SINGLE mum Caishnah Begg, a self-employed illustrator from Airdrie, is waiting to hear the arrangements for her two sons, who are entering primaries four and six: “We’ve had a lot of letters – one was seven-sided – and there’s another one tomorrow with class placements, and we should also find out what day they go back.

“Homeschooling has been alright when they’ve been up for it. They don’t have a diagnosis, but both of them have been assessed in school for dyslexia and they really struggle with literacy. A lot of the tasks they’ve been set have been fun, like making ice cream or making clay.

“I know people who have said, ‘I’m not a teacher, I’m not going to bother with that’, but my kids are already at a disadvantage, my conscience wouldn’t let me say that so we’ve done the majority of it.

“The boys are keen to get to school and see their friends. I’ve tried to tell them it’s not going to be the same but I think that first day will be quite a shock when they see they’re at individual desks and lunchtime isn’t the same.

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“I think everything that’s been done has been necessary, but it’s hard as a self-employed person. On the days they’re not going to be in school, the homeschooling is supposed to continue, but I have no idea how I’m going to juggle that with running a company.”

STAY-at-home Paisley dad David Anderson has sons in primary one and primary four, who he believes need more than two days of in-class teaching: “I’ve been really shocked at the quality of some of the materials we’ve been sent for the kids – links to crappy YouTube videos and files littered with typos.

‘‘A lot of it was American and just really annoying. We just abandoned it and decided to educate them ourselves due the quality of what was being provided to us. We’ve used bought-in materials and books and we’ve been working on the basics of language and maths, and just gone through cupboards for every puzzle book and annual to get them thinking.

“We’re lucky enough to have a garden so we’ve been letting them play outside as much as possible, just unstructured play that hopefully they’ll learn from – how high can we build this tower, can I balance on this, how far can you jump, that kind of thing.

“I want them to get back to normal schooling straight away. The flipside is worse than the virus. The economy is in the toilet, I know families where both parents have lost their jobs or been furloughed and I’m worried about the kids not getting an education.

“If we don’t have kids going back to school full-time, it’ll have a massive effect on everything.

“I feel confident about sending them back, the R rate is reducing. They need normality. We’ll probably need to drag them back at first but as soon as they get there they’ll see their buddies and instantly realise what they’ve missed.”

BANK worker Rachel, from Uddingston, has one son in primary four and two pre-school children: “It’s a bit frustrating getting updates of the same information, but worded differently. It would be nice to know what the possibilities are, even if it’s not set in stone.

“My son would like to know if he will be in at the same time as his friends, who his teacher will be and so on.

“At the start of lockdown his teacher set up Twitter and Teams accounts but we couldn’t get access to Teams because my phone was ancient. She doesn’t put anything on Twitter and I’ve not gotten any other updates or information.”

EDINBURGH University tutor Hanna Cannon has one child going into primary four and another starting school: “I’m not worried this period is going to effect a university application, they’ll be fine. Mental health and family is the number one right now, and the school has been saying that as well.

“I think the school have genuinely tried to do their best. Some parents want to sit at a desk for hours and do a lot, others are trying to juggle their own work. My son’s only seven and I’ve enjoyed things like going a nature walk to look for leaves, but I think worksheets might have been better.

“Whatever is decided, we are going to be OK because my husband works from home, I work from home and we can cope, but I think on a wider social level it’s going to be an absolute catastrophe if they only go back to school a third of the time. Lots of women don’t have the kind of jobs that can be done from home or they can take a break from. The government is asking employers to be flexible, but that’s a little bit meaningless. I’d like something more concrete.

“It’s going to be very complicated for large numbers of families. This year I was going to put my youngest in nursery and really start getting my academic career back. That’s obviously not happening now.

“But I’m one of the lucky ones in this situation.”

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DAD Sam Andrews shares custody of his son Simon in Glasgow: “It’s been rubbish, to be honest. At the start of the week we get a sheet of paper with some tasks Simon’s teacher would like us to do, and we have until Friday to get everything done. But there’s no feedback, no marking on work that gets handed in. Simon never sees his or hears from his teacher. I know they’re all trying their best but it does feel like they’ve been pretty much left to their own devices.

“I’m separated from Simon’s mum and we take it week about to have him. So I’m single parenting and I’m also trying to work full-time from home. Getting homework done is increasingly hard and that really worries me for blended schooling. I can’t do this on my own. How much support am I going to get in August? I don’t get any help or recognition from my employer that this is something I’m going to have do.

“I don’t understand why Simon can’t Zoom-in with his teachers. Even if he just had some digital face-to-face time every day I think that would make a huge difference.

“The other thing that really worries me is exercise. It’s not just that Simon’s missing PE but he’s also not getting that daily run about the playground with his pals at break time and lunchtime. And while it’s great we can now meet up with two households at once, it’s till tricky trying to fit that in with my work.’’

NURSE Janice Campbell, from Greenock, works shifts while trying to support her two kids, one of whom begins high school in August: “It’s been hard. It’s been really hard, at times, but we’ve just got to make the best of it. Sometimes I feel like I don’t know what day it is or what week it is, I’m just trying to keep it all going.

“My eldest is quite good at working independently, but my youngest can’t do that yet and you’ve got to gee him up to get him moving. It was quite strange before school stopped in March to realise that this was effectively my eldest’s last day at primary school, but I would like to know what his first day at high school is going to look like so I can get him prepared.

“I work in the NHS so I can’t complain about the emphasis on public health and keeping everyone safe and socially distant, that’s the right thing to do until we get this fully under control. We just can’t take any chances, but at the same time it’s been really difficult. I can’t work from home so the sooner we’re told ‘this is what’s happening’, the sooner we can sort out a plan to make sure everything gets done and everyone is looked after.”

PERTHSHIRE mum Kirsty Jackson, also a nurse, has two children in secondary school: “I want them to get all of the help they need, I don’t want them to miss out on anything they need to keep them on track.

“My kids have very different personalities. James has already developed the skills for independent learning and can work on his own, but Lucy benefits more from face-to-face teaching, and so although James has picked his subjects to start his National 5s, it’s Lucy I think who is missing out the most.

“So far, the information we’ve been given has explained what the challenges they are trying to work out are. I’d rather know the solutions. Our catchment area includes villages, so they have the added complication of trying to get the children to school on buses while social distancing. It’ll take a bit of time to figure that out.

“It would be good for me to know what the plan is so I can figure out what I can do to help them, and what my husband can do to give them more of a routine, because it’s been quite chaotic.

“With what I do for a job, I’m not laissez-faire, I do have concerns about what we don’t know about the role of children in transmitting the virus but I feel like any return to face-to-face teaching, with due concerns for social distancing, has got to be a good thing.’’