COVID-19. 

On Monday, Victoria recorded no coronavirus deaths and just nine new cases. 

Once back at school, only students from years 8 to 10 will remain at home schooling.  

They will not return to school until October 26.

Mr Merlino warned parents of a range of new rules and procedures facing them and their children on returning to the classroom. 

'There will be the capacity at secondary schools to spread the students out across the campus. At the school level, there are a number of strategies in place. So at secondary schools, everyone is wearing a mask,' he said.

'There will be staggered pick-up and drop-off times where appropriate, particularly in our larger primary and secondary schools.

'There will be physical distancing at the school gate. There will be a very strong message to parents: this is pick-up and drop-off. It’s not dropping off the kids and having a chat at the school gate, as much as you would like to.'

 Mr Merlino said there was a strategy behind the staggered return to school. 

'There are a number of other reasons why this two weeks works for us,' Mr Merlino said.

Home schooling has become a nightmare for most Victorians

'The two weeks gives us time to monitor the impact as we bring back 50,000 year 7 students alongside all the years 11 and 12. 

'We have this two-week period to monitor the impact both for the return of those students, the increased movement of people as well as all of the strategies in place at a school level. It is also, obviously, a full incubation period.'

Any school at which a student or staff member becomes infected with COVID-19 will be closed for deep cleaning and contact tracing, and will not reopen until the Department of Health and Human Services has reviewed it. 

Primary school and most senior high school students were already due to return to their classrooms on October 12. 

Regional Victorian students, who unlike Melburnians have enjoyed relaxed restrictions, returned to their classrooms today. 

It remains unclear when children may be able to return to activities such as sports played outside of schools. 

Mr Merlino said he would make further announcements in the coming days and weeks.  

At Mr Andrews' daily press conference in Melbourne on Monday, Victorians were left in the dark about when they might be able to travel more than 5km from their homes. 

Premier Daniel Andrews was questioned about where his missing North Face jacket had gone

Victorian Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton remains concerned about mystery cases

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews swore on the bible while appearing at the inquiry into hotel quarantine last month

Victoria's Chief Health Officer Professor Brett Sutton told reporters he did not yet know if the travel rule would still be in place in two weeks' time. 

Under Mr Andrews' plans to release trapped Melburnians on October 19, the statewide 14-day COVID-19 average needs to be five or less. 

Furthermore, there also needs to be fewer than five mystery cases over the previous two weeks. 

Thirteen mystery cases have been identified in Melbourne over the past two weeks. 

Professor Sutton said he was uncertain Victoria would reach those targets in time. 

'My gut feel is that it will be a line ball. Look, it's not a certain one way or the other,' he said. 

Four active cases of COVID-19 in regional Victoria has seen authorities work quickly to contain a possible spread. 

One of the cases was found in Shepparton - 185 kilometres north of Melbourne.

Dr Sutton said he hoped the new case may prove to be a false positive.

'The result has a high CT value. A high CT value can sometimes mean a weak positive. So we're treating it as a positive. It may end up being a negative,' he said.  

As Mr Andrews came under fire over the fallout of last month's hotel quarantine inquiry, it was brought to his attention that his The North Face jacket had gone missing from his weekend press conferences.  

Trapped Victorians had gone so far to set up social media pages dedicated to the premier's weekend jacket. 

It has not been seen for weeks as Mr Andrews reverted to wearing his weekday suits during his weekend press conferences. 

'Look, I hadn't given it a lot of thought,' Mr Andrews said. 'If you're putting in a bid or a pitch for me to wear it sometime soon,  I'll give that due thought and we'll see what comes of that.'