The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
‘Happy’ return to the classroom for pupils
Primary schools were bursting with excitement as children returned to class for the first time in more than 11 weeks.
Pupils in P4-7 went back to school yesterday after more than eight weeks of home learning, joining their peers in P1-3 and nursery who returned on February 22.
At Fair Isle Primary School, Kirkcaldy, children, their teachers and parents were delighted that schools had fully reopened after the second national lockdown.
Head teacher Vicki Bell was at the gate to greet children and said it was “absolutely wonderful” to have the entire school back.
She said: “You could see the smiles and the enthusiasm from the children outside. Having the families back together as a family coming through the gate this morning, it’s just wonderful, exciting and it’s where we’re meant to be.”
The school welcomed its P1-3 classes back three weeks ago, and Mrs Bell said: “If you went into any class and asked them how it felt, they were just happy.
“They wanted to be back with their friends, they wanted to be back face-toface with their teachers, so the children looked really excited this morning and happy to be back.”
P7 pupil Caseyleigh Wilson said she had missed seeing all her classmates and teacher since December and was glad to be back.
She said: because I
“I’m happy get to see
ALL BACK: Pupils return to class at Fair Isle Primary, top, and Caseyleigh Wilson, Emilia Wisniewska, Evie Addison and head teacher Vicki Bell, from left. everyone and I’m not stuck in the house because of lockdown anymore, and I’m happy because I can see Mrs Henderson now, and I can ask her in person rather than online for help.”
Evie Addison, in P4, said she felt “nervous” in the morning but it felt “really good” to be back and she was pleased to see all her friends again.
Emilia Wisniewska, P5, was looking forward to playing and chatting with her friends at lunchtime.
She said: “I feel good since I can see all of my friends.”
Jenna Haddow, P7, said: “I was a bit nervous but then I was happy to see all my friends.”
She found learning at home challenging as time went on, adding: “It was easy but then it got a bit hard. I really wanted to be in the classroom instead of at home.”
Jenna’s mum, Claire, waved off her and her siblings Casey, P3, and Zack, P5, before taking three-year-old Bella to nursery.
Claire said: “I will miss them, they’ve been in the house for so long, but they need to get back.
“As much as the school has been fantastic with home learning, they need to be taught by a teacher. I’m not a teacher, I can support them at home but they need to be in school for their emotional wellbeing, they need interaction with their peers.”
Dropping her children off at the gates, Andrea Jefferies said her son
Ronnie, P7, was delighted to be back at school like sister, Ruby, P3, who went back in February.
She said: “No more home schooling!
“I’m glad they’re back. They need some normality, to see their friends and get face-to-face education. It’s been hard.”
Angela Tasker was dropping off her children Sophie, P2, Chloe, P5, and Lewis Edgerton, P7, and said: “I’m glad they are back.
“Lewis is autistic and it’s been a challenge with him being off. He gets extra support but we didn’t have that at home, and he doesn’t ask for help.
“Sophie’s P2 teacher said she settled back in quicker this time than last time, so hopefully they will all settle quicker this time.”
There was cause for celebration in Dundee yesterday as many secondary pupils returned to school for the first time since December.
Junior pupils in S1-3 were delighted to set foot in the classroom again after several months away.
St Paul’s RC Academy has introduced a number of safety mitigations to make the phased return possible.
Senior pupils have been offered two-and-a-half hours each day in order to complete essential coursework, while younger pupils will have one half day each week until the Easter holidays.
Head teacher Teresa Little said making sure pupils were coping with the pandemic was a key focus of reopening.
She said: “The seniors we are really needing to push on and make sure they’re prepared for any assessments they’ve got coming up.
“For the younger ones, the next three weeks will focus on health and wellbeing and helping them to feel confident about where they are in their learning and not to worry about the future because we’ve got that in hand.
“We just want them to feel secure at school, to feel safe and to feel confident.”
The toughest task facing the school is implementing two-metre physicaldistancing in corridors and classrooms, which means the number of pupils in the building at each time has been significantly reduced.
But the school, she said, is hoping to take positive lessons from remote learning to improve the way people learn, such as workload management and independent study skills.
It has been a tough year for S1 pupils, who have had very little time at their new secondary school since transitioning from primary.
Kerra Duell, 12, said she hopes to reconnect with her classmates following the phased return.
She said: “I’m most looking forward to seeing my friends and learning stuff that I’ve not already learned.”
Learning from home has added to the difficulties as many city pupils battled connectivity issues.
She added: “Working from home was sometimes stressful because either the wi-fi would be playing up or the computer would be too slow.
“But at school it is a lot easier because you can get help from the teachers.”
Following the cancellation of exams in December, pupils in S4-6 have been working hard to pull together coursework which can be assessed as an alternative to exams.
But that challenge became even tougher as schools closed to suppress the spread of Covid-19.
Head boy Matthew Duncan, 17, said being back in the classroom will make the assessment process easier.
It had been difficult to ask questions or communicate with teachers during home-schooling, he said.
Despite coping reasonably well with remote learning, head girl Melissa Phillips, 17, said she was relieved to be back at school.
Angus councillors will outline their preferred option on the future of Lochside Leisure Centre this week.
Five options will be discussed at a full Angus Council meeting on Thursday.
Councillors will vote on their preferred option for the Forfar centre, after which further consultation will take place.
A final decision will not be made until a further report is presented on that consultation results.
The leisure facility was at the centre of a legal probe last year which ultimately saw the council concede it was wrong to consider knocking down the building.
This week’s vote follows online public consultation and an external review into the decision-making process by Angus Council.
The five options to go before councillors are:
● Leave the building as it currently is
● Sell the building and land it sits on
● Lease the centre and land
● Hand over the site through a Community Asset Transfer (CAT)
● Demolish the building and retain the parkland
The five options have been scored against six implication categories. These are:
● Impact on the economy
● Consultation results
● Potential financial implications
● Revenue
● Risk
● Retention of the common good for future generations
A score has been assigned to each category, with a total weighted score then calculated.
The two options with the highest total, and therefore the lowest risk to the council, are demolition and CAT, which both scored the same.
The report to go before councillors this week states that the only budget provision set aside is for the demolition, but if councillors do not choose to tear down the building, the money set aside for that will become available for “other purposes”.
The local authority authorised the demolition of Lochside in February 2019, but found themselves in the Inner House of the Court of Session, the highest civil court in Scotland, after Forfar businessmen Mark Guild and Donald Steward mounted a legal bid against the decision.
After protracted legal proceedings, Angus Council decided not to challenge a court declaration that the decision to raze the centre was wrong.
Mr Guild described the verdict as a “win for democracy”.
A public consultation was launched late last year to canvass views of local residents. A total of 334 people took part. The five options were put before them, with demolition being the most favoured choice, with 35.9% approving.
A CAT was the second favourite option, receiving 27.2% of the vote and just 1.2% of respondents wanted the status quo.
A probe by private firm Azets concluded that the decision to demolish Lochside Leisure Centre was “not unreasonable”.
However, Azets’ report did find three weaknesses in the decision-making process. These were:
● Varying quality in reports which went before different committees
● The need for better documentation and communication on the decision not to proceed with an invasive structural survey of the building in October 2018
● A clearer timescale would have been “helpful” to interested parties prior to the decision to demolish the building.
It was recommended that Angus Council adopt best practices in line with these issues.
The review was not carried out by Audit Scotland because the public body did not have the capacity to undertake the work until later in 2021.