Queensland parents have been urged to exercise patience and contact principals if they are unsure about whether they can send their child to school when term two resumes tomorrow.

Key points: The Queensland Premier has asked for patience on the first day of term two tomorrow

The Queensland Premier has asked for patience on the first day of term two tomorrow Parents still unsure about whether to send their children to school or keep them at home were told to contact their school principal

Parents still unsure about whether to send their children to school or keep them at home were told to contact their school principal Five new cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed overnight in Queensland, bringing the total number of cases to 1,019

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk thanked families for their understanding so far, as many students prepare to learn from home amid coronavirus restrictions.

Schools will only be open to children of essential workers for the first five weeks of term, with the measures to be reviewed on May 17.

"We are in unprecedented times and I know that some of the changes we are asking you to do can feel confronting but I want everyone to know that we're here to help you," she said.

"We know that day one is going to be a bit confusing for some parents and families but please bear with us.

"If you are uncertain about whether or not your children should be going to school, you should be contacting your principal.

"We've organised an additional 5,000 laptops for families in need, this is just a start.

"We've also set up two new hotlines, one for state schools and one for early childhood families, for information and support."

Ms Grace said schools throughout Queensland had been preparing for at-home and virtual learning.

"We want to ensure that students get a good learning experience from home and remote learning so it is essential that every student is accounted for, and teachers and schools know exactly where students are.

"So we ask that they log in, let the schools know that they are at home learning.

"We don't expect parents to teach their children at home. This is remote learning. Your teacher will be there to continue the learning from a remote location, or from printed material."

When asked if children of non-essential workers would be turned away, Education Minister Grace Grace said no child would be left in an unsafe situation, but parents should seek clarity from the schools if they were not sure if their child can attend.

"If there is an outbreak at a school it will be immediately closed down and parents will have to cope with that situation," she said.

"We don't want students to be in that situation, so we ask that every parent exercise a reasonable, common sense and it would be irresponsible to be out there at the moment, where we are with COVID-19, to be advocating that parents send their children to school if they want to.

"That is not the best health and wellbeing for your child or the school community."

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Essential worker definition still causing some confusion

Deputy Opposition Leader Tim Mander said the government's information about school attendance was confusing.

"Anybody working at the moment is an essential worker and those parents deserve the right to be able to send their children to school," he said.

"The message needs to be clear, if you want to send your kids to school you should be able to do that.

"If you want to keep them at home, you should be able to do that as well and the department then needs to resource those children so that their education can continue."

"There is no health risk — that has been consistently said by the Chief Health Officer — so why aren't the schools open for anybody that wants to send their children there?"

Alex Scott from the Together Union, which represents public servants, said there was "high level confusion" about what will happen on Monday.

"At the end of the day, every job is essential and we should be supporting the choices being made by workers and by families, by making the right choice in terms of the health of the community, but also making sure that they're able to do what they can to assist in terms of the economy," he said.

"The idea that any worker is not essential is ridiculous at this point in time.

"But also, the concept that if you're working from home somehow you're able to supervise your children clearly doesn't understand the stress and difficulties people are having in relation to working from home."

'Clearly many challenges'

Queensland Teachers Union president Kevin Bates said it was important to "keep a lid" on the number of students at school.

"The key issue for us, in any attempt to broaden the definition of who are essential workers, is it will create a situation where we have too many students at school to actually be able to have that 1 to 12 ratio, which has been determined as the safe level.

"Provided people stick with the definitions provided by the Premier and listen to what she had to say, which is if you can stay at home you should stay at home and learn at home, then I think we will be able to manage this situation."

"There are clearly many challenges for schools opening tomorrow, but probably the most significant is juggling supervising students in the classroom and providing learning for those at home."

Brisbane parents Beth and Ben are both nurses and were at the Premier and Education Minister's press conference.

Their children will be going to school some days but learning-at-home when possible.

"We've had a taste of that at the end of last term, and certainly (son) Oliver is hopeful that school will be two to three hours at the most," Beth said.

"At the moment, it's just really important for us to be at work right now, and without the option of school, that would make it difficult for us.

"I think it's just about being sensible and realising we're in a time that we haven't been through before and just doing the best that we can, and keeping it fun because we want to take care of our kids."

"This has been an exceptional time and for us it's been great to have the flexibility," said Ben.

"It will help take the pressure off the health system by having more of the staff able to come to work, so we're grateful for the opportunity."

Five new cases of COVID-19 were confirmed overnight in Queensland, bringing the total number of cases to 1,019.