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

First of all let's not call it "learning" which is a misnomer that creates expectations that are not met.
Second of all, because it has been increasingly being ignored so far. I don't see why the trend should change.
Thirdly, because the stuff we get is mostly nonsensical fluff. Of Fri we got the "reader bingo". It looked promising, Se we had a look. It was a grid with things like "I read a book on a tree", "I read a book upside down" and so on. That is along with "spell your spelling words using leaves or stones and post a picture".

@Mistressiggi - because 1 or 2 full time working parents cannot possibly facilitate a decent level of schooling on top of work.

My primary aim is to keep a roof over my head; I'm an NHS worker but their dad isn't so it just doesn't work.

IME, the only ones who are keeping up with it are SAHM's or people who have been on furlough.

God knows how hospitality, retail workers etc will manage when there is no school or childcare.

It's a bloody nightmare.

One of the few positives about the 2 days in is the smaller class. I should have a full P5. We will be grouping academically in my school, so there will be 10-12 academically similar children per class.

I am really, really looking forward to knuckling down with them.

I am not claiming it is easy, or that it can all be done or that it's a substitute for regular school. Arkadia I'd be pissed at the work you describe too.
But claims are being made that the work isn't engaged with - we can monitor who looks at and submits work through google classrooms/teams, and it's the majority of children. Not all, sadly.

God knows how hospitality, retail workers etc will manage when there is no school or childcare.

Oh but it’s OK, because Laurel and Hardy aka Sturgeon and Swinney have told employers they’ll need to be flexible. So that’s that all sorted then! Not

BananaTreeBirdie which other members of staff would take the red of the class? We don't have any spare teachers and no shielding ones to do ths online stuff.
Looks like this will be a complete shambles.

Why should the homelearning "pretty much get ignored"?

Ds is going into p1. Obviously it's only transition but I only just discovered that all the parents with older kids at school are posting stuff on seesaw. I had no idea we were meant to share things. Ds has zero interest in any of the activities suggested (mostly Twinkl) and is point blank refusing to do this week's activity because "it's babyish". At 5 and a half there are only so many pencil control exercises he can be persuaded to do. This is a child who is fascinated by the world around him but he's already despite my best efforts to the contrary seeing school as boring, repetitive and dull.

I've no idea what the answer is but he's gone from looking forward to school to being totally disengaged and next year will be a nightmare if the "home schooling" remains on a similar level. Given the age disparity across the class, I'm afraid it will.

@Mistressiggi, this is what we get day in and day out (P6).
I can only speak for my school (but I hear that others in my area have similar experiences), but I don't really see why this should change going forward.
Indeed, there has been a change in this past few months, but only in one direction, and it is not up.
The other day we downloaded a worksheet on decimals and my DD did it all (1, 2 and. 3 chillies) and the comment from the teacher was that it really showed that she worked hard on it. It took her 5-10 mins to did it all... It was only additions and subtractions.

I feel for the teacher who does the bloody "cogs"... It must be a job for which you have to have a vocation, like being a nun. Personally I would want to shoot myself...
You get up in the morning, go to school and I bet that all they do is "emotions" and such like. Say, my kids say they can't be bothered to get up or go out because sleepy or because it rains or whatever, where is the incentive in insisting they got up?

And no, I don't believe that whatever effort you teacher put in is going to make the slightest difference, which must be intensely frustrating for the teacher herself because I am pretty sure she knows that she can't make any difference in this climate.

