So when are we going back to school?

[RaraRachael]

I was under the impression that NS had announced that all schools in Scotland would start back on August 11th. I have had surveys from my local authority asking when we would like the week's holiday in lieu and if we want 1 or 2 in-service days before we start back in August.

Last night a colleague posted a piece showing all the start dates from the different authorities - some were 10th August, !1th, 12th up to the 18th and 19th.

I am totally confused

how is your school managing to group academically and keep siblings in school on the same days? This is important for bubbles/mixing but also logistically.

Believe it or not, we’ve done it! HT has been working like a Trojan. We found that families generally tended to be academically similar. It also helped that we’re big enough for A, B and C groups across each class.

You go back to school and in the background you prepare.

Preparing for this has been immense. This isn’t something being scribbled on a fag packet in the HT’s lunch break.

You can move from 5 days' week to 4 days in three weeks pretty much at the flick of a switch if needs be, assuming you are prepared. What is the advantage of doing it now without a clear reason? Let's cross that bridge when the time comes.

@BananaTreeBirdie, ok, perfect, but you still implement the plan when needed, not when NOT needed to prepare for something that may or may not materialise.

Lastly, preparations have started only in the last few days or weeks at the most. Why hasn't teaching improved in the previous 2 months, once the surprise element subsided?

I'm not criticising anyone for being cautious. Cautious is the right thing.

2 days a week would be fine. It's not great, but it's fine. 4 days in 3 weeks is not fine. It's really poor. With all the time and money that is being thrown at other things (furlough, extra NHS capacity) I cannot accept that this is the best the Scottish Government and City of Edinburgh Council (among others) can come up with.

I think it is almost inevitable that exams will not go ahead in 2021 either. Or maybe they will make them easier than usual to compensate for the reduced teaching time. Either way, it's just not acceptable at all. 2 years of exam disruption, it's just awful.

And yes I know furlough is UK and education is devolved, yes I know that saving lives is the more important than primary school education, but it's about the drive and determination to get things done. Where is the drive and determination to make things happen for our children? It seems to me that there is none.

Sorry, I know this rant adds nothing of value to the discussion, but every now and again I need to let it all out. I am so pissed off. My kids are so disappointed. They were hoping for some time in school every week (I know, who would have thought it) and now they are looking at every 3rd week.

2 days a week is not fine either. They will have had 5 months to come up with something better than this! The only thing that will be fine is them in full time. Time for the government to actually start prioritising children who are now being thrown under the bus to protect the old.

I’ve no doubt a lot of work has gone into this and I’m absolutely not criticising teachers.

My child, however, has a legal right to a full time education in school. John Swinney needs to make this happen and if he Is not up to the job then he needs to resign.

John Swinney is on bbc politics Scotland right now! Maybe we'll get some answers! Sunday 10.15am

Signed the petition, I think it’s pretty spot on. Blended learning should be a backup plan in case infections start to rise again, it shouldn’t be the default (and it seems only) plan. Given that everyone acknowledges this will cause harm, the ambition should be getting all children back in full in August. There’s no such thing as totally safe, and keeping this in place until we have complete suppression/eradication of the virus (via a vaccine presumably) is a ridiculous plan given that a vaccine may take years to develop or never come at all. The cost to our children (and to our economy/society) is simply too high.

We managed to build field hospitals and put millions on furlough pretty much overnight, I don’t believe this is the best that can be done for education with months of notice. I think it just underlines how far down the list of priorities education really is.

question for teachers:

If it is announced next week (or later in the summer), that schools can go back full time, will that be easy to do or will it cause further chaos / involve more planning?

I think we will be allowed to see one other household indoors from this week or the start of July. So maybe the SG will be hoping this will calm parents down in terms of grandparent childcare but that's only if the GPs are nearby and healthy.

I assumed there was going to be loads of extra money made available for extra teachers etc. But no, absolutely no extra money, budgets cut.

We don't even think as a school we can afford a 'pack' of jotter, pencil, coloured pencils, lump of plasticine etc that they will need. Plus the expensive plastic wallet for it all to go in.

Really, really disappointed in whole situation & don't think parents can or will understand at all! Some assume they're getting a free laptop or iPad coming their way!

A teacher friend also told me that her union rep told her that it would be back to normal by August. So why have staff been working all hours arranging split classes and sibling days right now if that's the case?

I think it's all a bit of a mess. Up to each local authority. My local council is millions in debt so can't afford to go further into the red.

Reports this morning that the EIS warns this could be in place for a year, and next year’s exams could also be cancelled. This is hitting new heights of absurdity. What’s worrying me is that the reports coming out seem to be trying to prepare us for this being a long term thing and we should all accept it, the tone is not that this is a temporary/last resort plan.

When I look at iPlayer the latest Politics Scotland episode is 12th, amd the current schedule only shows Politics England....can anyone help?

It's a real postcode lottery. How can national exams be set when, for even part of the year, you have some kids in school 50% less time than others?? God the more I think about it the more angry I get. There were only 3 new cases in my LA last week - it's so disproportionate.

5 days every other week I find would be a better proposal. At least it gives you a semblance of continuity to get something accomplished.
Going to school for 1 or 2 days a week will get nothing done. It only wastes everybody's time.

I just wonder, how has my parish managed to organise loads of online things with little or no money and with the help of some volunteer at the other end of an internet connection?
What about some dance classes I attend which provide immense value? Again, done with no money and using some volunteers.
I know of lots of other activities that have been put together. Why do these people manage and the schools cannot? Just as well that the CoE was supposed to empower teachers, goodness only knows what it would have been like without it...

If it is announced next week (or later in the summer), that schools can go back full time, will that be easy to do or will it cause further chaos / involve more planning?

It would really annoying but wouldn’t cause chaos. Classifications may have to be reworked etc.

Plus the expensive plastic wallet for it all to go in.

YY. I don’t think people know how ridiculously expensive these are.

Brusselsprout5 I had the same thought re individual resources for every child. We struggle to find a packet of coloured pencils per group and the quality of everything is very poor.

Even is money was made available for extra teachers, I don't know where they're going to come from/ We have a desperate shortage of teachers in the NE and often cannot get supply teachers. ASN teachers are used to plug the gaps, but surely they will be needed more than ever to help pupils.

Really interesting read, it was posted on the UsForThem Scotland FB group
www.tes.com/news/all-dutch-primary-pupils-are-back-school-heres-how?fbclid=IwAR3ir0cyGt-CoqJY-nwotHqV_RlU_QwcGgUGY9fcUj5eTLGeOh8gaf0WoEA

“The deputy first minister adds that things are "unlikely" to return to normal before the end of the school year since social distancing may well be required for some time yet.”

From John Swinney this morning. Clearest sign yet that this is not a short term thing.

What’s worrying me is that the reports coming out seem to be trying to prepare us for this being a long term thing and we should all accept it, the tone is not that this is a temporary/last resort plan.

Alongside that though Scottish Government has outright told schools and LAs not to plan as if it's a long-term thing and not to get into any buildings/staff contracts they can't get out of on short notice.

So either EIS are guessing here and getting it wrong or we're getting the worst of both worlds: no extra money and planning from government to make it work long-term, but no end plan to go back to normal.

“The deputy first minister adds that things are "unlikely" to return to normal before the end of the school year since social distancing may well be required for some time yet.”

Well fucking hell.

@GoldenOmber
what kind of contracts? Like for deep cleaning the schools?

Also, maybe JS meant THIS school year, not next (being optimistic here).