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

Anyone have any insider info on what Stirling are thinking? The comms from the Council are useless and Stirling High have send out consent forms to use Google Meet video calls and a rambling message about school uniform

I'm not worried about attainment. My DS is really bright, we 'educate' him every moment he's awake, by surrounding him with knowledge, language, culture etc. Sure most parents on here are the same.

I grew up learning absolutely fuck all in primary school in the 1970s, my mum remembers it as 'Mr Men and dinosaurs'. I was clever because my parents are clever.

I'm worried about my DSs happiness, mental health, social development, physical health (he's putting on weight) and sense of self. His world has basically broken.

Obviously it's different for older kids who really need the specific teaching that parents can't provide, but my DS isn't at that stage yet.

And I'm worried about my own mental health and the future of my job if school goes part time. I'm barely hanging on as it is.

As for the many thousands of kids who don't grow up in an environment where education happens as part of daily life, they've been abandoned to rot haven't they.

Hell mend this government. I hope that this worst case plan never happens, but if it does we're creating a tipping point there will be no coming back from.

@GoldenOmber Who knows! Because home learning is working "so well" they will be able to switch to a permanent 4 day week, with all the associated cost savings, a cynic would suspect.

Yy the 4 day week will be a permanent change even if there is a vaccine for COVID.

@MorrisZapp I veer between feeling panic stricken and hopeless and thinking maybe it will all just quietly go back to normal over the summer.

@Noworrieshere I tentatively posted a couple of pro school/positive covid stories and a few supporters have now joined me 😃

That's interesting @StoorieHoose. We're Stirling too (primary). We had a month of weekly video classes on Teams before our teacher was told to stop. Maybe the council are finally accepting that they need live online teaching.

@CaptainMerica I think it means huge budget cuts and many, many things not reinstated.

@Sodor1266 SHS do everything on Google Classroom and DD has been getting lots of work posted (S3) but she is dying to get back to school not just see people on a video call.

I'm never a fan of conspiracy theories but in this case I agree that some of the Covid changes will prove impossible to roll back once the virus is truly controlled.

Blended learning could well be the trojan horse to break down our dependence on physical schools.

I agree @MorrisZapp. DDs high school has provided Chromebooks to the vast majority of pupils now and use Google classroom to issue work. I think this will lead to them dropping at least one physical day at school to reduce costs

I don’t know, just like remote work there may be a backlash against it as people have too much exposure to the downsides of it. Could go either way.

I'm not worried about attainment. My DS is really bright, we 'educate' him every moment he's awake, by surrounding him with knowledge, language, culture etc. Sure most parents on here are the same.

Absolutely. I'm not worried about ds's attainment either. He's 5 and a half. Can order strawberry icecream in 4 languages and is obsessed with dinosaurs and geography. He is learning plenty. I'm worried about his socialisation. He's not good with other people and is losing all the skills he gained over his years at preschool. He has a sister but she's younger and they have a different dynamic.

I'm worried for my friends, most of whom are married to people who work abroad/off shore. They are psychologists, teachers, nurses, social workers...not the sort of jobs which can be done whilst home schooling.

I'm furious for the vulnerable families I used to work with, where school was a respite from chaos. Where there is no point providing a laptop without somewhere safe to use it because someone will have flogged it for the drug of their choice within week 1. We are after all talking about the boyfriends and partners who think selling the contents of the baby box is acceptable behaviour. School is important on so many levels beyond education.

My son’s really bright as well, but he’s 14 and needs to be educated by professionals in school in the subjects he needs to pursue his aim of a career as a doctor. He can’t do that on part time schooling

We had a month of weekly video classes on Teams before our teacher was told to stop. Maybe the council are finally accepting that they need live online teaching.

That would be my worst case scenario. Dc1 just wouldn't engage, some of his activities have moved online and he won't take part at all. Also the days he's not at school we are not just staying in, it's not fair on his sister.

A 4 day week would be criminal for so many reasons. It would benefit us in some ways if the day off was monday or Friday but it would make my intended return to work exceedingly hard. It would also increase the attainment gap. If the private sector do things differently, I think it would drive us down that route earlier than we intended.

My eldest is bright too. Predicted all As in his Highers. But however bright you are, you can't teach yourself Advanced Higher Chemitstry and Biology. Or Higher Engineering.

Our Council have banned all video teaching, whether live or recorded. Schools/teachers have made it clear that they will not engage in debate about this. So he reads some pdf doc, doesn't understand it, messages a teacher for an explanation, she replies 4 days later, by which time DS has moved onto something else and can't remember what he was stuck with in the first place.

And they're planning on continuing this fiasco for the whole of next session?

I haven't heard much at all from the private sector about kids physically returning to school but their online provision is certainly streets ahead.

Of course video classes are a poor substitute for in-school classes. But they're better than no interaction at all. And they were only a single 30 minute sessions once a week.

I hear Christchurch mentioned often but I don't think that's the same. There was nothing at all for anyone for a period of time. Not like here, where it's piecemeal and every school and class is different. Everyone just lost 6 months or whatever and started again. So to use it as an example to make people feel better about this is not really a fair comparison. (According to my NZ pals, I have no first hand experience)

When mine did Advanced highers there was a lot of self teaching,project work etc with the teachers mainly supervising/guiding
Sort of bridge to Uni
Classes often cancelled if staff shortages with teachers being reassigned to s4/s5
I was a bit concerned but he got 3 As
So hopefully that aspect won't be so much of an issue
But agree overall it's shit

Margot that's right re the timetable but it couldn't be immediate as the whole risk assessment process would have to be redone.
Children should not be expected in blazers (or even uniform imo) as they need to be able to wash clothes frequently.

My DD is bright, straight As in Nat 5 and predicted As at Higher. She seems to be engaging with what is coming online and they have live chat and video class (Advanced Higher, so the numbers are small). She is however upset that her last year at school is not going to be what they expected.

DS at primary is on the autistic spectrum and needs the routine of other children doing the same tasks as him in school. At home, we have pot luck of what he feels like doing from the a4 sheet of tasks, although I am working in substitutes to do with his interests. If there is a career to be made in Minecraft builds, he will be a front runner though.

I think DS would do much better with even a five minute podcast explaining what he is supposed to be doing. We had a meltdown over fractions last week because he had forgotten how to do them. It could be voice-only. But there is nothing.

I suppose if the virus is no longer an issue by May (because of eradication, vaccine, really good treatment, whatever) and schools are still doing 4-day weeks or insisting on 'blended learning', it's going to hammer the SNP at the Holyrood elections. Especially if England's back properly by then.

@SudokuBook

My son’s really bright as well, but he’s 14 and needs to be educated by professionals in school in the subjects he needs to pursue his aim of a career as a doctor. He can’t do that on part time schooling

Yes that's exactly my point. I was answering another poster who said another study suggested attainment wouldn't suffer. As a parent of a primary aged child I'm not worried about attainment, but I certainly would be if I had teenagers.

@KatySun

I think DS would do much better with even a five minute podcast explaining what he is supposed to be doing. We had a meltdown over fractions last week because he had forgotten how to do them. It could be voice-only. But there is nothing.

Yes! Exactly this. My DS would only need a five minute video a week to believe that his actual teacher really wants him to do this work, and his peers are complying.

As it is, he thinks home school is a punishment forced on him by his mean parents. He has nothing to connect it with his teacher or his classmates. He's actually really compliant in school, he loves having the boundaries set by the teacher.

He absolutely won't take it from us though.