Just have to say that our primary school has been really good.
Have a child in p3 and one in p5. They are both on seesaw and are given three activities a day, maths, literacy and something else. P5 has maths videos provided and sheets from Corbett maths to complete and upload, these are marked and feedback provided. Any questions are answered very quickly by the teacher. Literacy is mainly based on class book they are all reading and is really
Good. Again work to be uploaded each day and feedback given the same day.
P3 gets a timetable for the week and then each day the teacher sends a video of herself explaining the maths, demonstrating the handwriting etc. Again work is uploaded and feedback given everyday. Teacher reads them stories by video too. Only issue
I have is the work for p3 is too easy but he’s the eldest in a p2/3 class and ready to
Move into p4 so it’s expected. He just does his brothers work quite often and I upload that instead
The headteacher makes an assembly each week and sends a video out with commendation on what the kids have done each week.
It’s still tough though to get the boys engaged but the teacher feedback really helps and they are benefiting from one to one attention especially my eldest who is dyslexic and finds it very hard to focus. I have to work from home but it’s part time so not too awful, kids can watch bbc bite size and horrible histories while I am working (or
Maybe minecraft and roblox in reality 😀)
I don’t mind part time schooling with smaller classes , I think it could be good for quite a lot of kids who have trouble learning in a classroom
I do realise i am very lucky though

Just read the front page of the Observer on the BBC website. Can someone deliver a copy to Nicola PDQ?

I very rarely sign these petitions, but this time I have done it:

chng.it/bS4g7s8YWk

Consider opening Scotland’s primary schools without social distancing
64 have signed. Let’s get to 100!

Scotland’s current level of new Covid infections is currently very low. The R number is falling. There are 2 months to go until schools go back, yet the Scottish Government seems to be resigned to part-time schooling (2 days a week or even less) due to social distancing rules.

This should be a LAST RESORT, not Plan A. Countries with similarly low levels of infection, such as Denmark, have already opened schools and no second wave has occurred. There is growing evidence to suggest young children under 10 are not big contributors to the spread of COVID.

I’d ask the Scottish Government to consider opening primary schools fully with no social distancing if the disease is still suppressed to low levels by August. Focus instead on tracing and isolating cases to manage outbreaks of Covid at a local level, closing schools locally if required.

Please do not put a wrecking ball through the education of every child in Scotland for a disease that poses an extremely low risk to them.

Allow parents the ability to assess the risk to our own families based on our own individual circumstances. To manage the risk to teachers with underlying health conditions, allow them to remain working from home, perhaps delivering online lessons to high-risk children and their families who wish to continue home schooling if that is what they feel is best for them. But please, get the majority of our children back to school before irreparable damage is done to their education and mental health. We cannot wait until there’s no risk, or for a vaccine.

I really hope DD is put in a bubble with kids of the same academic ability (S2) so that she doesn't fall behind even further, although I'm not sure if the teachers would try to stick to their usual classes as much as possible?

I hope that my employer will allow me to work from home on the home school days but whilst we are meant to be a supportive public sector employer, the reality is that it very much depends on the manager.

Signed the petition

I am not going to criticise the government for planning for part time. Much better to plan for the worst case now than to just hope it will all turn out ok by August. Hopefully it will be short lived, and back to normal in October. At least schools are getting more time to prepare than in England.

I'm not going to criticise the school for the home learning either. They had to pull this out of thin air on very little notice, so Twinkl sheets, BBC bitesize and YouTube are not bad really. It also seems to be improving as time goes on, and I am getting better at tailoring it to my child.

We are working from home full hours (with expected full productivity), working 6am & evenings to fit in home learning and childcare for a toddler. In theory, we could do this indefinitely. But I realise we are very lucky in this.

However, lots of people are going to need to start prioritising keeping their jobs soon. Schools are going to need to realise that a lot of children are going to have no help, or will be doing the week's work on a Sunday night.

I think the key will be the smaller class sizes. I hope my DC's class of 18 is split 12 / 6, with the children needing most help in the smaller group to help close the gap. Even with 12 in a class, 2 days per week will be worth so much more than a normal 2 days with a full class. I think it will be enough in the short term. (I'm assuming we will be getting 2 days per week... If it's something ridiculous like 4 days one week in three I will probably completely change my tune)

@CaptainMerica, the point is that plan A should be going back to school as normal and plan B distancing, etc. Instead we have only plan B and plan A is not even taken into consideration.
In addition, you cannot assume for a minute that this is going to be short term because,

1. the council could see this a a saving exercise and make it the new normal, to some extent at least (4 day week, anyone?), but most of all because
2. there could well be a second wave come Christmas, so we pass from 2 days a week to ZERO days a week, not 5.

