When are we going back to school 2

[RaraRachael]

New thread as the last one was getting full. Feel free to discuss, moan, speculate on anything to do with Scottish schools and what may/not be happening.

NPFS are doing a survey about the return to school if anyone wants to complete it. Link on their FB page

Done.
I think that survey missed the point. I don't believe, at least at primary level, that ANY blended model can EVER work if you have the CfE which, by definition, is so fluffy and intangible that perhaps (I and stress the "perhaps") you can make it work at school, but not in the home. It just doesn't make sense. It is like chasing a rainbow.

There's no need for @blended learning" now there's no requirement for children to distance in schools.

I’ve never heard anymore in my area, rural very few cases/deaths throughout the whole time. I did have a message saying my youngest 2 would be at school mon, the and my 11 year old starting secondary would be in Thursday, Friday meaning I would need care every day. Then John swinney changed it to full time, I was so relieved as I work in community nursing, about to start my degree in October and honestly don’t know how we would have managed. Not heard any more since then though

@AudacityOfHope I understand where you are coming from I really do, but I’m still not seeing what those of us who are working, some of us never stopped, are supposed to do with our children and work at the same time?

cases are going up again in Scotland.

2 weeks until they make a final decision on education being f/t or p/t. I think they said it would be dependent on cases.

Will cases still be going up?

There is obviously going to be small flare ups not more is opening up and test and trace is up and running/more people being tested

I’ve been wondering about the case increases too , what will the threshold be for increases?

Out of 23 new Cases in Scotland in last 24 hours only 3 new cases in our local authority area.

Most are in the central belt so I wouldn't call that spread out, although there are 3 in Moray.

Not everyone knows how to do the track and trace thing so there could be many more cases unknown. I still haven't gotten my test results 3 weeks after doing it (although I feel okay now and have been careful about my movements).

I feel like I’m going to be on tenterhooks for the next two weeks now until the back to school announcements .

I see Nicola Sturgeon has tweeted that today’s numbers still represent very low numbers

We've been working throughout too, so although I know we are really lucky to be able to WFH, I also know it's hard to homeschool at the same time.

It's not that though; what bothers me is the sudden 'no it's so fine there's no risk at all, everyone look somewhere else now' attitude that's been taken. There isn't no risk - the research from S. Korea today shows there is a risk. And to pretend otherwise wrecks the trusts the SG had built up (for me personally).

THey’re now reporting a cluster of cases in North Lanarkshire, although the numbers don’t seem to add up with those reported today....

@AudacityOfHope, that's the thing. For me NS has ZERO trust at the moment. She started off well, but things got more and more politicised as time went by (and she felt she had to be "different").
The "bleeding learning" fiasco was the tipping point, followed by the air bridges farce.

I came on to say about North Lanarkshire too

What's the truth? Are we not getting accurate figures?

Its "only" 7, but those 7 have families, and friends, and colleagues....

Does North Lanarkshire include Glasgow (just thinking if NS decides to do a local lockdown - not needed yet but you never know with her)

I think Lanarkshire is counted separately from Glasgow. BBC are reporting 7 positive cases, but I think there’s were only 3 or 4 reported for the whole of Lanarkshire today, so where are the rest? A delay in reporting maybe, guess we’ll find out in the coming days.

I’m really hoping they don’t lock down the whole of Lanarkshire if it comes to it. We’ve only just been let out, and I was really hoping to take advantage of the ‘Eat out to help out’ scheme next month!

See I don't think it has come from a politicised place, even if it does NS is a fucking great politician and she hasn't let the professional mask slip for a minute.

I just think they've bowed to the pressure to open schools before it was properly safe to do so. I hope the union can make sure some measures are put in place for teacher, and I know I'll be heartsick sending my kids off pretending it's all great.

Unfortunately I do not WFH and neither does DH (he works away) my childminder has kids of her own one with SN, she has already said she will be unable to have mine and home school at the same time, so I’m pretty stuffed if schools aren’t back properly

All working parents are in a very difficult situation at the moment. Whether working from home or not, it's impossible to work properly and care for children at the same time. People's jobs are at risk now and employers can only be so flexible.

In my area there is no other childcare open for primary ages children and childminders are full. Grandparents not available or too high risk to send them. Schools need to go back so that we can work, we need to work to pay the bills, unfortunately.

I want it to be safe for everyone, if its not safe yet then they need to look at using other spaces to allow for distancing, other council buildings, drafting in extra staff (e.g childcare and leisure workers) to fill the gaps and offer childcare.

@Invisimamma absolutely but there seems to be no thought for this, they just spout the same old crap about employers need to be flexible! I don’t think my nhs job can be anymore flexible! Plus many employers have been incredibly understanding and flexible so far, people will just be replaced

Again sorry to keep coming back. I fully appreciate that people need schools to go back to get back to work however it needs to be done safely.

How many parents going back to work because schools are back are expected to work in close proximity to 33 other people for prolonged times with no ppe and no space to distance?

I want every child into school full time but I also want them and me to be in a safe environment. www.google.com/amp/s/amp.cnn.com/cnn/2020/07/18/health/texas-infants-coronavirus-trnd/index.html this link is to a news article that I heard tonight - 85 under ones test positive in Texas. I've got a one year old, if I'm forced to return to work in unsafe conditions it's not just me who is at risk.

At some point the schools have to go back or there will be a massive learning gap across the country and kids will be playing catch up for months, older kids who miss exams may suffer their entire early career if they miss out on a place at uni. The risk is never going to be eliminated, same as many many other risks that we face e.g. other infectious diseases, traffic accidents, adverse weather and so on. So to go back to "normal" there has to be an agreement on what is an acceptable level of risk relating to covid, but noone seems to be able to define what this should be or how to reach agreement.

It would be interesting to know how serious the new cases are rather than just new infections.

But schools need to go back. The country can't grind to a standstill and must live with the virus.

Says a lot about how busy they were with online learning if a teacher can work in Asda at the same time!
Why did you even write this @YonBonnieBanks when your source also told you the teacher was furloughed? You are just stirring. I rather suspect this was a supply teacher who was given no work to do. State teachers on permanent contracts won't have been furloughed, I don't know the situation at private.
It's interesting another poster has talked of being on tenterhooks until the announcement is made - the tenterhooks I and my colleagues will be on is waiting to see whether or not we, our colleagues or our students, come down with corona virus, and how it is handled if we do. That blended learning you hate so much may be back simply due to the fact that there aren't enough teachers left in the schools.

I wonder if this flexibility that employers are asked to have will extend to teachers, who also have childcare problems and who will struggle to work full time if their own children do not go back to school.

I have family and friends who are teachers, including supply, none of them are furloughed although they do complain about having little to do and being told not to put the pupils under too much homework pressure and to 'keep it light'. Hence why we are so unimpressed with blended learning.

Like the rest of us, if you don't go to work, you don't get paid, we all have the same risks whether its from colleagues or students. It sucks and I don't want to go back to work myself. I don't think my own workplace is safe, but I have bills to pay. Bills that will still need to get paid if the teachers refusing to work make me unable to work in turn.