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

Not so much as a hint of how many days per week here yet, in Aberdeenshire, never mind a timetable.

Timetable came

S2 are Mon, Weds am and Friday pm

so 1.5 days overall

Classes will be 12 kids max, 6 kids for practical subjects

No mention of what subjects they will be doing each day

Stirling Council haven't issued anything other than a letter that says they are going back on 11 August but when you look at the school holiday webpage it says they are going back on the 12th.

Not so much as a hint of how many days per week here yet, in Aberdeenshire, never mind a timetable.

Also Aberdeenshire. I still don't know who will be ds's p1 teacher, let alone the other stuff.

I went to collect my son after his high school induction and the first thing he said to me was he didn’t socially distance with his friends. What’s the point of maintaining this farce?

@Mascotte

Pooled saliva testing 😂

Yup. Sounds disgusting but it's not like you get every kid to spit in a bucket. The lab tech pipettes a set amount of every sample into a common tube, agitate, then process as you would an individual test. If the test is positive, they go back to the individual samples to test separately, no need to even go back to collect new samples.

Does anyone know what time John Swinney will be speaking at today?

So English people can all go to Butlins, center parcs etc but we can't go to school full time.

Are English school children physically attending every day from September as its still not clear what he means by 'full time'.

@AHintOfStyle

Does anyone know what time John Swinney will be speaking at today?

I think its 2pm or 2.30pm

I'll be raging if he announces full time return after all this hassle. Glad she's going back, but pissed off that we had to go through all this.

No timetables yet either (Edinburgh Primary) but we were asked last week if we wanted Mon/Tue or Wed/Thu. From the email I understand that some weeks there won't be any school, but maybe that has changed since Edinburgh did a U turn on the 30% at school.

I know the school is working really hard to sort it out and they have been pretty good with the home learning. I think for the early primary years the main challenge is to keep the kids engaged and enjoying school (while still learning). At home we just do the basic numeracy/literacy and the fun has really gone out of learning, but I have to squeeze it all into 1 hr

Given the context of the Prime Minister’s announcement today that children will be back in full in September, and him making a point of saying that parents should be reassured that it is safe (which Kier Starmer also made a point of agreeing with), and Scotland’s infection rates being pretty negligible already, John Swinney surely can’t stand up today and says blended learning is necessary for safety reasons. It will look even more farcical than it already does!

He most definitely can cos he’s a feckin idiot.

But 🤞 nonetheless

John Swinney surely can’t stand up today and says blended learning is necessary for safety reasons

Oh he can. And it'll be framed as the Scot govt putting lives first, whilst Westminster only care about money.

What channel will his statement be on, anyone know?

twitter.com/GlennBBC/status/1275403147930939392?s=20

Yes, Westminster who are providing money to fund NSs shitshow.

Oops... posted above without context... rumour is schools back in full in August🤞

The reality is kids wouldn’t social distance anyway... so it was all a bit daft

Limited info here (Edinburgh South primary school).

Had confirmation of teacher and that we'll be in one day a week. No confirmation on what day that will be. My DS is going into P1 and (like many) I work FT.

"BBC Scotland's political editor Brian Taylor has learned Education Secretary John Swinney is expected to announce preparations to reopen schools full time without social distancing from 11 August.

This is not guaranteed however and will rely on the virus suppression continuing."

So Swinney could keep us all guessing until the bloody 10th August or something like that.

1 day a week is beyond crap. And you still get the risk of them bringing Covid home.

Bloody hell. A massive U-turn.

Heard again from DDs school.

She will receive two timetables - a blended learning one and a full time one.

So the school is planning for either scenario

"could"

"if"

"Possible"

Fuck off Swinney