What do people think will be the cut off point for exams not going ahead for a second year?

I have a son going into S4 doing his Nat 5s.

I have just written to my MP about this,- automatic response- "we are only answering questions on Corona virus at present" with a link to parenting Scotland website. So that's my question of are children's right to an equal education being ignored and unmet!!

In theory, we could do this indefinitely forever captain even for the rest of your children's education?

If we do go from 2 days to zero, then all the more reason to be investing in a home learning model now. I wonder if that is why it is the Plan A - if they are planning for something they can sustain over a second wave in winter.

I'm not arguing against 5 days in school by any means. I just think it's out of their hands to a certain extent, and I'd rather they were cautious than optimistic.

@Mistressiggi

Pootle the teacher wouldn't be able to do live teaching as will be teaching the other portion of the class. The direct contact will come on the days in school.

But surely they could look at tech to allow the kids at home to, at the least, listen in to the class from home?

@BananaTreeBirdie 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.

Also what about access to suitable devices, we're in a relatively middle income area but still lots of families do not have computers (or printers) suitable for distance learning, the shared family computer which is used for parent working from home or older siblings in exam years getting priority, or devices that just don't cut it like amazon fire tablets and games consoles, no actual computers. We also have many families working from mobile phones and copying out worksheets etc, it's not suitable long term. These kids are at a disadvantage. Where people's jobs are hanging by a thread they're understandably relecutant to be buying new devices and the school has nothing to provide them with (I believe some areas have been better than others).

@TitianaTitsling

In theory, we could do this indefinitely forever captain even for the rest of your children's education?

Well he is only P1, so I certainly hope not! But like I said, we are in the very fortunate position of being able to WFH very flexible hours, so between DH and I we are managing. I'm saving my 2 hour per day commute, which helps. And DC is reasonably co-operative with it all.

Don't get me wrong, a few days at school and nursery would make things much easier. Back to normal would be better still. But my point was that while we are coping, some people are not and schools need to consider both when setting expectations for home learning.

if they are planning for something they can sustain over a second wave in winter.

This has crossed my mind too.

which other members of staff would take the red of the class?
You must have 2/3 people doing NCCT? We’re keeping nurture going but I’ve heard that going. Our PTs are going back into class and I believe EAL are redeployed.

@CaptainMerica, you can do both. You go back to school and in the background you prepare. We have been distance "learning" for three months now, and in these three months I have seen no learning from staff (never mind the children) on how to manage the situation, no improvement in delivering teaching (actually there has been no teaching delivered at all) and no tracing of missing children. Why should this change going forward? This is not a novelty anymore, but has been here for some time.
We should make the most of the window of opportunity we have now because it may well close.
Besides, I don't think anybody believes leaving school kids at home will leave us in a better position for the possible second wave. Even if we have zero cases, the new ones will be imported and start spreading silently. Again, why should this be any different from what came before?

@Aurea

What do people think will be the cut off point for exams not going ahead for a second year?

I have a son going into S4 doing his Nat 5s.

Aurea my view is that we are already there. DD is in the same position as your DS. She is doing all the work set and extension and is done by 11 every day. There's is no way that is the same level of learning she would get if in school. Our school is only going to bring 1/3 of kids in at a time, so 4 days in 3 weeks. No detail on the pattern but if it's in blocks then they will have no contact for 17 days at a time. I can't believe anyone could honestly say that will prepare them for exams even if it only goes on until Oct.

I'm lucky that I can WFH (but can't then spend hours 'home-schooling') but what about families where parents can't do that. How the heck are they supposed to manage when they are back to work? Survive on 1/3 of wages? Not likely. Shambles doesn't even begin to describe it.