The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Covid toll on absences
More than 1,000 primary school children in Tayside and Fife were absent on a single day last week due to Covid.
Attendance and absence figures for each area of Scotland released by the Scottish Government also show variations between areas of the proportion of secondary school pupils attending each day.
It has been only two weeks since all primary school pupils were able to return to school, following the return of P1 to P3 and nursery children on February 22. Secondary pupils are back only parttime due to social distancing requirements until the holidays.
Last Tuesday, the latest day for which data is available, 607 Fife primary school pupils (2.1%) were absent for Covid-related reasons, 272 (2.6%) from Perth and Kinross schools, 55 (0.6%) in Angus and 126 in Dundee (1.2%).
Nationwide the Covidrelated absence rate in primary schools was 2%.
An outbreak at Kirkcaldy West Primary School saw 19 people test positive and 19 other Fife schools and nurseries reported cases over the last two weeks.
These included Aberdour, Kings Road, Pathhead, Dunnikier, Torbain, Kelty, Lochgelly South and Aberhill primary schools and Levenmouth Academy, St Andrew’s RC High School and St Columba’s RC High School.
Among the Perthshire primary schools affected were Oakbank, Goodlyburn, St Stephen’s RC, Our Lady’s and Milnathort. Blairgowrie High School and St John’s RC Academy have also had cases.
The proportion of secondary pupils in school in Perth and Kinross Council schools was well above the national average of 26.8% in the morning and 24.1% in the afternoon of March 23. The area’s 11 local authority secondary schools had more than 39% attendance in the morning and afternoon. Attendance was lowest in Fife schools, at 22.3% in the morning and 19.7% in the afternoon.
A Perth and Kinross Council spokeswoman said schools had followed Scottish Government advice on the safe return of children and young people.
She said: “Head teachers have engaged with their individual school communities to maximise opportunities for safe faceto-face learning for our secondary pupils in line with all health and safety mitigations, guidelines and hygiene measures.”
Absence rates were also recorded for teachers off due to confirmed Covid, Covid symptoms, isolating, shielding, quarantining or caring for someone due to the virus. On the same date there were 16 teachers absent in Angus, 24 in Dundee, six in Fife and 20 and Perth and Kinross.
Data on school attendance and Covidrelated absences is being published regularly by Scottish Government Education Analytical Services, based on information provided by local authorities.
Secondary school pupils are due to return full-time after the Easter holidays, on April 12 in Fife and April 19 in the other areas.
The Scottish Government has been clear that a central pillar of its Covid response is the minimising of disruption to our young people’s education.
That is a position that few could argue with.
But, perhaps inevitably, the reality of the return to classrooms of recent weeks is that it has been – and remains – a difficult experience for pupils, teachers and support staff.
New statistics released by the Scottish Government show just how challenging.
In a single day last week, more than 1,000 primary school children in Tayside and Fife were absent from class due to Covid infection, or the need to isolate as a potential contact of someone with the virus.
Nationwide, the absence rate within primary schools was 2%.
That may seem relatively small, but it is significant and the full knock-on effect of delivering lessons in such an environment is impossible to quantify.
With the clock ticking down to the expected full-time return of secondary pupils to schools after the Easter holidays, the pressure on an already strained school system will only grow.
Unfortunately, there are no easy solutions and the likelihood is that disruption will remain a daily part of the school diet for much of the summer session to come.
That is an unpalatable scenario and one that will no doubt be giving Education Secretary John Swinney – who committed his own Covid breach on the election trail this week – sleepless nights.
That pupils need to go back to class is a given. But that transition needs to be carefully managed every step of the way.