First ministers briefing

[Trichford]

Is there one on today? If so what time will it be? Thanks

Quite offensive as a parent and teacher to say home learning= none or negative but ok we'll leave it there.

For many many children though that’s exactly what it is now and what it will be come August as well.

I’m a bit fed up people try to close down valid discussions by claiming they are “offensive”.

@MumofHunter, as a parent I find offensive the whole distance "learning".
Nicola did close the schools, but she was reluctant at first because she said "once we close them most likely we'll start again in August", etc. Not saying she was wrong, just trying not to be revisionist.
My bet is that Italy will have a much higher death toll because of the shambolic way they have been counting them. We shall see in due course once updated figures start to come out.
Also, in Italy they are also up in arms because the schools are closed and there is no real plan for the future.
We should all remember that we don't know what will happen next winter. We should make the most of it now (and what we do now it is unlikely impact what will happen then).

Quite offensive as a parent and teacher to say home learning= none or negative but ok we'll leave it there.

So no discussion then? my experience - and those of my kids - is very negative. No online sessions. No video lessons, no real-time communication with a teacher. It's like back to 1997 with bulletin boards - post a message, maybe the teacher will get back to you, maybe they won't. All the P7 has been getting is worksheets and links to websites.

The older two have been getting more in terms of assignments but no feedback on what they are submitting. Impossible to replicate science labs, drama classrooms or technical subjects at home. DH and I are still working - not furloughed - from home, and simply cannot work, and educate three children at the same time.

And all the time they're missing their friends and the structure of schools. My children are fortunate in that we actually DO believe in education and want the best for them, we have stable high-speed internet and enough devices for them all to be online whenever they need to be.

Ours is a bulletin board where Kids post things and are invariably told it is fab. Even if it is blatantly wrong or a picture of their cat. My son is starting to get really sloppy with spelling etc as he sees the teacher praising things regardless of quality....

So I know of two families planning to travel to ‘England’ for a camping trip in July. Not the same two families. They can see that it will be possible by then to stay on friends property in tent (the other is a camper van). I’m keen to keep my holiday spend in Scotland and support the local tourism get back on its feet, but can’t really do that with a 5 mile restriction in place or continuous doom-laden messages when the stats no longer reflect that. I’ll happily tootle down to relatives down south if nothing further has lifted in Scotland by the end of June/start of the school summer holidays.

The messaging needs to change soon. Enough ‘stay at home’ and no more telling us off like children.
Change to ‘if you’re in a vulnerable group and still need to isolate, please continue to stay home. Let’s all think of others in how we behave and travel day to day, but let’s start to help Scotland recover by supporting local businesses and communities where we can. Let’s support our children and the teaching community to return to school safely and easily, etc, etc’

We need positive communications and messaging. Stop talking about it as though it’s the plague, focus on positive messages for those that can help Scotland recover.
I’ll choose how I support and protect those in my family who are vulnerable- including a type I diabetic and another with cancer currently in remission- but I’m done with being told to ‘stay home’ and be afraid.

Feeling a bit rantastic today 😒

I’m very wary of international comparisons of the numbers of deaths for various reasons, not least the fact that each country uses different criteria when counting COVID19 deaths. I think the U.K. is actually quite liberal in their counts and include all deaths where COVID is mentioned on the death certificate even if the person was never tested, whereas a few European countries only count it if COVID is proven to be the cause of death, which gives the impression of our deaths being higher. We also update all deaths (not just hospital deaths) more regularly than some others, so some European countries likely have a backlog of community deaths not yet counted in the official figures. I don’t think we’ll really know until after this is all over.

I'm certainly not trying to close down discussion it's just I'm not sure how much I should be commenting on home learning due to the fact I am a teacher, hence why I deleted my original post.
If you're finding it too challenging working and providing support for home learning, doing the school work over the weekend might ease the pressure. I have family members who do this. I know it's not ideal but it's not forever.
I'm sorry if you feel you're not getting enough support/ work from your schools but there needs to be a part time timetable in Aug to allow for social distancing. This is the same in other countries with similar levels of Covid in the community.
This is not a one size fits all scenario and lots of our pupils are struggling with grief from bereavements due to Covid, others are firing through work, some are focusing more on family time/ outdoors as they have ASN so this us what they need. Speak to your school and explain your worries and I'm sure they'd be more than happy to support you further.

