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

I don't understand your vitriol. My message was not intended that way. I am annoyed when I hear only of how to make people/children feel good, people are fed up of lock down etc, rather than the risks of being back at work. As a teacher on the wrong side of 50 I am genuinely worried about what might happen to me. There won't be screens in my school but if there were we'd all get used to them quickly enough. I'm worried about accidentally spitting on someone in the front row when projecting my voice! I'm worried about the other teachers who are already coming far too close when doing the hubs. I'm worried I can't get to a sink very often. I don't want pupils to be sad or uncomfortable and I think I can avoid that with kindness and cheeriness, but I don't want to be sick either.

It came across sarcastic and snide to me. If that wasn't the way it was intended then I apologise for my vitriol .

I have the same concerns as you but, for me, a screen does not address them.

It came across sarcastic and snide to me. If that wasn't the way it was intended then I apologise for my vitriol .

I have the same concerns as you but, for me, a screen does not address them.

@nextslideplease and @Lidlfix
All I’ve been told is that someone came in and sprayed my classroom and now it’s supposed to be safe for 3 months as long as we don’t clean with anything except a micro fibre cloth. The kids are having breakfast club and lunch at their desks as well as working there. Different kids on mon/wed to tue/thur with a wipe of a dry cloth in between. I can’t believe that’s safe. If it’s so amazing why don’t hospitals spray 4 times a year and never bother in between???

Oh and apparently it works on soft surfaces too, so they can all play with the same soft toys, cushions etc. If this was the nonsense my child’s school came out with they wouldn’t be going back. I mean no antibacterial cleaning for 3 months in the middle of a worldwide pandemic? Crazy!

Electrostatic is just a method of application. It doesn’t provide any ongoing protection though?

„How long does electrostatic cleaning last?
As with all kinds of cleaning and disinfection treatments, they will only last as long as the solution that is used. Most electrostatic cleaning solutions don’t provide a protective barrier, meaning there is no ongoing disinfectant or antimicrobial benefit. Electrostatic cleaners are intended to disinfect surfaces on contact, killing any germs, bacteria, or viruses that are on those surfaces at the time of application. It typically cannot prevent reinfection.

You should keep this information in mind when determining how often to use electrostatic cleaning in your business. Some workplaces, such as medical facilities, schools, and gyms, are exposed to many potential pathogens on a daily basis, and benefit from daily electrostatic cleaning. Others, such as closed offices, may only need to be electrostatically disinfected once a week.“

Source: prohousekeepers.com/blog/electrostatic-sprayers-for-disinfecting-effectiveness-and-faqs/

@Marmalady75 we haven't been told about the extended days, where have you seen that?

FM says we have to be in school at least 50%, so extended days is the most likely way they’ll do it. Who knows what it’ll be by August anyway? We might see the distance down to 1.5m or even 1m. I heard somewhere that schools were going to take over other council spaces like sports centres, community centres and libraries to get everyone back. Kids would get 50% of the time with a teacher and the other with support staff, community education staff or even the sports centre staff. It’s all so up in the air!

@Marmalady75

I hope you have contacted your union? that's alarming!

Genuine question for teachers - no intent to be goady - I understand you are worried but what is the alternative to the children going back to school? Surely the risks are a lot lower now than they were in march before schools closed.

IME online learning does not work for primary school age children and the Twinkl resources are variable to say the least and I am no fan of Sumdog (encourages children to rush and guess the answer). TV programmes are no substitute for being in a classroom with peers learning to develop and share ideas and work as teams etc etc. My concern is that for every week children don't go back they are missing out on so much.

@pigoons - I know that there is a huge difference between schools. There is no set guidance that I’m aware of, but I know some schools are offering multiple live online sessions daily with teachers to cover concepts or even just to check in. Some schools have sent out a grid of work and no online support. There are many schools somewhere in between. If there was more consistency then parents would feel more supported.

pigoons yes! The “gamification” of sumdog is dreadful and I’ve seen my children doing the guessing thing. It seems to be so bloody popular in schools though - alongside the message “bad parents let their children use devices too much”. 😔

[quote Marmalady75]@pigoons - I know that there is a huge difference between schools. There is no set guidance that I’m aware of, but I know some schools are offering multiple live online sessions daily with teachers to cover concepts or even just to check in. Some schools have sent out a grid of work and no online support. There are many schools somewhere in between. If there was more consistency then parents would feel more supported.[/quote]
Absolutely, we've had no contact directly with school whatsoever, we are given a link to a set of twinkl worksheets each week and left to get on with it. We also have a set of logins to various online platforms but when we login we can't do anything as the teachers need to add tasks first which hasn't been done. No narrated powerpoint, no recorded videos, certainly no live teaching or interaction of any kind with pupils . The disparity between schools and even classes within the school is massive. Some are certainly getting much more useful and engaging tasks than others.

My p5 has no progression of challenge whatsoever, this week he's to practise his 6 times table, he did this stuff in p2! My p1 is being colouring in and dot to dot, before schools closed he was counting and doing sums to 20 and learning how to read making good progress.

