Premier Gladys Berejiklian and Minister for Education Sarah Mitchell outlined on Friday the government's timeline for a staggered return to face to face learning under level three restrictions from October 25.

Vaccination will be mandatory for school staff by November 8.

"The best thing we can do, particularly to protect our children under 12, is to vaccinate the adults around them, and that of course is their parents but also their teachers in the classroom," Ms Mitchell told regional media.

Priority vaccinations will be offered to Sydney based staff from September 6 at Qudos Bank Arena, but staff elsewhere have been told to make use of GPs, clinics and pharmacies.

Ms Mitchell told regional media the government was "going to have to work closely with Health and other networks to guarantee that supply" to regional NSW, but she was confident staff would be able to meet the deadline.

"Now that we've set that target for November 8 for all of our teachers to be vaccinated, we know we're going to have to work closely with Health and other networks to guarantee that supply," she said.

"There are ample opportunities to get vaccinated in regional NSW at the moment. We're encouraging our teachers to take up those opportunities that exist through GPs, through clinics, through pharmacies.

"We've set this deadline. It's some 10 weeks away. And given that we know that 70 per cent of our teachers have been vaccinated already, based on the evidence we got through our survey, it's encouraging to know that we're going to be able to hit that target."

NSW Teachers Federation regional organiser Jack Galvin Waight said the union had been calling for teachers to be prioritised for vaccines since last August last year.

"The announcement and public health order for mandatory vaccinations comes at a time when teachers in the Hunter continue to experience barriers to vaccination arising from a lack of access and supply," he said.

"We will continue to push for prioritisation of teachers and continue to encourage our members to get vaccinated."

Ms Mitchell was asked if the department expected to lose teachers after making vaccination mandatory.

"We've consulted with our teaching workforce in relation to this plan, and I've had some good discussions over the last few days with our principal organisations and also the teachers federation about this, who knew we were going to make this announcement today," she said.

"I'm sure there will be some people in the teaching community who don't agree with this approach, but I'm so confident that it's the right thing to do.

"We need to do it to keep our staff safe and our students safe.

"We will look at what we need to do in terms of our workforce.

"Obviously, if someone has a medical exemption, that will be taken into account, but the bottom line is that it's going to be a condition of your employment by that date and we expect our teachers to do that if they want to continue teaching."

The government confirmed on Friday that kindergarten, year one and year 12 will return to face to face learning on October 25.

Years two, six and 11 will return from November 1, and the remaining year groups from November 8.

Masks will be mandatory for teachers and high school students and recommended for primary school students.

If stay-at-home orders are lifted in some areas before October 25, all students in those local government areas can return to school.

The Hunter has been in lockdown since August 5.

Regional NSW is in lockdown until at least September 10.

"We know that the best teaching and learning happens in the classroom, but we also know it's really important for the social and emotional wellbeing of our students to be with their friends and back with their teachers," Ms Mitchell said.

Higher School Certificate exams will proceed, with a delayed start date of November 9.

The NSW Education Standards Authority will release a revised timetable and guidelines for a COVID-safe HSC in early September.

Ms Mitchell told regional media there would be "contingencies in place" if schools have COVID-19 cases on their campuses during the exam period.

"I think it's important to make the point that we did that last year as well," she said.

"Our schools had alternative venues. We've got those same considerations in place.

"We'll look at spreading students out across their exam setting. We might use the hall and the library and maybe a few classrooms.

"All of that will be based on health advice.

"That'll certainly be the case for the high-candidacy exams. English and maths are the ones we have more students generally sitting."

Students are expected to receive their HSC results and Australian Tertiary Admission Rank in mid-January.

The government said the delay will not disadvantage NSW students when applying to university.

University of Newcastle Vice Chancellor Alex Zelinsky said on Friday UON would offer five adjustment points to school leaver applicants' raw ATARs "in recognition of the extraordinary challenges they have faced in education since the start of last year".

"We know this is a challenging time for year 12 students, their families and their teachers and we're here to support them," Professor Zelinsky said.

"We want Year 12 students to know that if they're planning to study at UON next year, they'll still have every opportunity to do that.

"We'll make sure our processes are adjusted to take account of the changes announced today by the NSW Government.

"It's important to remember that there are many pathways into our University and all of these will continue to be available.

"These include the Schools Recommendation Scheme, ATAR-based admission, Year 12 Spotlight Program, our Enabling programs and new Diploma pathways. We'll also make sure students still have the same opportunities to apply for scholarships.

"We're engaging closely with high schools and will continue to do so over the coming weeks to make sure they have the information they need.

"Students may be eligible for a range of adjustment points* through various schemes, including the Educational Access Scheme, Year 12 Adjustment Points Scheme, Regional and Rural Adjustment Points Scheme and the Elite Athletes Admission Scheme.

"We're also pleased to announce that we'll be offering the COVID points scheme to this year's HSC students. School leaver applicants will be offered an additional five adjustment points to in recognition of the extraordinary challenges they have faced in education since the start of last year.

"We've already increased our support for year 12 students in the lead up to their HSC, through programs like Uni&Me that offers year 12 students the opportunity to meet with a University of Newcastle student ambassador to plan their transition from school to university.

"I also encourage anyone thinking of studying at our university next year to register for our Open Days Online where they'll be able to ask questions directly and find out everything they need to plan ahead."

Ms Mitchell said the NSW Standards Education Authority "who run the HSC, have started to have those conversations for us" about students who want to study interstate.

"I know particularly looking at universities in the ACT and in Melbourne to make sure students are still able to access [them] if they want to go to a university outside of NSW," she said.

"I think it's important to note, too, that the university offers usually happen over a number of rounds throughout January, so there is still the ability for that to take place for our students in terms of the timing of their results.

"I was told yesterday that it actually falls into line with, for instance, students who might sit the IB [International Baccalaureate] instead of the HSC. That's about the time their results come out.

"We're confident we'll be able to make it work. We've had good, positive discussions with the university sector so far and NESA will keep doing that on the government's behalf."

Australian health authorities have officially approved Pfizer to vaccinate children aged 12 to 15, from September 13.

People aged 16 to 39 are eligible for Pfizer.

Ms Mitchell said all students would need to return to school, regardless of whether they were vaccinated or not.

"Once school returns, there is the expectation that students will be back, and we've got rules and requirements under the Education Act," she said.

"We're hoping for those supply issues to become less of a problem as we get more and more from the Commonwealth Government.

"This is still some weeks away, and they should take the opportunities to access appointments where they can. We are anticipating more to come on board."