A survey of councils by Tes Scotland has revealed the early plans being proposed by local authorities for reopening schools, while maintaining social distancing.
They range from the eight councils in the west of the country that are looking to provide primary pupils with two days a week in school, to Aberdeen City Council’s plans for “a maximum of one-third of all pupils” to attend school “at any one time”.
The Aberdeen plans add that some schools will be “unlikely to achieve the aspiration of one-third”.
When it came to the amount of face-to-face teaching secondary pupils could expect, councils tended to say the offer in each secondary would vary depending on capacity.
Coronavirus: Sturgeon ‘will not act recklessly’ on opening schools
Background: Pupils should be in school half the time, says Swinney
Exclusive: ‘Some pupils could be in school a third of the time’
Related: Edinburgh reopening plan not good enough
Coming out of lockdown: ‘Significant extra funding needed to reopen schools’
Fife Council said it was “working on a basic principle of two days in school for all pupils” but added the return for secondary pupils was “much more complex” and they would return initially for just one day a week. That stage would last until the end of August, the council said, and then pupils would attend 20-40 per cent of the time, until the move “towards full timetable” took place.
East Renfrewshire Council said in its plans it was looking at primary pupils attending two days per week “say Monday and Tuesday from 9am-3pm, with the remainder attending for the same pattern on Thursdays and Fridays”.
It added this approach “is likely to be adopted and adapted across the West Partnership”.
There are eight authorities in the West Partnership: as well as East Renfrewshire, the partnership includes East Dunbartonshire Council, Glasgow City Council, Inverclyde Council, North Lanarkshire Council, Renfrewshire Council, South Lanarkshire Council and West Dunbartonshire Council.
It has already been reported that Glasgow is considering having half the primary pupil population in on Monday and Tuesday and the other half on Thursday and Friday, with Wednesday set aside for planning and teacher non-class contact time.
South Lanarkshire Council, meanwhile, wrote to parents on Tuesday saying there would be “a single model for primary schools, with half of pupils attending school on Mondays and Tuesdays and the other half on Thursdays and Fridays”.
It added: “The model for education delivery in secondary schools will vary across the four localities and each school will provide details of this direct to parents and carers.”
North Lanarkshire Council has told parents “it is likely” capacity of schools will be “between 40%-50% of current volumes” and the education service is “planning on the availability of 80-85% staff being able to attend work”; the remainder are in the group considered at greatest risk from the coronavirus, who will be working from home.
The different approaches to reopening schools came to light following a Tes Scotland survey of councils asking for their plans.
On Friday, City of Edinburgh Council unveiled its plans, saying it was working on the basis that pupils would be in school a third of the time.
The council’s approach has since been described as not “strong enough” by education secretary John Swinney, who has made it clear he wants pupils to spend half their time in school, and half their time learning from home.
On Wednesday, City of Edinburgh Council said that it was “working really hard on plans” to see if it could “achieve 50 per cent”.
Aberdeen City Council has also said it was working on the basis that “a maximum of one-third of all pupils can attend ‘in-school’ learning at any one time” - although it added some schools were “unlikely to achieve the aspiration of one third”.
Last week, the children and young people spokesperson for local authorities’ umbrella body Cosla told Tes Scotland that schools at - or over - capacity would likely only be able to allow pupils to attend a third of the time.
Aberdeen City Council has produced a detailed report laying bare the challenges authorities face.
The Aberdeen document says that S1-3 students will likely be limited to one classroom or “home room” when they come back in August with staff “moving between a limited number of classes”.
The focus in early secondary will be on health and wellbeing, literacy and numeracy.
The document envisages that S4-6 students will “have to move between areas” but that schools might consider introducing longer periods - going, for instance, from six a day to three a day - and pupils may have to wipe down “their desk/chair/surfaces before leaving the room”.
However, it does not say how much time in school secondary pupils are likely to receive come August, stating: “The secondary school estate comprises a range of buildings and the surplus capacities of each varies considerably. This will impact on the offer available from each secondary school.”
The document says that if one-metre social distancing - as opposed to two metres - were in place, some schools “may be in a position to welcome nearly all pupils back”; other schools, it says, “may move to two groupings” if social-distancing rules change.
