Definitely NOT before the summer.

I am a teacher and have been in school over the last few weeks. I am a secondary school teacher but have been looking after both primary and secondary school kids. Primary school children do NOT know how to social distance; they do not understand its importance and primary school teachers seem to have given up even trying-it seems to be an acceptable risk. Returning many seniors would also result in mayhem- unfortunately the discipline and behaviour in many Scottish schools leaves a lot to be desired. It will be impossible to police this- we have to wait until it’s safe. While schools are closed, most responsible citizens are following social distancing rules. As soon as they go back, you can forget all compliance as it will be utterly pointless social distancing outside school when it is impossible to do so in school. These German and Danish models will not work in our schools; most of our pupils simply have no respect for discipline. If I was a parent, knowing what I know about schools environments- I would simply refuse to send them. Once schools go back, employers will force all employees to go back and we will revert to normal life, bringing on phase 2 of Covid 19.

Schools are the benchmark. Making a wrong move with schools sends out the wrong message (it’s over). This is far too risky. Very little learning will be done in a few weeks in June. Two thirds of my pupils are engaging and learning well, better in some cases without behaviour disruption in classes. Most teachers Will bend over backwards to help those who have missed out catch up as we understand that often, it is not hasn’t been through choice that they haven’t engaged. Four months of learning can be caught up on. A phased return from August is the only sensible idea- we may even have some kind of normality by then. Please do not follow English schools.