Coronavirus (COVID-19)

[super_carson]

2 hours ago, Steven W said:

Thanks for your reply.

I can only use my own experience - I have a 5 year old son whose brain must be turning to mush with all this.

I guess having two children with special needs is fairly atypical? I'm certainly not aware of a similar situation in my son's school.

If we were to follow England's lead with June 1st (I know full well we won't) that's still a few weeks away giving us plenty time to get things set up for going forward. I suspect the same issues that would exist in early June will still be there in late August - somewhere along the line we're going to have to go for it, so I'd have thought June 1st would be achievable. 

We've been very pro-active with his schooling, eased no doubt by a pro-active teacher. That said she replies to the on-line tasks she sets him very quickly, making me wonder just how many replies she gets herself from the other kids / parents.

I'm surprised to hear you're not allowed to use Twitter. The schools here (Falkirk) have quite a big Twitter presence.

Anyway, as I said before just my own opinion. Also a wee word of thanks for teaching the nation's kids (from experience of the last six weeks, it can't be easy!)

Yeah it's tough for the wee ones. I've just video called by 5 year old goddaughter who can't understand why she can't see her family at all.  She's half-Russian too so god knows when she'll get to see that side of her family.  I guess it's just about reassuring them that it's OK to be annoyed or upset just now and how to handle those emotions.  

We are allowed to use twitter, I should say.  But it gets lost in the noise - we suggested individual class twitter pages as closed-feeds for interaction but that got poo-pooed by management and others who felt it wasn't "very professional" - each teacher tweets something every day but there's not much by way of response, and it's the same parents all the time.  

I'd love to get replies from my kids and their parents with examples of their work.  

2 hours ago, pandarilla said:

Your kids brains will not be affected if you're taking some time during the day to engage with them.

School work is so overrated at that age. Aye get them doing a wee bit of writing practice, and read a book together every day (20 minute sessions at a time, no more) - but the real key to children's development is to engage them as much as possible in your normal daily activities.

Get them in the kitchen cooking with you. Get them helping with chores. Plant a few seeds together, and make sure you water them regularly. Whatever it is, engage their wee brains and show an interest in them.

I'm loving the quality time I'm spending with my two during all this. We (usually). make a plan up in the morning, with plenty of free play on it. That allows me and the missus to have breaks from them, and get some work done ourselves. But the quality time with them is a lovely benefit during this crisis.

Exactly. 

Early years education is play-based learning these days anyway, so it's all about experiences rather than sit and writing in silence.  I'm a big believer in free-writing, get them just to write anything they feel like. It could even be a bunch of pictures that tell a story, or just making up random words using whatever sounds they are learning that week.    Experiences like yourself are so essential to their development at that age, and they stay with them for much longer.   They're using maths to follow a recipe or count seeds their planting, literacy skills when creating  a daft story or play...science in observing how a sunflower grows...there's really loads in these simple experiences. 

Really agree with that last part, too.  Spend time with your kids - they will remember activities and time spent together with their parents much more than they'll remember doing a video-call with their teacher.  

[Moomintroll]

1 hour ago, Snafu said:

Sports Direct managers accuse firm of making them work on furlough

Two managers said they had been told not to clock on when they worked in stores while on furlough – seemingly in breach of the rules of the scheme, under which the government covers 80% of staff pay. They said they had been asked to pack up store stock so it could be returned to the group’s warehouse and sold online.

“They are doing it secretly so people don’t know what they are doing,” one worker said.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/may/03/sports-direct-managers-accuse-firm-of-making-them-work-on-furlough

I don't think I will set foot in a Sports Direct store again.

 

Well colour me surprised at this revelation.

[super_carson]

2 minutes ago, RH33 said:

They started on teams but it was so slow and crashing a lot so it’s mostly seesaw.

P3 get a weekly plan and had workbooks they already had sent home.

My P4&6 are getting daily plans. My sons teacher and I have altered his spelling and writing to suit his level.

My aim is maths, language and reading (older two almost millionaires on accelerated reading) each day. The topic, art stuff is optional. 

Kids learn lots by active learning too by doing day to day stuff.

Yeah we're drip-feeding in teams from the top-down to avoid that.  Edinburgh council are fairly pushing teams now, just wish they had been more proactive with it when we realised that schools closing could become a possibility.  

We sent home workbooks before we closed and other resources, but I don't know how effective it all is.  Kids love AR because they can see their progress.  Topic and art are still worth doing, but only if the kids actually like the subjects.  There's got to be pragmatism about expecting too much work from them and whether or not it may put them off the other stuff.  I

 

[Moomintroll]

14 minutes ago, Granny Danger said:

I’ve found that if you shout “f**k off” at a three year old they stay their distance.

I don't really think they are considering the Social distancing aspect at that point GD.

[welshbairn]

2 minutes ago, bendan said:

BBC Scotland's news website had a story-behind-the-numbers type article yesterday about some of the people who had died. Entirely predictably, about half the people featured were below 65, even though more than 90% of deaths have been in over 65s. There's not much incentive for the media to provide a realistic picture of things as death among people in their 80s isn't, unsurprisingly, something that grabs people's attention.

 

I can understand why the media aren't pumping out the message that for most people under 40 their chances of dying from Covid19 are minuscule. In a world where meaningless phrases like Take Back Control win hearts and minds, and if you believe the public health policy is essential, a bit of skewing the info is inevitable. I don't think the death toll at the Somme was published till around 1922. 

[Granny Danger]

18 minutes ago, D.A.F.C said:

It saddens me that the snp supporters still try and put down anyone with a counter argument. It’s this militant snp or die attitude that cost thousands of votes. I voted yes but I don’t see us as being too small or stupid to rule ourselves. I really wish the snp hardline supporters would stop running people down, it’s making the case for independence harder.

