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 do you know there were no cases? When did they start testing children? And how many were tested? Are children not more likely to have mild symptoms or none at all?

We're not in China or South Korea where everyone is tested if they as much as live close to a Covid case. It seems to me that unless people end up in hospital en mass you don't know there was an outbreak and the bubbles are supposed to prevent mass transmission.

Hubs can't be compared to a full school in.

Most schools I know doubled up or even went into triors or more to make up numbers, which were still very low.

Staff were asked to volunteer. Most of the staff (ime) who volunteered were the young teachers or SfLWs, especially those with no children. Volunteers worked no more than 3 hours in the one week and social distancing was obviously made easier by fewer children being in. It was also recommended that children should be in halls not classrooms and outdoors as much as possible.

It is good news that no one contracted the virus, but I don't think it should be taken out of context. BBC reported yesterday that five schools in Leicester were part of their outbreak.

I've read the other thread on here about the leaked English schools plan. It seems that some subjects will be dropped in favour of more maths and english, and there will be no social distancing, masks etc.

If this is also the plan for Scotland, then I'd be more concerned about the dropped subjects than the masks. Unless of course they are dropping PE and RE!

@nextslideplease
The published plans for Aberdeen City for blended learning say that for primary, S1 & S2 they will be prioritising English, Maths and "wellbeing". So I guess the plans were similar.

Currently 60 odd confirmed cases in the community. Presumably those 60 odd are isolating, people know what the symptoms are and testing is available as well as tracing of contacts. Asymptomatic people and children in general don't appear to be spreaders. Obviously we don't know what will happen between now and August but there doesn't seem to be any reason not to return to normal.

Speaking of which, do you think councils will go back to their original return dates now?

@Callisto1 it's a freedom of information request.

Numbers direct from the council.

But yeah, they're all lying and Covid is striking down teachers and children in vast swathes all over Scotland.

DD will be gutted if she doesn't have Art this next year which she loves and is really very good at. She also enjoys music.

Longer term, what about exams? If schools concentrate mainly on Maths and English in S1 and S2, how can they say students will be fully prepared for eg the 5 highers they may need down the line for university entry?

There are subjects which don't feature in The BGE but are the present in the Senior Phase in normal circumstances and the pupils do well . Engineering Science for example. Tech Studies in S1 & 2 gives pupils the chance to experience some Graph Comm,Engineering and Design skills. They perhaps do well as this is their interest rather a core subject.The models I have seen ( going on not a full time return) factor in Art and Music . No PE,RE or Home Ec in BGE though.

That's a bit more reassuring @Lidlfix I wonder how our timetable will look. What are the PE, RE and Home Ec teachers doing instead then?

@SockYarn I didn't say that the numbers of children and adults in hub schools you mentioned were wrong. And yeah there have been no reports of teachers or children dying, but that doesn't mean no one was infected there either. We simply don't have the information to tell. If you wanted to say anything with certainty you would have to test people at the schools. Which no one is doing. In fact the testing in Scotland is very low so a lot of cases are missed. Unless people end up in hospital or die we know very little about who spreads Covid where.

Well I think the point is that there is very little spread at the moment. I absolutely agree that testing levels have been abysmal and that, in the main, the only way of really assessing numbers is by looking at hospital admissions etc.

However, based on those tested, there are 516 people in Scotland who actively have the infection, 452 of whom are in hospital with the remainder in the community presumably isolating. 5 new cases as reported today so as for who is currently spreading the infection, the answer is virtually nobody.

@nextslideplease

That's a bit more reassuring *@Lidlfix* I wonder how our timetable will look. What are the PE, RE and Home Ec teachers doing instead then?

I know at Dds Hugh school there is only 1 Home EC teacher so she will.be concentrating on senior phase, and I'm assuming the RE teachers and PE teachers will be used in the wellbeing sessions the school will be running

Pretty much Stoorie, RE setting work for BGE classes online to focus on N5 and Higher. PE, as the models were constructed around a month ago , only exam classes again and only using outdoor spaces and pupils to attend wearing kit. Parents consulted said they could arrange exercise for their DC and preferred them to be in other classes. SFA Refereeing and Sports Leader electives are popular S5,6 options in many schools but haven't seen any mention of them. Home EC also exam classes only .
There will plenty to do for teachers whose timetables won't run as normal if there isn't a 100% no distancing return. Shielded teachers could set work/ deliver lessons remotely and the others be a physical presence in class to support the pupils. No money for supply so I can see this happening quite a lot. Glad my core subject is being delivered to all years.

Re: the Leicester lockdown, apparently a high number of children were affected so this could amplify the back to school safety arguments?

We are going to need a second thread soon.

It could amplify them, but it’s a very blunt stick. There are all sorts of local factors that have lead to the local lockdown there, not least the high infection rate that was present before schools reopened to some year groups. There’s a thread about Leicester which is quite eye opening re: places of worship still being attended.

Today, Matt Hancock gave his reasoning for closing schools in Leicester.

“We’ve sent in a lot of extra testing to Leicester over the last ten days or so and one of the things we’ve found is that there are under-18s who have tested positive and therefore, because children can transmit the disease, even though they are highly unlikely to get ill from the disease, the safest thing to do is to close the schools.”

all that does is make me more conflicted regarding my daughter's safety and her education needs!

It's not dangerous for children, not indeed for the vast majority of people who contract it. Life must go on.

Had dc1's p1 visit today, apparently the plan is back to full time from August unless something dreadful happens in July.

I called in to my school today and wish I hadn't. Everything is in complete uproar and mess everywhere. We have an acting HT who tells us NOTHING. Some of us stayed away as the last we heard was that staff were only to come in briefly and if absolutely necessary. Now I've found out that some teachers seem to have been in virtually full time and have peg, tray and jotter labels all done ready for next classes

I will make a new thread shortly.

Oh no that is so frustrating RaRaRachael.

We've had another update from the LA head of education and children's services confirming that FT is expected from 12th August (11th is an inservice day) for primary unless directed otherwise by the Scottish Government. Secondary will be phased over the first couple of days and then FT from the following week. We've been warned that the first few weeks back could feature a lot of outdoor learning so make sure they have appropriate outdoor clothing as well as uniform.

@MumofHunter, leaving aside that what MH said has been criticized enough, we MUST learn to live with the virus. If we don't, we'll perish anyway.
If that means opening and closing locally, so be it.
NS's dream of eradicating the virus is pointless. Say she gets that recognition, then what? Has anyone heard of test and trace lately? It is conspicuous in its absence.

We got a government leaflet about test and trace a few days back. So I hope they're ramping it into gear and not just sending out paper. I hope that it's easy to book tests also, 14 days of isolation every time some puts you down as a contact will be interesting. But much better than lockdown!!

Very easy- test received next day and results day after.

I forgot about that letter, @Callisto1 . Yes, I received it too.
I wonder whether that exists only on paper, though. I was having a look at the statistics and yesterday in Scotland 4500 tests were carried out, against 135,000 (carried out and sent) in England. That means that England has approximately 3 times as many tests per 100,000 people. The more you test, the more people you are likely to find. Does Scotland have actually enough tests and labs to implement the policy when there is one or more outbreaks? Is the SSN getting ready for the (likely worst) thing to come?