Coronavirus: 'We will accept the risks for full-time school'

The Scottish government is pushing ahead with blended learning but many parents want full time education to resume in August

The Scottish government has less than a week to turn around back-to-school plans, if it chooses to.

As some council areas prepare to finish the term on Wednesday, calls to get children back in full-time learning from August are becoming louder.

Parent groups are pushing the government to scrap blended learning and prepare a full-time model instead.

Many have expressed fears that extended part-time learning will cause more harm than the virus itself.

'Accept the risks'

Some parents have told the BBC they want their children back in school five days a week.

Schools in Northern Ireland will reopen in August with pupils maintaining a 1m distance from each other, allowing pupils to return to school full time.

After 12 weeks, parents and pupils are struggling with home learning

Former first minister Lord Jack McConnell has been speaking up for parents who feel their views have not been heard.

'Needs to be Plan A'

He told BBC Scotland: "The fundamental thing is to turn the options around now. It is a massive error. They are making plans for August based on what was happening in May.

"It is likely things will be more relaxed in August. There needs to be a Plan A - full-time back in school or associated buildings. Plan B is part-time learning if there is an outbreak. Or for use in isolated areas where there is an outbreak. But it has got to be plan A."

Children will start school in smaller class groups and on fewer days in the classroom

The Facebook group Us for Them Scotland, supporting the full-time return of children to school, has gone from 40 members to 6,000 in a week, piling pressure on the government to rethink.

Nicola Sturgeon has said blended learning will not be in place a moment longer than is necessary.

On Tuesday, public health expert Devi Sridhar said she could "see right now no reason" why schools could not return full-time in August if coronavirus was suppressed and other precautions were put in place.

These parents have told the BBC that blended learning will not be enough.

Iain Watson believes more blended learning will time away from school will be detrimental to his boys

Iain Watson , North Lanarkshire

"You can see the psychological damage the removal of children from society has had"

Iain has two sons, one due to start S1 and the other due to start P1. He does not know yet which days his boys will attend school but is expecting it to be on different days.

"My older one is starting to get despondent, lethargic and not wanting to do school work. It has become more of a psychological issue than a physical one. They have been exposed to more bad news than any five or 12-year-old should.

"I want to see more inventiveness. Schools are not the only place children can learn. We seem to be very rigid in our thinking. The 2m social distancing rule is not feasible. There are bigger issues now than the virus for children, including their mental health."

The classrooms children return to will be different, with less furniture, more cleaning and no physical contact

Claire Fletcher, Argyll and Bute

"We want them to go back full time and we are willing to take the risks that come with that"

Claire Fletcher's lockdown has been more difficult than many. On the Isle of Jura, and with four daughters, home schooling has been very difficult to juggle along with running a business.

"The high school is on another island. My youngest will be getting 1.5 days a week in school. They leave at 06:30 and travel a single-track road for an hour, then a ferry then a bus. But they can't get on the bus and the ferry is at 20% capacity. We have no broadband on the north end of the island and rely on 4G and a router in the window.

My girls have missed one set of exams, we can't afford to let it happen again. We want them to get back and we are willing to take the risks that come with it."

Social distancing, handwashing and staggered start times will be part of the new regime in schools.

Anne Lockhart, East Lothian

"This is doing more damage than good"

Anne's children are going into P6 and S3. She has not been told yet what the blended learning will look like.

"We had access to the hub but it is just childcare, not teaching. My 10-year-old would be there all day then I would come home after a full day at work and have to start the school work. It has become harder to get her to do it because to her this is her home time. The work boiled down to about 15 minutes of maths and 15 minutes of English - not enough for a week.

"I worry that with blended learning the teachers will be teaching classes full time so what are they going to send home for the days of home learning and I fear that will be more onus on us as parents.

"I would like to see kids back at school full time. They desperately need it. To me they are doing more damage than good going ahead with blended learning. They are better overall to be back in school."

Teachers are going to have to try to enforce social distancing

Caitlin Smart - Moray

"Blended learning will break me - that or the guilt at not doing enough"

Caitlin has three primary-age children and two under fives.

Her husband is a search and rescue medic who has to stay away from home when he is working. Home schooling has been difficult and she says she "gave up trying to teach" three weeks ago.

"I have never seen my youngest like this. He is broken by it. He is so stressed he got shingles. He loved school but now he has missed a chunk of primary one.

"I have not broken any of the rules, I have never questioned the lockdown, but the only thing I cannot support the government on is this education situation."

Ruth Colley, Edinburgh

"Teachers will turn into social distancing police and that will change the relationship with the children"

Ruth is a teacher, a mother and a grandmother who was working in school right up until lockdown. She has been working in hubs, and says social distancing has been hard to enforce. Her main concern is for vulnerable children who she says made up less than 1% of children in the hubs.

"For vulnerable children, school could be their only source of security, nurture and nourishment. I know teachers are doing their best to keep in contact with the families of vulnerable children, but there's only so much you can find out from a phone call. "

Nicola Sturgeon has now said the blended learning model should be a contingency

Larry Flanagan, general secretary of Scotland's biggest teaching union, the EIS, said: "The return on 11 August can only happen if it is safe. Schools are planning for that date, but this is contingent on the virus being under control.

"It is absolutely clear that teachers, like parents and pupils, would love to see a full return to school.  But there can be no compromise on safety.  There will need to be a significant shift in the health picture before we can see schools operating at anything close to normal."

On Wednesday the first minister appeared to adjust her stance on the blended learning model - now labelling the idea a "contingency".

Nicola Sturgeon said her government would "move heaven and earth" to get schools "back to normal as quickly as possible".

Speaking at first minister's questions, Ms Sturgeon said: "The approach that we have decided that we must have in place as a contingency, with blended learning, is exactly what the United Kingdom government is doing for England and what the Welsh government is doing for Wales."