If you have a counter argument let’s hear it.  Haven’t heard any sort of ‘argument’ so far.

[Granny Danger]

20 minutes ago, Monkey Tennis said:

Ok, so you really do wish death upon people because they have a religious faith?

Good to know.

Not all of them.  I’m sure there are many people with a ‘religious faith’ who are nice, well intentioned people.

Thick as fùck, totally illogical, but nice.

Of course there are many, many more who use that faith for repression, including those who are themselves repressed by their beliefs.

In general terms, would we be better off in a world where religious fucknuggets didn’t exist?  Definitely.

[effeffsee_the2nd]

The independence/ political arguments here need to f**k off theres plenty threads for that

[Granny Danger]

Just now, effeffsee_the2nd said:

The independence/ political arguments here need to f**k off theres plenty threads for that

Why don’t you fùck off?

[Todd_is_God]

18 minutes ago, bendan said:

BBC Scotland's news website had a story-behind-the-numbers type article yesterday about some of the people who had died. Entirely predictably, about half the people featured were below 65, even though more than 90% of deaths have been in over 65s. There's not much incentive for the media to provide a realistic picture of things as death among people in their 80s isn't, unsurprisingly, something that grabs people's attention.

I understand that for clicks and other revenue generating reasons this is why they do this.

The problem comes at the other end when it comes time to start easing restrictions. People who never used to think about deaths outwith their circle of friends and family, have heard nothing but numbers for months and have no idea how these relate to normal.

These people are now scared, blind to the rapidly improving situation, and believe life must be put on hold until a vaccine is found.

That isn't a healthy mind set.

I feel sorry for these people when restrictions are lifted. They are going to be paranoid and reclusive for quite some time.

[Honest Saints Fan]

If schools and nurseries were first to go back there would have to be a decision made for parents that are shielding. I would either have to put my 2 into nursery and stay away from them or wait until there is a vaccine/evidence they don't shed the virus. That mines our lives are going to be on hold for quite some time. I don't mind as it is keeping me safe but do I feel sorry for my oldest who is out of routine and missing her friends. 

[madwullie]

2 hours ago, GordonS said:

Worth saying btw, we're one of the very few countries in the world in which a 5 year old would be in school anyway. If he misses a few months of formal schooling and you do some other cool stuff with him instead, it won't hinder him in the slightest.

Yeah and let's not forget it's not like your kid is off and he's missing stuff and will need to catch up. Also, no teacher in the world is going to assume that what (s) he's done with their parents will mean that doesn't need to be covered now. They'll be going over everything again properly when they're back at school. They're basically sending out busy work to keep the thread of school going. 

[Shandon Par]

2 hours ago, Snafu said:

Sports Direct managers accuse firm of making them work on furlough

Two managers said they had been told not to clock on when they worked in stores while on furlough – seemingly in breach of the rules of the scheme, under which the government covers 80% of staff pay. They said they had been asked to pack up store stock so it could be returned to the group’s warehouse and sold online.

“They are doing it secretly so people don’t know what they are doing,” one worker said.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/may/03/sports-direct-managers-accuse-firm-of-making-them-work-on-furlough

I don't think I will set foot in a Sports Direct store again.

 

It’s a criminal offence to have an employee provide any kind of service to the employer of furloughed. Mike Ashley could get jailed for fraud. 

Edited May 3, 2020 by Shandon Par

[Monkey Tennis]

2 minutes ago, Granny Danger said:

Not all of them.  I’m sure there are many people with a ‘religious faith’ who are nice, well intentioned people.

Thick as fùck, totally illogical, but nice.

Of course there are many, many more who use that faith for repression, including those who are themselves repressed by their beliefs.

In general terms, would we be better off in a world where religious fucknuggets didn’t exist?  Definitely.

That's a bit silly really isn't it?

I'm not remotely religious myself and I'd describe myself as a wishy washy atheist.

I recognise however that a great deal of good is done in the name of religion.  It's easy to highlight conflict around it, but not accurate to imply it's the whole picture, or even the main one.

To call all believers "thick as f**k" is infantile.

[Derry Alli]

24 minutes ago, superbigal said:

26 minutes ago, jakedee said:

My son, who's furloughed, recieved a letter from his employer, with the furlough conditions. One of which stated he was not to seek employment elsewhere

That's an employers prerogative. Not govt policy.

He can seek employment anytime he wants. He can do it whilst at work. 

If he were to take up employment elsewhere he would not receive furlough payment from his current employer. 

[Todd_is_God]

Unless the majority of businesses are going to be allowed to re-open at the start of June and a lot of those currently working from home made to go back to the office. I don't see the point in schools re-opening up here tbh.

They would be opening back up for about 3½ weeks before breaking up for summer.

[pandarilla]

Yeah and let's not forget it's not like your kid is off and he's missing stuff and will need to catch up. Also, no teacher in the world is going to assume that what (s) he's done with their parents will mean that doesn't need to be covered now. They'll be going over everything again properly when they're back at school. They're basically sending out busy work to keep the thread of school going. 

There'll be no time to go over stuff.

Schools don't work like that. If stuff is missed, then it's missed.

You're either at the required level or you get extra support (hopefully).

[Miguel Sanchez]

Been a pretty poor day for this thread tbh.

Edited May 3, 2020 by Miguel Sanchez

[Mark Connolly]

3 minutes ago, Miguel Sanchez said:

Been a pretty poor day for this thread tbh.

We're past the peak

[welshbairn]

10 minutes ago, Dele said:

He can seek employment anytime he wants. He can do it whilst at work. 

If he were to take up employment elsewhere he would not receive furlough payment from his current employer. 

Only because his current employer has made that a rule, others don't.

Edited May 3, 2020 by welshbairn