To InfiniTier and beyond ....

[dancemom]

Tiers, tiers and more tears ....

My friends son is in S3 and is going in two days. (I think she said full days but I would need to check)
Being split into groups by child’s surname so not even sure how that works in terms of what actually teaching they will receive.

I do think teachers have had a terrible deal - Swinney's on the sacking list I'm sure and still the OECD report to come.

We only ever switch timetable the first week in June, so the S3s aren't going to miss much of their N5 experience really. Maybe subject specific though - in English we're developing the skills needed all the way through the BGE.

I just want them all back 😫

@FuckingHateRats have you noticed a difference in the skills of this year's s4? I feel like I can. I feel like the RUAE strategies aren't quite as embedded. I suppose it will depend on where individual teachers got cut off in terms of teaching during last lockdown right enough.

Sounds like you guys are English teachers. My S3 hasn’t read a book in English for over a year now. It really concerns me that he won’t have the skills needed. Both his English teachers have been good with remote learning, lots of feedback etc. but it’s just not the same. It’s all such a mess.

I wouldn't worry too much about no book. All the skills required can be practised using much shorter texts.

Have you noticed the difference in your Higher candidates this year? Yep they had covered the whole N5 course but had missed that intense period of revision and exam prep.

I want them all back too, safely and not in a way that is going to cause pupils the distress of isolation or their teachers isolating.

Where I live, teach and where DD is a senior pupil (Stirling) is still double the rate of Scotland's average and much higher than we were in October. The vast majority of staff in my school are under 50. Low risk of becoming seriously ill if we contracted Covid but not of having to be off work and impacting on our pupils.

My S3s have studied a Shakespeare play this year, which is their only longer text I suppose. The rest has been work on poems, non-fiction and media texts.

Our S4s are a cursed year. They had a rocky S1 and we were so short-staffed that when they were S2, they ended up on a rota with a different teacher every six weeks, some not taught by specialists. Then in S3 they never got to finish the year due to lockdown.

Mine are okay with RUAE but they practise it A LOT. I do some kind of RUAE starter most lessons. I M more worried about how they'll find the jump to Higher. We've only done one poem as an essay text and an easy SST. They're not prepared for how much harder next year will be.

My Hs are mostly okay but I kept a lot of them from N5 and they were in really good habits. It helps being able to refer to specific examples from last year. Definitely more worried about the new Highers than the current ones.

Sorry to all the non-teacher posters!

DDs English has improved this year actually and it was her weakest subject. We did get her a tutor for the first part of lockdown though (which she hated but it did seem to help).

Thanks @kurtrussellsbeard, that’s reassuring! I think that they have been doing shorter things like that.

@Lidlfix

Have you noticed the difference in your Higher candidates this year? Yep they had covered the whole N5 course but had missed that intense period of revision and exam prep.

I want them all back too, safely and not in a way that is going to cause pupils the distress of isolation or their teachers isolating.

Where I live, teach and where DD is a senior pupil (Stirling) is still double the rate of Scotland's average and much higher than we were in October. The vast majority of staff in my school are under 50. Low risk of becoming seriously ill if we contracted Covid but not of having to be off work and impacting on our pupils.

Yes I'm worried about the disruption still to come. Judging by stories on here our school were particularly unlucky last time round in terms of outbreaks.

We had some senior phase students isolating three times! Three! Six weeks essentially lost for them.

I agree with @fuckinghaterats. I have an S5 and an S2 child as well as one in primary school. The S5 classes have had so much disruption this year and last that I'd rather S4,5 and 6 went in for as many hours as possible while the younger years stayed home at present. For S5 and S6 in particular these assessments will decide which courses they can get in to at college and uni while the younger years have a little more time to catch up. It isn't great for any of the young people, but I really feel sorry for those young people who are sitting assessments. As a parent, the assessments sound very much like exams by the back door in that the assessments are largely set by the SQA although marked by the teachers.

I think that in a supportive family environment it makes sense to prioritise s4+ and their inward education.

But in more chaotic living conditions there are s1 and s2 children who really need to just touch base with school. It’s another six weeks till the end of the Easter holidays and some 13yr olds in challenging living situations could be lost to education forever in that time

That's sad @museumum. I hadn't looked at it from that perspective. There are so many people losing out in different ways.

Yes @museumum it must be so difficult for some of the younger ones who have a challenging home life.
I know how difficult my 12 year old in P7 has found this second lockdown and that’s in a very supportive environment with an amazing remote learning package from the school. So sad.

@museumum while I agree half a day is better than nothing for especially for kids in chaotic living but those are also the kids who are least likely to turn up for half a day.

Where are we in vaccine ages? I now have dozens of 55-59 friends being done in England. There you can book a slot as soon as your age range comes up, even if you can't get one for a couple of weeks.

DH is starting his vaccinations job this week which is great. I hope the first thing they do is jag him but his age group is very soon anyway. I think (he is 59).

@Cismyfatarse we should be onto the next age range as aim for all 50-60 by mid April but some areas are really far behind on vaccinations - my area being one of them!

I wish I knew Cis!

I can see they've done about a third of Fife so I can't see my age group (40s) being that far off, but apparently there is likely to be a dip in supplies next week.

I'm getting impatient now.

On the dashboard you can check first dose by age range since yesterday; I think 20% ish of 40s and a bit more 50s.

We do always seem to be behind England

• 555 new cases of COVID-19 reported
• 22,992 new tests for COVID-19 that reported results – 3.0% of these were positive
• 12 new reported death(s) of people who have tested positive
• 63 people were in intensive care yesterday with recently confirmed COVID-19, down one
• 639 people were in hospital yesterday with recently confirmed COVID-19, down 26

@GirlLovesWorld

I wish I knew Cis!

I can see they've done about a third of Fife so I can't see my age group (40s) being that far off, but apparently there is likely to be a dip in supplies next week.

I'm getting impatient now.

On the dashboard you can check first dose by age range since yesterday; I think 20% ish of 40s and a bit more 50s.

A lot of those will be from the Health worker and carer or health reasons categories. 54 here and not a sniff and have older friends (so a category up from me and they've heard nothing either). I have lots of family in the age ranges above 60 range and only the ones age 67 and 68 have been done so far. That's folk scattered across the central belt.

We are Fife too. It is not fast enough and it also feels deliberately centrally managed to be different.

Sorry. To be different from England so no central booking system.