Please can we have a Scottish MN section - Mawsnet, mebbe?

[StayingSamVimesGirl]

Following on from discussion on another thread - could we have a Scottish section, please?

The local information is good, but it is too local to apply to the whole of Scotland, if you see what I mean.

I know of someone who's had a deep fried Mars Bar - but she's from Coatbridge

This made my day

I would also like a Scottish section, particularly for education/ASN (although I do secretly enjoy reading threads by parents desperately trying to 'work' the catchment system down south)

Also, I'm in Aberdeenshire - what's wrong with Aberdeen?

Aberdeen is to Scotland as London is to the UK. Very wealthy (until recently) house prices extortionate. Lots of work, industry, is there anywhere else like that in Scotland? International due to foreign companies based there, against independence due to international interests. I mean it is not hugely interested or involved in the rest of the country, it doesn't need to be, a law unto itself.

The above reflects my view on why independence was a bit pie in the sky, we are all wee separate bits and not that interested about what goes on elsewhere (excluding education and law).

Another vote for a Scottish section although hate Mawsnet, etc

As PP have said, the assumption on most threads is that you are in England and the advice just isn't relevant for Scottish schools, property, healthcare and law. Even in the relationships board, I find myself posting 'it depends where you are' as posters offer advice on divorce and separation assuming the poster is in England.

Maybe we could have all the Scottish smileys back to help us keep track of whether we're in MN or ScottishMN or

I have realised on this thread that I rarely post about education, law etc which is maybe why I don't get the whole feeling of other people not understanding because we're in different parts of the UK. In fact I mainly just browse a couple of topics, I have no idea how some people keep up with everything on here.

I had an Aberdonian teacher at high school, she had a lovely turn of phrase on occasion.

I lived in Aberdeen for many years (dad still does, we moved up with the oil boom in the late 70s) and agree with much of what you say about the place Norah. However, I think that's the same with every country, with the wealthier parts very separate from others - so what I'd like to get from MNScotland is an area where I can go with specific questions which relate to my life in this part of the UK (now in Edinburgh). I will still go to the rest of the site for everything else and certainly don't want to see a breakaway site limited to Scotland - I've had enough talk of independence to last me a lifetime

Only very wealthy for those who work in oil. Lots of areas with deprivation/big issues, very 'haves/have nots', non - oil totally priced out of housing market. Even wee villages can have massive drugs problems/poverty (thinking of further north in particular).

OOAOML - I sometimes post in education and SN...and that's where I think it would be useful for those.

Not in a have a clique way as if you're in chat or AIBU or somewhere like that it's not an issue at all...unless you want to talk about juice of course where it causes all sorts of confusion, lol.

Ah, the juice question!

I probably should post in SN, but I am worn out at the moment and tend to use MN for escapism, not trying to do anything about our current muddling through. Would be interesting though, as far as I can see provision is not only radically different between council areas but between schools in the same city.

SirChenjin yy I wouldn't want to see a breakaway site either that replicated everything on MN. Just a few sections like education, health, law, property where posters could go for advice relevant to Scotland. Or maybe a Scottish local site in the same format as the individual city local sites?

No not a separate site just a section where you ask or talk about specific things if we wanted to

Agree APlace - and your local site idea sounds good. I'm just wary of going down a road where Scotland increasingly sits separately to the rest of MN.

Well for a start Scottish children with SN don't need a statement i was talking about my own dd who has a specific LD and i had to explain to a few people that no she didn't have or need a statement and tbh i don't know what it is .

Hi all,

Thanks for the suggestion.

We have 23 Mumsnet local sites all over Scotland if you need specific local info but we can see that many of you would like a topic for Scotland as a whole.

We're not really sure that Mawsnet as a name hits the mark, does anyone have any other suggestions?

I'm not keen on Mawsnet either. It perpetuates too many stereotypes.

MNScotland?

WeeHerriesNet [runs away, clutching hauf boatle a Buckie and a Morton's well-fired roll]

Scotsnet.
(Though I like the bawbag ones)

HensNet? ScotsNet is probably a more sensible option. But I do love being called hen!

"Would be interesting though, as far as I can see provision is not only radically different between council areas but between schools in the same city."

I think that's true anywhere...the big difference there, is that in Scotland, unless there's an agreement that any mainstream school isn't going to meet a child's needs at all, individual schools can't actually just not support pupils.

Because there isn't free choice up here, if a school needs to take on staff or implement something then they're expected to do it rather than telling parents they can't do it (as I believe sometimes happens in England) and expecting them to pick a different school.

How effectively that works does depend on the school staff and the council, but, in theory they have to meet a child's needs even if they're not currently set up to do that.

I'd second MNScotland

Because there isn't free choice up here, if a school needs to take on staff or implement something then they're expected to do it rather than telling parents they can't do it (as I believe sometimes happens in England) and expecting them to pick a different school.

Our school were challenged on access a few years ago, and admitted that a child in a wheelchair (and in effect a teacher in a wheelchair as well) could not be accommodated and the school would not make changes to do so. Although they would prioritise an out of catchment application to another school. DS's problems are more how he relates to the other children than academically (he has Asperger's) and we're intermittently struggling with the school - sometimes I think statementing would help, but then reading experiences from other people makes me wonder how easy it would be to get a decent statement.

SirChenjin if you talk about your sensible shoes I shall imagine you as the type of Edinburgh lady that meets your friends for coffee in Jenners and bemoans the closure of Gray's.

Thanks, Lentil and Pacific

I can see that a Scottish section would be handy for some topics, but wouldn't like a totally split Mumsnet, and not keen on Mawsnet (it's not used much here on the East Coast).

I like MNScotland too, and am also against separating Scottish MNers from the rest of the site.

I wonder if there could be headers added to relevant topics (education etc) pointing to MNScotland?

Agree with MNScotland.

And I miss Gray's.