@fascinated,
Ours is a bulletin board where Kids post things and are invariably told it is fab.
Do your kids come to my school?? :D

@mumof, I am not in the slightest overwhelmed by what the school are SUGGESTING we did, intact I am singularly underwhelmed. Personally, I would have stopped check-in the board, and my eldest has done so. My youngest still goes on teams, but that's because she likes to chat with her friend from school (and look at pictures of kitties).
Had the school done nothing with regards to distant "learning", it would have made NO difference whatsoever, as in zilch, nada, zero. I said this many times on this thread, now on teams there are more staff than pupils interacting.
Mind you, I do feel for the teachers who must feel just as frustrated as will know they are wasting everybody's time.

@MumofHunter fine for Primary. Although giving up all weekend to do schoolwork?

But secondary school students need access to specalists. I have a DS doing two advanced highers in Science. DH and I stopped studying sciences at GCSE/OGrade level. We can't support him. Same as DD doing Drama.

Anyway, if the rates keep falling as they are there will be very few cases by August and zero justification for not putting kids back in school full time.

Traveling Tabby site updated with today's numbers - 7 day rolling average of new infections per day down to 32, in mid-May we were seeing 175 new daily reported cases.

9 deaths per day on rolling average, down from 11 yesterday, 13 last weekend and 35 mid-May.

The issue with that @timefor45 is that some of the local residents in 'tourist hotspots' are aggressively telling non-locals to stay away. I've even heard of signs being put up in some places and locals blocking car parks.

Beauty spots belong to all of us- not just those who happen to live nearby. They have no right to dictate who can and can't come based on non-scientific and bigoted reasoning.

I certainly won't be back at some of these spots and in the local cafes and restaurants and I will be taking mine and my family's hard-earned cash to resorts overseas which are crying out for tourists to come, as soon as possible

I'm as frustrated as anyone else here, and personally believe that schools should be opening as normal in August but as that clearly won't be the case I'm hoping that even part time schooling will help to engage more children than are currently bothering. Hopefully being set work by a teacher than can see, who can answer questions, means that more children will treat their work like homework, meaning they are more likely to do it.
At the moment our engagement is sitting about 60% so obviously a significant improvement needed.

My lower secondary dc has more work than he can actually do, my primary one less but it's plenty at his age.

disclaimer - cousin is a teacher, MIL and DF are retired teachers, I work in education although not teaching.

If teachers use this pandemic to campaign for a pay rise because they worked so hard I'll be fucking raging.

MIL is supplementing her pension with supply work. They've been told to keep work simple and not chase up any kids who aren't doing anything. Cousin says the same.

DD is not getting enough work and is bored. Her homework is too easy. I expected better. As I said in a previous post, we may have to pay for a tutor. I have already complained to the head of education at the council.

I remember when teachers protested a few years ago about their pay and one was interviewed on telly and said she "only" got £36,000 a year. The journalist was quite rightly angry as it was more than she (and also me) got, yet we dont get the long holidays and extra benefits teachers get.

And now they are getting paid that for fuck all - cousin is uploading some worksheets in the morning then doing gardening or baking rest of the day and says she's bored too but she can only do what she's told by her head.

and yy to groups of kids in the park - parents are just bapping them out cause they are fed up entertaining them after 10 weeks.

our tourist area is ridiculous with people ignoring the 5 mile rule. They are using care home car parks and hospice car parks and preventing ambulances getting through. They are leaving bbqs and rubbish and human shit everywhere.

Blended learning is terrible. How can this be allowed? Private schools with 10 in a class will open fiully and ours will be left behind.

My son has just started s3 and other than maths and English every subject is different to what I did. Plus I left school 30 years ago and am not a teacher. I do my best but I do not have the subject knowledge and skills to teach him.

