Planning School Attendance

Careful consideration needs to be given to the proposed blocks of time a child would attend school. As a teacher and mother I do not believe a morning/afternoon slot is manageable. I also find the proposal of attending “days at a time” unhelpful. This would cause mayhem for childcare, especially if grandparents and not involved. I feel the only way is to attend 2 or 2.5 regular set days e.g every Mon, Wed or Tue, Thu. This would allow a quality teaching day with input followed by a day to complete follow-up related tasks. It would also allow parents to plan regular childcare and plan ahead for their own work. In my opinion attending for a block of time, especially for younger children would mean that when work at home was taking place they may have forgotten what has been taught due to the overload of intense teaching that has had to take place whilst in school. Planning for attendance may need to be carefully considered and altered for each sector.

Why the contribution is important

Children need consistency and routine. I believe younger children would benefit more academically and emotionally from alternate day attendance in school and regular contact with teachers and their peers rather than attending for a block of consecutive days.

by Loulou2211 on May 05, 2020 at 10:47PM

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Average rating: 4.3
Based on: 19 votes

Comments

  • Posted by Smillie May 05, 2020 at 23:11

    I worry that my son aged 15 going into S4 will never recover from the disruption to his education. The SQA needs to start to think about the timetable for next years exams and be prepared to make changes and unlike this year not chip and change and cause anxiety and distress to pupils. The education system is not set up for online learning and it would be important for S4 and S5 to attend school for full days on a part time basis if no other options were available.

  • Posted by ColinAnderson May 05, 2020 at 23:20

    I believe very young primary children and secondary children due to sit SQA exams in the 20/21 year should be prioritised first for return to school if there needs to be a reduced school roll, possibly in addition to, but ideally instead of, part time or alternate days or mornings or afternoon attendance. Very young children returning would better allow working parents of those children to better work from home, or return to work, whilst senior pupils who have exams to sit are at a critical stage in their education and for many the next 1-2 years will define their future career path.

  • Posted by Nel May 05, 2020 at 23:27

    I also think that the summer holidays should be reduced to two weeks to allow the pupils to catch up.

  • Posted by adnil May 05, 2020 at 23:30

    If they need to go in a morning or afternoon session would be better to get taught then take work home to complete and submit for making. This means school canteens don't need to open and secondary schools went have the rows of burger vans outside. Buses should also run with 1 child per double seat.

    Personally I would prefer remote online learning as hygiene in schools, especially number of working toilets and working sinks is unacceptable in current pandemic.

  • Posted by Shopaholic99 May 05, 2020 at 23:51

    I actually feel that part time hours ie. a morning or afternoon will be more beneficial accompanied by home schooling. Our work life balance is changing and we need to adapt. The childcare that was once available to us may not be accessible for a while. More people will be working from home and more work places are preparing to accommodate these changes.

  • Posted by Primo May 06, 2020 at 00:15

    Another consideration is to have family members attending school on the same days so parents could work around the pattern if possible and also then siblings would be off at the same time.
    Teachers are able to teach children across stages and perhaps a mix of what is happening in current hubs for key workers children of children working through work set for their stage and also doing outdoor and other activities would work alongside elements of school classrooms pre covid.

  • Posted by margarett May 06, 2020 at 01:37

    I agree if schools have to go back certain days would be best rather than a morning or afternoon. However lunch times would pose a huge problem, only solution I think would be sandwiches eaten either outside depending on weather or in classrooms. I too work in a school.

  • Posted by cxissy May 06, 2020 at 02:18

    I think that's one of the things we need to seriously look at ...schools are not supposed to be childcare , it's not about the parents . It is about teaching kids about navigating their world .
    I accept that it is childcare biased currently but it really shouldn't be .
    This might be our golden chance if we dare to turn education on its head and do something completely different .
    Perhaps not those currently in secondary education but certainly with the primary one intake .
    As a teacher don't you have a secret dreamt of way you would like to teach if there were no barriers ?

  • Posted by DougO May 06, 2020 at 07:41

    I agree that morning/afternoon blocks would be undesirable. However I also disagree with the term home schooling so some school would be better than no school. Parents are facilitating home learning just now, we are not trained to teach new concepts to our children, we are not creating materials or topics or preparing learning plans. My wife and I are currently trying our best to engage a p1 and a p2 with good quality material from our children’s school however it is not a long term substitute for at school education. Splitting the day would as already mentioned alleviate the risk of providing lunch in the school canteen but this may be detrimental to children who rely on the free school meal for proper nutrition due to their home situation.

  • Posted by K0612 May 06, 2020 at 07:51

    Half days wouldn't work at all as need a deep clean in the middle of the day and no way could get bits of childcare would need whole days. Personally I don't think young kids can social distance so just should put them all back in August...

  • Posted by Nicnaw12 May 06, 2020 at 07:52

    Open smaller setting childcare so parents can return to work need childcare. Some families will have two parents going back to work, childminders have low ratios, open small settings who have under ten children first, especially if classes back are staggered over the week.

  • Posted by Mandyintdesign May 06, 2020 at 07:55

    Part days or set days is going to be hard to manage. Will parents be told what days kids will be in I’d be allowed to choose? If they can’t choose how will small business work around this, they may end up will all staff only able to work the same two days and off the rest of the week.

    Best thing we could do is overhaul education, put all pupils back a year. Extend lockdown for as long as required until the city’s is eradicated and then go back to life as before.

  • Posted by Jrc1807 May 06, 2020 at 08:26

    I am a teacher and agree with the one day on, one day off model. I see the obvious point about members of the same family at school at the same time, and whilst part-time schooling with a range of ages in one class would be good childcare, how effective a model would this be in terms of moving children on in their learning?

  • Posted by Slaurand May 09, 2020 at 08:24

    A short block of days (2/3) the same days each week where new learning was presented followed by working at home for secondary kids this would enable small classes. For secondary the corridors and class change is the worst. Except for practical subjects which require specific rooms the kids should stay in Thier registration room and the teachers change over. This would keep corridors limited to a couple of classes going to practical classes.

  • Posted by DLG May 10, 2020 at 16:08

    Part days would be very difficult for parents to manage particularly if they have to travel for work. Full days would be more consistent for pupils and teachers as well as the childcare aspect.
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