School has also never asked what digital access people have and just assumed everyone has computers and printers at home. We have one laptop and it belongs to my work, for me to work from home so the children cant use it regularly. I know others who only have phones and no other devices to access learning. In the short term people were 'making do' but going into August there needs to be a solution.

Thanks - glad it's not me. I just want my DS (P2) to have some support with the basics. Part of my frustration is with the Curriculum for Excellence - it seems very bitty - concepts are discussed briefly one week, then revisited in a slightly different way a few weeks later with no connections between the two and this becomes worse when we are 'home learning'

I’m really disappointed to hear that @Invisimamma and @pigoons, but not really surprised. At my school we have checked that families have access to hardware and loaned iPads to families. We have a grid of activities that goes out at the start of the week and live sessions every day. The children can also message us throughout the school day with questions and we respond as soon as possible. We try to make the activities engaging and educational, but we have also been told that it should mainly be consolidating of prior work rather than new learning.
I’ve tried to work all this around home schooling too and it is possible with a little effort and some planning. I don’t know why there is such inconsistency. I can understand why parents want children back at school if they are trying to work from home or having to go into work, but if we could all adopt an approach where we help and support the families better, then I think there wouldn’t be such a big push to get the children back into the physical school building.

@marmalady75 it sounds like your school is on the ball and really trying hard to keep in touch with pupils, that's great . We have no means to contact or communicate with class teachers and have been told any questions need to go to the generic school email address and will be dealt with from there if it's felt to be appropriate 😮. I feel totally alone with this and pretty much abandoned by the school tbh (and we're a relatively engaged and resourceful family). I need to work (from home for now) and dh works in a hospital so he's out, 12 hrs a day most days. Its not sustainable for us as a family.

I agree @Marmalady there is a huge problem with consistency of approach between schools. I have been calling for the kids to go back to school but if I were told there was a good quality package of home learning with support from teachers that was going to be rolled out in August I might feel differently about it.

ds(16) has just gone in to S5 and sitting 5 Highers. We've had the plans out for August for our EAC school.

They have grouped them by their houses Mon-Thu and they will do Mon/Tue one week and Wed/Thu the next, following their timetables. Fri is down as an "enrichment day" for S4-S6 practical subjects such as art, drama, science, pe and maybe some core maths/english.

Week 1: Mon - Holiday, Tue - InService, Wed/Thu - S1 inductions split over two days, Fri - S6 only. So S5 won't be in the first week at all.

Week 2: His house is in Thu only + maybe Fri for S4-S6 "enrichment day"

Week 3 onwards: On rota 2 days a week + Friday for S4-S6 only.

If they give them sufficient work to do at home independently and mark it to make sure they are keeping up it could be ok. But I am a bit worried he will 1) miss his timetabled double Higher maths on Friday every week, 2) the speed of work will slow down further and those who could do more wont be challenged enough.

Argyll and Bute is going things a bit different in most schools as it has some big schools in Oban and Helensburgh and some tiny schools so it's bespoke but I believe the general pattern is group A in Monday and tuesday with extended day and shorter breaks staggered starts and finishes so first group arrive 8.30 and leave at 3.45 last group start at 9 and leave at 4.15 so get the primary level of 12.25 hours ( 50%) of normal Wednesday deep clean and teachers prepare online stuff for the week Group B in Thursday and Friday

though I think week beginning 11th august is tuesday inservice wednesday group A thursday clean friday group B

I almost certain that by august kids will be at 1metre social distancing if at all and teachers at 1.5-2 metres

GIRFEC will be a nonsense (well it always was) as some children will be 5-6 months behind having done nothing and forgotten some stuff and others will be desparate to get ahead again so the attainment gap will be larger than before

Parents are also at risk - our children, if infected, will infect us. Everyone going back to work is at risk of infection. But what else can we do?

on a slightly related note, all 16-25yo will be guaranteed a job now.

aye right hen

As a careers adviser, I've heard that promise so so many times over the years.

Same old same old but with a new name!

I'm reading the report from that economic recovery group.

Page 53 refers to "learning loss" if anyone else wants to nosey

Full report here

hope link worked

"the learning loss that has been caused
by the crisis will, if not addressed urgently, lead
inevitably to long-term damage to our economy
and more importantly to the prospects of a
generation of children"

Nothing to do with the SNP or John Swinney, oh no

John Swinney due to give a statement on education tomorrow, from the bbc live blog of the briefing.

Hopefully that will clear some things up.

Also from the BBC news feed, on testing:

"She [NS] also points out testing in schools may be part of a package to get schools back on a full-time basis."

It seems to me, taking everything in the round, that the Scottish government is desperately searching for a way to reverse their blended learning plan (which has already been relegated to a 'contingency', despite clearly being presented as THE PLAN on several occasions before the backlash, and which councils are still planning for). I think testing was one to the conditions that Devi Sridhar had laid out for full return (in addition to low infections, which we already have), so maybe this is part of a 'package' to get kids back in August near-normally.