Rules and regulations but we’re delighted to be back
East Plean pupils return to classroom
The long-awaited sound of school bells rang out across Stirling this week as pupils returned for the first time since March.
Wednesday marked the big day for parents, teachers and children as schools threw open their doors after the previous term was cut short as Scotland locked down in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Observer was given a tour of one local school - East Plean Primary - as it welcomed children back, while grappling with the new restrictions aimed at keeping pupils and staff safe.
Among the changes are staggered break times, special ‘zones’ for different classes in the playground, reconfigured classrooms to allow distancing between teachers and pupils, as well as regular hand sanitiser points throughout the school.
Headteacher Ruth Donnelly, who has been in charge at the school for seven years, admits this summer has been the toughest in her teaching career.
But she has been left proud by the hard work of teachers and school staff, as well as being encouraged by the positive response of parents.
Ms Donnelly said: “I think the fact that we have almost all of our children in school today shows that parents are happy with what we have put in place and the parents have been very good in following the guidance and going along with what we were asking.
“It’s also to the credit of our teachers who were told in March that schools were closing and were moving to online learning; they embraced that wholeheartedly and challenged themselves to learn new skills to make sure they did the best for their children.
“They have done an amazing job and I messaged everyone last night before reopening just to say what a great place the school was in and how that was down to their hard work.
“The parent council, school staff and our janitor have all been doing great work as well, so it’s definitely been a bit of a community effort and reflects East Plean and our willingness to get kids back to school.”
Ms Donnelly also expressed her confidence in the processes in place to manage any Covid-19 cases registered at the school.
She added: “There is very clear guidance about what happens and the council have provided us with risk assessments that we can adapt to our setting.
“We’ve got flow charts so we know what steps to take and who to contact and we have spaces set out to use if that’s necessary.
“It’s all quite clear and the staff know what to do and we went through a lot of that in our staff development days.”
Two P6 pupils enjoying their first day back said they were excited to be back at school.
Ten-year-old Fearne said: “It’s felt good being back because it’s a bit boring just staying at home the whole time.
“It was boring because after we finished all of our work, we didn’t have anything else to do apart from play outside with our siblings so it’s good we get back to school and see all of our friends.’’
And Connie, 10, added: “It’s been a bit to take in with everything we need to do now, but we’ll get used to it.
“I’ve been quite busy at home because I’ve got three ponies to ride so I’ve been kept busy along with all of the other stuff we’ve had to do!
“We were still looking forward to coming back this morning.”
The enforced summer break has also