Coronavirus: Glasgow plans secondary school visits for P7 pupils

  • Published
School classroomImage source, PA Media

Primary seven pupils in Glasgow could be able to visit their new secondary schools later this month.

Glasgow City Council hopes students will be able to make the visits from 15 June onwards to give them the chance to see the building and meet their new teachers.

Participation would be at the discretion of parents.

There is no suggestion of pupils returning to school for lessons before August.

Many councils are confirming arrangements for P7 pupils who are due to start secondary school in August.

Last week East Renfrewshire Council said P7 pupils could return in small groups from 15 June.

Other local authorities are looking at online events to help with the transition to secondary school.

Glasgow is still examining how the school day and week will be structured after the summer.

Image source, Getty Images

Teachers will return to school on 11 August, but the council still plans to use Tuesday and Wednesday of that week for training. That means that, as things stand, pupils will not return before Thursday 13 August.

Social distancing means students are likely to be in for around half the normal time.

In secondary schools, this could mean some pupils attend in the morning while others go in after lunch. Other ideas include attendance on alternative days or weeks.

The arrangements will vary between schools.

Childcare will be available for the children of key workers who are not in school full-time. However, parents will need to apply for it.

School inspections

The council hopes that wherever possible children will be able to remain at home when they are not at school.

It hopes employers will allow staff to work flexibly or work from home to make this practical.

Meanwhile, it has also emerged that school inspections are being suspended across Scotland to help teachers concentrate on reopening schools.

Education Scotland says inspections will be "paused" for a period after schools return in August.

It is expected they will resume at some point during the school year, but the agency said this would only happen once it was safe to do so.