We’ve launched three new Nutshells for parents and carers: Learning at Home in Lockdown, Online Safety, and Securing your Devices.
These have information, advice and useful links for supporting learning at home and helping to keep ourselves, and our family, safe online.
Our experiences of lockdown differ because of our individual circumstances. Supporting our children’s learning at home can be a struggle for many parents and families, and we do not yet know when, or how, our children will be able to return to school.
The Learning at Home in Lockdown Nutshell gives you some tips for supporting your children’s learning at home and links to information and advice that can help you. As the health and wellbeing of you and your family is what’s most important, there are also links to organisations that offer information, advice and support.
NPFS Chair, Joanna Murphy, said:
“These are challenging times and we have a lot to cope with. We are assured that no one is expecting us to be teachers and to replicate the school environment, but it’s hard day in and day out to keep up the enthusiasm for learning in our kitchens!! It’s important that we don’t put ourselves, or our children, under too much pressure. We need to be kind to ourselves, and remember to look after our own mental health, as well as our family’s wellbeing.
Working in partnership with our schools is key to achieving outcomes that are realistic and appropriate for our family circumstances. Schools will continue to provide resources to support learning, and offer PSE for our young people, but it will not be the same as being in school and we all need to be mindful of this. Remember to contact your school if you feel you need more help or if something doesn’t help you. Teachers are new to this and are finding their way too.
We’ll continue to provide up-to-date information on our website, and we’ve increased the frequency of our newsletters. If you’re not yet on our mailing list, please join up. We are here to support you as much as we can so please keep in touch.”
Technology is helping us stay connected and entertained. These risks have not changed but the more time we use it, the greater the potential risks. We’ve been working with Education Scotland to create publications that will help you minimise these risks.
You can find information and advice about online behaviour, and helping to keep your child safe on social media and gaming, in our Online Safety Nutshell. Our helpsheet, Securing your devices, has key questions to think about and links to organisations that offer practical, step-by-step, advice.
NPFS Chair, Joanna Murphy, said:
“I am pleased that these nutshells have launched this week. At this particular time pupils are online more and more completing lessons from their school, and this can be a worry to parents who may often not be as confident online as their children. These guides provide digital safety tips plus helpful ways to talk to your child about what they do online.
As a parent, I am mocked by my children about my poor digital skills! so it’s helpful to have clear information in parent friendly language…and to realise that I’m not alone. Just now many young people will be doing classes online, keeping in touch with their teachers and friends on lots of different platforms as well as playing games, watching you tube, following their social media feeds and much, much more. It is reassuring to be able to keep track of the online presence of our children and these nutshells give practical advice on how to do this.”
You can find these latest nutshells, and all of our publications, here.