What Scotland Learned 100 stories of lockdown For Scotland’s learners, with Scotland’s educators 100 stories of lockdown Contents What Scotland Learned is a collection of inspiring stories about how practitioners across Scotland responded to the COVID-19 crisis. It is structured around the five themes of How Good is OUR School?. Foreword 4 Relationships 5 Learning and teaching 31 School and community 83 Health and wellbeing 142 Successes and achievements 179 Reflection 192 What Scotland Learned Foreword Relationships Gayle Gorman HM Chief Inspector of Education This theme is about how well everyone The COVID-19 pandemic led to the sudden closure supported each other to work, learn of school buildings and other learning sites across and achieve success. It is about Scotland. During this time there were many examples relationships amongst learners and of extraordinary work across the entire education between children and young people and system to support learners and communities. the adults who work with them as part of a learning community. For many learners, their education was delivered When we asked for submissions for this entirely through distance and online platforms, publication, I wasn’t sure how many we would with different forms of on-going contact with receive. Everyone is back in school now and their teachers, childcare workers, youth workers, I know how busy you all are. Incredibly, we tutors and others. Of course, for children and received many, many submissions and it just young people, support from parents and carers wasn’t possible to publish all of them in this book. continued to be key to their learning. However, more of the stories we received are available on the Education Scotland website. Practitioners and volunteers responded in a variety of creative and stimulating ways and this I can honestly say, I have never been more book aims to capture, and celebrate, some of the proud of Scottish education – of the practitioners, stories of lockdown learning. In this publication, learners, partners, families and communities. we want to celebrate the amazing stories that I’d like to take this opportunity to thank you for emerged during the months March – August 2020. everything that you have done, and I have no doubt, everything you will continue to do, to The 100 stories on the following pages have ensure the continuation of learning for all our been curated from a selection submitted from children and young people. practitioners, local authorities, establishments, leaders, parents, learners, partners, volunteers I hope you enjoy reading the stories of lockdown and others. The words are their own and learning on the following pages and take a unedited: we feel this captures the moment in moment to reflect on your own learning during this their own voice, at the time when learning and time, and take forward the positive and innovative teaching looked and felt very different. approaches we saw blossom across Scotland. The dedication and care shown by everyone involved in providing learning and teaching activities was nothing short of inspiring and I listened with awe and admiration as more and more stories of lockdown emerged. Gayle Gorman Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education 4 What Scotland Learned 100 stories of lockdown Establishment: Allan’s Nursery and Primary School Local Authority: Stirling Council What we did: During some of the darkest lockdown days, Who we involved: some families needed a simple ‘pick-me-up’ to We, at Allan’s have a diverse catchment area show that we cared about them. Our community We worked closely with Catering Services, with 42% of our school population living in deciles organised Bags of Love, Pamper Packs and Youth Services, Social Work, Plus, Educational 1 to 4 and 47% living in deciles 8, 9 and 10. Family Packs. Some single parents had no one Psychology, Parent Council and Food Bank to Therefore, we have to be extremely mindful of all to turn to, so we offered 1:1 support for these ensure that our community was connected and our families, especially during lockdown. It was families twice a week. Our teachers, support well supported. vitally important that we recognised that each staff and educators made telephone calls to family within our community would have families to keep in touch. The difference it made: a completely different experience. To keep our school community connected, We were already extremely proud of the strong Throughout lockdown we had our school weekly virtual assemblies were presented relationships we had forged with our school values at the heart of everything we did – love, which brought some normality to a Friday and nursery community. However, throughout endeavour, respect, integrity and courage. afternoon. Parents commented that they would lockdown and since returning in August, our However, the value that shone brightly was look forward to a Friday afternoon and would play relationships have become even deeper and our value of love. We, as a team, had to be the video numerous times to engage their child. more meaningful which, in turn, has continued creative and determined to make our families We also organised a highly successful virtual to build trust, compassion and understanding feel connected and to continue our strong Sports Week, Meet the Teacher videos, numerous across all areas. relationships with our families. Transition Videos, and Makerspace Mondays. Our Pupil Parliament featured heavily in We based our return on 3Cs – Calmness, During session 2019-20, one of our school our videos, always giving advice, tips and Connection and Cohesion coupled with our deep, priorities was digital profiling. We were therefore demonstrating courageous pupil leadership. meaningful relationships. Our school and nursery already using a digital platform to share learning All these virtual transmissions deepened community have returned with ease, positivity with our families. This had a huge impact on and enriched our lockdown relationships with and sense of purpose. The ethos is one of love our digital engagement, as 85% of our children our families. We produced a monthly and togetherness where everyone has a shared engaged fully in online learning during lockdown. digital newsletter giving useful updates on understanding of our values and “together, we For those children who did not engage, we achievements, resources and support networks. learn for life” (our mission statement) was at provided learning packs, which were distributed the centre of our decision making throughout every week/month and complemented this by To find out how we could further support lockdown and beyond. distributing iPads, Chrome Books and dongles to everyone (children, parents and staff), we issued families who required technologies/connectivity. online and face to face questionnaires which A parent stated “our community probably suffered allowed us to analyse the feedback to plan our more during lockdown due to the increased drug To enable us to support our community, we next steps. One big worry was transitioning back activity which prevented a lot of parents and delivered school lunches twice a week, which to school. We therefore established a transition children going out. The children and families was continued by our nursery team during working across nursery and school and used really looked forward to their twice weekly visits summer holidays. Door step visits were so 3 Cs pedagogy – Calmness, Connected and and it was great that the team were making sure important as many families looked forward Cohesion at the centre of our decision-making everyone was ok. I was personally extremely to the contact and were able to let us know which was communicated across all levels. grateful of the 1:1 support the school gave my if they needed anything or if we could support Every single task, no matter how big or small, child twice a week. The school is always there them further – we could be responsive to our made a significant contribution to forging for everybody and everything they have done families! This enabled us to deliver essential everlasting, trusting relationships with has helped everyone come back to school happy food packages and organise Food Bank referrals. our community. and ready to learn.” 6 7 What Scotland Learned 100 stories of lockdown Many parents wrote testimonials to express Our efforts also made The Scottish Sunday Times What we will do differently during lockdown, many team members were their deep appreciation of the support they on two occasions during lockdown: collaborating independently and problem solving had received throughout lockdown. One parent in the future: together and this has continued since returning. wanted to say thanks for the bag of love she The impact has been extremely significant as had received: When analysing the impact of what we created our community all pulled together and there was during lockdown, it was highly evident that our We hear through the grapevine that our purposeful and meaningful cohesion. We were teachers are also reaching out whenever shared values-based vision was intensified as all united in a sense of belonging which helped we were “together, we learn for life”, and since they feel they haven’t heard from a pupil us navigate our way through adversity with true I am writing to express my sincere for a while – making calls and checking in, returning, this feeling of cohesion and connection altruism. Relationships strengthened across has reverberated within our school building and appreciation for your care and kindness offering support. They are delivering by hand all aspects of school and nursery life, with our to me and my family since we joined packed lunches and school meals to anyone grounds, despite our parents and families being parents valuing the connection we had with our denied access to our building. Allan’s family. I am so grateful.