Today, John Swinney, the Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills announced in the Scottish Parliament that the Scottish Government’s aim is for children to return to school full-time, depending on scientific advice that it is safe to do so, in August.
Covid-19 has presented us all with many challenges, and the closure of schools in March 2020 has had a profound impact on children, young people, parents, carers, and families across Scotland in many different ways. These past few months will have resulted in many families facing a range of difficulties, as well as sometimes highlighting strengths.
The strength of feeling amongst parents is understandable. As parents ourselves, we understand that dealing with the upheaval of the last few months has been no easy task. Parents are worried about the impact on our children and young people, frustrated with the lack of consistency from Local Authorities, and struggling with the financial impact on our families.
Our Chair, Joanna Murphy, said:
“Although parents may sometimes disagree on the best approach and the decisions made, as we have seen throughout our work representing parents, we all have the best interests of our children at heart. We all need to remember that and be sympathetic to one another’s circumstances. What is most important, is that we have high-quality educational provision that does not compromise the health and well-being of our children. The virus has not gone away so schools and local authorities must continue to put rigorous contingency plans in place to reduce the risk of our children’s education being compromised in the future and ensure that sustaining everyone’s health and well-being remains the key focus of all our efforts.”