Pupils will be out of Falkirk classrooms for 20 weeks

The schools know that some pupils have had more support than others for all sorts of reasons.

They know that many families don’t have have decent broadband, that others don’t have the space or peace to concentrate on learning while many parents are struggling to help with schoolwork while also working from home.

Council leader Cecil Meiklejohn said: “Teachers are working very hard on how to bring the learning back into step.

“It’s not going to happen overnight but we will be looking how we can mitigate the missed learning.”

Robert Naylor said: “Our headteachers are fully aware of the children who need the most support but I think the first focus will be on health and well-being and supporting children in a situation they have never been in before.

“By August they will have had more than 20 weeks of not being in school.”

In primary school, children will probably be put in small ‘bubbles’ which would be educated together and play together and they will be largely with the same staff each day.

In particular, the change will be difficult for P7 pupils who won’t be returning to their own familiar classroom setting.

Many pupils have been able to keep up with schoolwork remotely and Councillor Adanna McCue, the SNP’s education spokeswoman, thanked the staff for their work to support pupils over the last months.

She said: “We can see how complex the new arrangements will be and its going to take a long time to work it all out.

“Parents will be anxious to know arrangements but working out how schools will open to different children on different days will take time.

“We need to get this as right as we possibly can and there will be tweaks even when we think we’ve got it right.”

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