When the schools closed he was following the old s2 timetable which was fine as he had structure but now there is no timetable and he is struggling to prioritise and manage his time. I know he needs to learn these skills but he’s 14 and it’s just been dumped on him. He wants to do medicine so if he’s to stand a chance against private school kids he needs proper teaching.

I know it’s all that can be offered with social distancing but the answer is to get rid of social distancing in schools, not to offer half an education. It’s disgusting that they can get away with this and that after what will be 5 months of suppression measures that this is the best they can do. Truly pathetic but sadly what we’ve come to expect from the SNP.

In theory, I’m not averse to a tutor. In practice, we won’t be able to afford one having lost my job and and also Queen Nicola isn’t allowing us to have anyone in our houses

I am so angry at the disproportionate response to all this and suspect it’s designed to cover the care homes fuck up, without which we’d have had half the deaths.

And I have had to buy a computerfor them to do school work as they were sharing one. Well my mum and dad gave me the money. Plenty of parents won’t be in a position to do that

Absolutely french our local FB is full of ‘anti day tripper’ comments, particularly as the council have confirmed ongoing closure of car parks. Apparently some people have had the cheek to drive on some of the main roads- with locals appearing to forget that it’s usually queued back for the safari park and outdoor play farm, particularly on a sunny day. That’s two businesses that will have a serious impact on local communities, should they not be able to reopen.

Plenty of people visiting where I live, the locals know where to go to avoid busy bits. Two of our well known cafes are open selling ice cream, coffees for takeaway, the queues reflect that people feel welcome wherever they’ve travelled from. although I’d appreciate people taking their picnic litter home, instead of leaving in an overflowing bin, but that’s the norm on sunny days anyway and it keeps the local seagulls happy

Why on earth the safari park can’t open? You drive round in your blooming car?!

fascinated, have you ever been to the safari park?

The bit you drive round takes about 15 mins - we usually do it at the beginning and the end, the rest of the day could be going to sessions on birds of prey or sea lions etc, going round the farm area, playing in the massive play park, going on the boat ride, pedalos or flying fox, going in the fun fare, cafe and shop, down the giant slide, getting face painted etc etc etc.

if they shut the play parks, slides, shows and all the rest, there isn't that much to do or see.

Don't get me wrong, it's a brilliant day out but would I go and pay just to see the animals? Probably not to be honest.

Sudoku what about a Skype tutor or back garden session. I know some who are offering this short term. Nextslideease keep your fucking rage and chill at no point has any teacher mentioned pay rises . I recognise your quotes from previous threads. Yawn.

And you lack originality for brining things back to teacher bashing when it has been pointed out this is not the place.

Re the safari park, I'm hoping when play parks can open safari and farm parks will be able to open too, albeit with no indoor areas. They are plenty of picnic spaces in these places so as long as they limit their numbers it should be fine.

Although, as many others have said, they're doing sod all for kids at the moment. Golf courses, fishing, bowls...

To be fair my memory of the safari park is from about thirty years ago when the highlight was seeing if the monkeys were really going to rip off your dad‘s wing mirrors....

I don't have young DC any more but I'm with you, it would be good to have some outdoor facilities open.

I think the point is that this affects every household in different ways and it depends on what your life was like before this. As per poster up thread saying she's not locked in as can go for local walks. that's absolutely fine and it's great that they are happy with that. I'd be happy with just a little more such as actually being able to go the 5 miles we are allowed but can't due to parking restrictions etc. and the only other thing I really miss is going out for dinner.

For others it's the need to reconnect with family in person, or they might live for football or love nightclubs or be keen on judo or live in a flat with no outdoor space or have young DC that they want to take to the play areas or whatever. Some are desperate to get to work, others not in financial difficulties have maybe lapped up the furlough time. If you are a life and soul of the party type, it's definitely harder than on someone like me who likes being home.

No idea why i'm rambling now but I guess it's just about having thoughts for how others might be in worse situation than you are or in the same situation but reacting differently.