And so it begins...

It's been a very strange time in school this week.  Everyone else in the country was told to stay home, work from home, don't get close to other people.  ALL council staff were told to clear their desks and work from home.  Libraries, community centres and even public toilets were closed as the risk to staff was too high.  And yet we were told it's ok for schools to be open.  Children just carry it, they can't get sick from The Virus.  But teachers could.  Support staff could.  Parents could.

Then teachers were declared front line employees, the same category as doctors and nurses.  But doctors and nurses are given protective equipment.  We were providing our own soap for children to wash their hands.  Many parents kept their children home. But just as many sent them to school as normal.  And we tried so hard to keep it normal for them.

Today after many many difficult negotiations between government, councils and unions, schools were finally closed to children AND teachers. Although some school 'hubs' will be open for front line staff's children.

Starting from Monday I'll be working from home.  We've set up Home Learning online through many websites we use in school and good old Twitter!  Sadly many of our parents don't have devices at home to access these so we made up home learning packs too.  All teachers I know have brought home loads of admin, materials to create new resources as well as literature for professional development.

Today I said goodbye to my wee class of 7 year olds not knowing when I'll see them again and told them they were part of history.  As we all are.

And so it begins...