Children going back to school

As a parent who is home working I'm finding home schooling very stressful trying to balance both . Our local school is being very supportive and are doing a fantastic job but I'm not a teacher and myself and a lot of parents fear our children will fall behind with their education.

It is so difficult to rush any decision with regard to children going back to school as there are so many factors to consider and put in place therefore to give the government time to get these decisions right would it not be beneficial for the teaching staff and families if the summer holidays were brought forward this year. Have the holidays from the first of June until the end of July if necessary to allow schools to be prepared for going back and having social distancing provisions in place .

Why the contribution is important

This is important so the right decisions aren't rushed and time is taken to look at all the options regarding schools re-opening. Closing the schools early for summer will ease the pressure on parents . The children can also relax knowing they are on holiday for a certain number of weeks and after the summer holidays can look forward to going back to school which they are missing tremendously.

The thought of home schooling is feeling parents with dread and may have an effect with families engaging with the education of their children.

by LynnF on May 06, 2020 at 01:54PM

Current Rating

Average rating: 3.4
Based on: 9 votes

Comments

  • Posted by CAlex May 06, 2020 at 16:10

    Agree that we need time to get schools set up, but it is worth bearing in mind that teachers won't be working over the summer holidays as they don't get paid for it. They get paid for 39 weeks a year, which is split into 13 payments. They are not actually paid for 52 weeks like most salaried people.

    It makes more sense to keep the holidays as usual and for school's to use these last 5 weeks of teaching time to prepare for a combination of class time/home working come August!
  • Posted by KWilkie May 06, 2020 at 21:09

    I totally agree with this suggestion. Schools have to reopen at the earliest opportunity . I work in local government full time in an essential service. I am working from home and trying to home school my child. It is very difficult and stressful. Parents are not trained teachers and whilst we can and should support our children’s learning, home schooling cannot be maintained long term. I share the concern that our children are missing out on vital education. Suggestions of returning pupils to school part time for example a couple of days a week is not practical. The reality today is that many parents work full time and have to work full time. How are parents supposed to work full time when children are at school on a part/time basis. I think the suggestion of bringing the summer holidays forward and returning to school at the end of July is a sensible and practical solution.
  • Posted by eduncan May 06, 2020 at 22:09

    I completely agree. Schools have to reopen at the earliest opportunity. As a parent of 3 between P1-P5 both parents full time working, we find this an impossible task to teach our kids while we are scared to tell our work that we cannot deliver because of the kids. Redundancies are at the doorstep, mortgage have to be paid, so the only option is to cut the kids short with our attention. Which already has heartbreaking psychological consequences from bettering, to crying, and complex new stress repeated tick muscle movements. I believe we are causing future psychological problems to our kids by locking them in. Please consider letting the kids back to some kind of normality. With parents still home, if the bring home the virus then the household isolates (same as now) and that will stop the spread.
  • Posted by Lucy1980 May 07, 2020 at 01:40

    Children are said to be less likely to be severely impacted from Covid-19 but school staff from janitors, kitchen staff, admin team, medical room staff, classroom assistants etc have to be around children in small classrooms for a prolonged period of time, and as we know, adults can get this severely.

    Adults in school could have it and not know, just as children in school could have it and not know. They are spending all day with each other in a classroom and then going back home, out to the shops, visiting elderly relatives etc. Everyone understands the important of getting back to school as soon as possible but not at the cost of lives.

    A lot of school staff also have underlying health conditions so it would need to be looked at what percentage this is in total across Scotland. Some schools could just happen to have for example 80% of their staff with an underlying condition and therefore would not be able to open with a safe ratio of staff to children.

    It is clear that schools will not return to ‘normal’ in August 2020 because class sizes in Scotland go up to 33 children. In the average classroom that I know of, you could socially distance around 8 children in a class if you spread them out (plus the teacher and if the class had a classroom assistant or ASN) or removed all the desks.

    Children will likely return to school on a part time basis. I assume one or two days a week for each child, weekly rotations, or perhaps morning and afternoon sessions. Children who can remain at home with someone working from home will likely have to do so initially. There is no way every child can return to a school building all at once and have any chance of socially distancing to keep themselves and adults safe. I don’t say the word ‘impossible’ lightly, but this would indeed be impossible.

    Then schools have to think about playtime, lunchtime, PE lessons, young children who can’t possibly understand social distancing and just want to run around and play tig, hug their friends etc.

    If every other office building, factory, shop etc in the country is socially distancing, schools must also adhere to this. Unfortunately that is going to take a huge amount of planning and guidance from the government over the next few months to make sure we get it right for children and school staff during this worrying time.

    I do agree that schools could potentially finish even a few weeks earlier, then have the break (teachers do not technically get paid for the holidays so they would have to have it) and then come back earlier in August to whatever model the government decides to go for to phase children back to school safely.
  • Posted by Balderdash May 08, 2020 at 14:05

    The school year needs to be preserved. I need my scheduled holidays. I cannot move these.
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