schools open during summer holidays

If schools are able to be open, then they should be . Most people (teachers included) will not be going on holiday this year and so it would be a brilliant time to get back up to speed and counteract the school closures so far.

Why the contribution is important

It will allow children to be at the same standard as previous years. Also, the attainment gap will be less of an issue if as many kids as possible are in school. They've been off anyway. An extra 7 weeks for summer is not necessary at all

by Mariamcewan on May 05, 2020 at 09:08PM

Current Rating

Average rating: 3.7
Based on: 27 votes

Comments

  • Posted by JWatsDoune May 05, 2020 at 21:35

    My children will not be returning to school until the pandemic has disappeared from Scotland. They are far too precious to put in harm’s way - especially given this new complication that kids can get- and they are both working well from home.

  • Posted by Billl May 05, 2020 at 21:50

    Schools normally have a local catchment area so opening them would be possible without relaxing population restrictions on widespread mixing. Unfortunately, local data has not been published to inform school opening in each area.
  • Posted by Lynette90 May 05, 2020 at 22:23

    Most schools are not off, my children for instance have a structured day set by the school and are working just as hard as they would in school. They register every morning at 9am and then are in classes all day until 3.30pm. Still moving between each class and different teacher, also still being set homework. Teachers are also working very hard during this time to provide teaching from home online.
  • Posted by rashida May 05, 2020 at 22:29

    It’s not about if schools can open they should be. Parents, pupils & teachers want to be safe during this pandemic. I certainly wouldn’t send my kids to school knowing that the virus is still spreading. By having large numbers in schools the question is how will the social distancing be managed and how will cleaning take place as children will have to share toilets, lunch halls etc. No teacher worth their salt is sitting at home thinking this is great, it’s the opposite. Teachers themselves are worried and thinking how / what etc am I going to do to bring kids education up to standard from what’s been missed. There’s also issues around social distancing from parents. Every parent, when dropping of kids, will stop to chat and won’t follow appropriate measures. This in itself has potential to start a new spread with potential consequences of another full lockdown.
  • Posted by laurencebews May 05, 2020 at 22:50

    As a teacher I am still working everyday. I am setting work for all of my timetabled classes and giving individual feedback to all replies and work that I receive. My day still starts at 8.45 and then finishes around 4. When my kids go to bed I then work for another 2 hours each night catching up on marking and preparing work to post in the coming days. As well as creating and adpting materials for pupils so that they can have some normality in their digital leanring environment at weekends.
  • Posted by margarett May 06, 2020 at 02:30

    I work in a school and have been working even during the Easter holiday, lockdown has not been a holiday for anyone. If lockdown measures are eased do you not think everyone deserves a bit of that. Other employees can take holidays whenever they like , school staff can’t so are we expected to work during our holidays.? I would be willing to work the occasional day but schools would need all staff in every day in order to implement social distancing .
  • Posted by HTMM May 06, 2020 at 07:58

    As a teacher, I am still working every day alongside juggling the education of my own two young children. I am still planning and setting work, giving feedback and teaching online for my class as well as writing reports and attempting to plan transition for the children who will join my class next year. This often continues well into the evening. Additionally, I, along with many other teachers, continue to work in the hub schools which are open for the children of key workers.

    Additionally, teachers aren’t actually paid for the summer holidays. We receive salary payments throughout the school year, but this is because our roughly 10 months salary is split over 12 months. I am well aware this will be an unpopular comment because of this, but any change to requiring teachers to work during the summer holidays would have to take this into consideration.

    The other factor then becomes term length for the next school year.
  • Posted by Nicnaw12 May 06, 2020 at 08:16

    Keep schools closed till after the summer. Numbers are too high.
    New ELC has seen massive increase in children, 40- 60 under fives in some settings.
    Open smaller childcare settings first childminders have smaller ratios, open settings with 8 children first. Childminders have three children under five years, three over five years. Much easier to manage the social distance measures and extra hygiene procedures, door step policy, can stagger drop off times give parents a time slot.
    Limited to two key worker families the now, gradually increase this to help some parents return to work, this could be voluntary.
  • Posted by KirsteenV May 06, 2020 at 10:49

    Teachers and pupils are still working, just in a different way. Teachers are not paid for their holidays, despite what some people think, instead, salaries are spread out over 12 months so that they get a regular wage. To open over the summer holidays would mean that teachers/school staff would need to be paid more which would mean that current council/government budgets would be not equipped to cover this cost so budget cuts would need to be made from other areas.
  • Posted by LauraJones May 07, 2020 at 08:14

    Teachers are still working. Its unfair to expect them to give up their summer break
  • Posted by Daddy_Daycare May 07, 2020 at 16:02

    So many very valid comments on this post, some for keeping schools closed till August and some for opening sooner,I would suggest a half way point. It would be useful to have children mixing and spending time together before the new school year so we can find out if this will cause a second wave of infection however opening all schools to all pupils during the summer would be too big a step.
    My suggestion would be to open the summer holiday clubs that are registered with the Care inspectorate and therefore will follow the COVID-19 operating guidelines. Only a small percentage of the children in Scotland attend summer holiday clubs so it is a low risk move and if the settings were made to use the track and trace app sickness could be monitored and dealt with promptly to avoid spread. Summer holidays are 7 weeks long which is plenty of time to gather information on what steps work and what doesn't, feedback which could then be given to schools to ensure when they open they are as safe as possible.
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