Caithness parents and pupils adapting to home study
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WITH the closures of schools on Friday due to coronavirus, local parents have had to adapt quickly to having their children studying from home.
Mum-of-two Lisa Kennedy, of Blarmhor House, Georgemas, said while many people had been concerned about end-of-term leaving events, her children were quite happy
On finding out he would have to continue his education at home for the foreseeable future, son Euan (12), a first-year pupil at Thurso High School, immediately asked if he could get a desk for his computer and then set about putting it together himself.
Coming from a farming background, the pupil – who is a keen footballer – has been offered the chance to help out at home, but he made it clear he has five hours of school work to do each day.
His sister Leoni (11), a P6 pupil at Halkirk Primary School, was one of many P6/7 pupils in the county already using a Chromebook. After training about social media and internet sites to be aware of, she was able to take it home earlier this year.
Lisa said: "Their teachers will give them work to do, then they will be able to access it. They do homework on it already – it will be continuous."
However, on day one (Monday) of studying from home, the Kennedy household met with problems trying to get the Chromebooks connected to the internet.
Like many others, both Euan and Leoni have access to Google Classroom, a free web service developed for schools which streamlines the process of sharing files between teachers and students. P6/7 students can also access Sumdog for maths and spelling practice.
Lisa is a senior chemical analyst at Dounreay. However, she was one of the employees sent home from work last week due to having an underlying health issue.
Father Alan is also a member of staff at Dounreay and it looks like he will be working from home as of the end of this week.
"I think people still don't think it is happening," Lisa said.
"Hopefully it will pass quite quickly – no-one knows. My kids are quite happy. I think we are fortunate to live in the country and can continue to go out and take the dogs for a walk.
"I think it was a sensible idea to close the schools."
Watten mum-of-two Liz Hewitson said her children Erin (12) and Andrew (14), both Wick High School pupils, were also using the Google Classroom service to interact with teachers.
Pointing out that the schools did not have long to prepare for the enforced closure, she said: "Andrew is in third year so it is quite important he does the work, otherwise his grades will go down.
"The kids still have to get up and do their work. I am going to try my best to do what I can with them – I'm not a teacher but quite a lot of my friends are.
"I don't work as such, but usually I'm busy organising stuff – but there is just nothing going on. It is having knock-on effects on so many things.
"With the Easter holidays coming up there will be no cinema or swimming to help keep children occupied.
"It will be more worrying for people living in the town who possibly can't get out and about so easily. We are lucky because we have wide-open spaces. Erin can still ride her horse and Andrew can still go outside and kick a ball."
Meanwhile, for Reay boys Euan (12) and Arran (10) Macleod, living in isolation is something they became accustomed while having treatment for a rare genetic condition. Both boys underwent life-saving bone marrow transplant operations several years ago.
Arran had his transplant in October 2014, reaching the "magic" five years last October, while Euan had his operation in March 2015 and just passed the five-year mark a few days ago.
Mum Janet said: "We've been told they should be no more at risk than any other child now, but after what they've been through it is hard not to feel extra anxious about them.
"The kids have experienced isolation before through their medical treatment and the thought of doing it again and not seeing any friends for potentially a long time scares them, quite apart from them worrying for friends and family.
"We're just trying to stay away from as many people as possible other than getting necessities."
Janet, whose husband Calum is a shift manager at Vulcan who still needs to go into his work as he is counted as essential personal, said: "We're lucky as neither of our kids is at a vital point in their education. It must be heartbreaking for the pupils due to sit exams this year.
"Euan has a Chromebook from Thurso High School, so he should be okay, but unfortunately only P6/7 pupils have them so Arran in P5 doesn't – he has easy access to a laptop he can use for himself instead, but it must be a nightmare for some families.
I'm so grateful for all the work the school and council staff are putting in.
"Our biggest challenge regarding schooling may well be our internet connection, though – we have a very slow and erratic connection on old phone lines with many joints in them and we can't get fibre here.
"It is difficult to get a decent connection with only one device being used. With both kids trying to do school work regularly and keep in touch with friends, it is potentially going to be a nightmare.
"I'm so grateful for all the work the school and council staff are putting in, though – they have had it all landed on them with little warning and they are all trying so hard to get it sorted for the kids."
