Scottish COVID-19 Inquiry 6 Nov 2024

Testimony by School Leaders Scotland.

NB: This testimony was covered sparingly by the BBC (see links) yet missed the admissions below on lockdown/school closures harms and also the MANY testimonies outlining mask harms to young children/infants stated at the inquiry on Nov 5th.

The concluding remarks by Mr.Thewliss must be watched by every parent and teacher in Scotland, they even troubled Lord Brailsford-chair of the inquiry. Bare in mind there is no evidence ANY school attending child in Scotland caught ‘COVID’ at school or died from this alleged new disease in 4 years!

Introduction

The two witnesses are Mr.Graham Hutton, current General Secretary of School Leaders Scotland (SLS) who has been in that role since August 2023. Mr.Jim Thewliss was the General Secretary of School Leaders Scotland (SLS) during ‘the pandemic’ who retired August 2023.

SLS (formely Headteachers’ Association of Scotland) represents leaders in secondary schools across Scotland. The current membership consists of around 1169 members, including headteachers, deputy headteachers, principal teachers, faculty heads and business managers. Members also include college lecturers and secondary leaders who have been seconded to local authorities or Education Scotland.

Testimony

Here the general secretary of SLS Graham Hutton admits (albeit sparingly in relation to conent within his written statment) that the lockdown and restrictions have damaged the mental health of young people and disrupted normal school relations with parents.

• Truancy now a problem

• Negative behaviours persistent

• More ‘parental conflict’ (likely parents calling out the ‘COVID’ lies)

‘‘The cabinet secretary has been trying to deal with this how do we improve behaviour in young people.’’

‘‘There has been a rise in arguments they’re (teachers) having with parents that they probably wouldn’t have had in the past.’’

‘‘Parents take the young people’s side whereas before that wouldn’t have been the case.’’

‘‘Is it Linked in your view to the pandemic experience of lockdown and restrictions and school closures?’’

-Mary Ellen Stuart-Junior Counsel to the inquiry

‘‘I would say so.’’

-.Graham Hutton, General Secretary of School Leaders Scotland (SLS)

Concluding remarks by Mr.Thewliss

‘‘The system was tested by the pandemic.’’

-Jim Thewliss

‘‘Bringing young people into a building, sitting them in a room with an adult who tells them a story at the front of the room is not the way to be doing it in the 21st century…that has major implications for teacher training.’’

-Jim Thewliss

‘‘At the end of a period of learning you sit down with a pen and piece of paper and you write down what you remembered about your learning..that also is NOT the type of way in which early 21st century society should be working.’’

-Jim Thewliss

‘‘We cannot carry on doing what we’re doing in the way in which we are doing it..if we meet another pandemic we might be slightly better prepared but not as prepared as we could be.’’

Mr.Thewliss further adds in his statement:

‘‘Everyone wanted to get back some sense of normality, but there is no normality anymore. COVID-19 has changed everything.’’

-Jim Thewliss-Paragraph 48 of statement

Lord Brailsford

An unusual interjection by Lord Brailsford at the very end of the session in relation to the above rather bizarre closing comments.

‘‘I regret to say…much of what you envisage or consider might or in your view SHOULD be done we would consider to beyond our scope of our terms of reference.’’

Not mentioned by the BBC or even at the inquiry

Jim Thewliss statement highlights

‘‘Scotland now has a cohort of young people who have not experienced normal schooling e.g., early years; primary, secondary, further, and higher education, and all the various transition points. All children and young people whose education and social development was interrupted were definitely impacted. The behaviour they are exhibiting within the system is now starting to affect the system itself and this is a much longer-term, insidious harm that will continue if the level of resource going into the system is not enough to sustain what would have been normal.’’

-Paragraph 49 of statement

‘‘The notion that COVID-19 is done, and we are done with it, is not correct. The impact of the pandemic remains in schools.’’

-Paragraph 67 of statement

Lessons to be learned

‘‘The epidemiologists were on the ball all the time and were always pretty accurate. What they did say was that they had been telling us for a long time that something like COVID-19 was going to happen. The greatest lesson to be learned is preparation. If we are not learning that things like this can happen, then we have not learned at all.’’

-Paragraph 73 of statement

‘‘It is critical to understand that the traditional model of teaching cannot be sustained. The world now expects teachers and teaching institutions to operate in a much more responsive and flexible way to deliver learning to the community.’’

-Paragraph 75 of statement

Graham Hutton statement highlights

‘‘There was also the need to go into school and measure the two-metre distance in some classrooms and then make a decision on who had to isolate. There had to be accurate seating plans for every class, so I could easily tell who had been within the two-metre distance for contamination.’’

-Paragraph 35 of statement

‘‘Another stressor was keeping pupils in bubbles. We had to split breaks and lunches, so we had two of each to keep pupils in bubbles. That doubled the amount of supervision senior staff had to do, taking away from other areas of responsibility. We also had to be at each school entrance every morning to welcome the young people into school, check on masks, and give out masks, if required.’’

-Paragraph 38 of statement

‘‘The two-metre distancing was also stressful in terms of trying to enforce this in corridors. The provision of PPE and getting pupils to use hand gel was also stressful.’’

-Paragraph 39 of statement

‘‘There was a substantial impact on pupils studying practical subjects. Even when schools reopened there were restrictions in place. For example, for music you were not allowed to use woodwind or brass instruments unless it was outside, which was fine in the summer, but not in the winter. In home economics, there was concern about food contamination and the rooms being quite cramped and not allowing for social distancing. Physical Education was also impacted, and schools opted for more individualised sports. There was definitely an impact on the quality of teaching.’’

-Paragraph 43 of statement

‘‘There was a huge increase in mental health issues because of the pandemic. In my school, pre-pandemic mental health issues were already high which compounded the situation and CAMHS is still struggling now. Access to agencies such as social work was always difficult, and the pandemic certainly did not help.’’

-Paragraph 46 of statement

‘‘Mental health issues skyrocketed across Scotland during the pandemic and took different forms of how young people and staff reacted.’’

-Paragrapg 48 of statement

‘‘There was more absence from school. As time passed, we realised that psychologically lockdown had done an enormous amount of damage to the mental health of our young people. Guidance staff had their work cut out for them and noticed an increasing number of pupils coming to them for help and support.’’

-Paragraph 50 of statement

‘‘The loneliness that young people felt in terms of lack of contact with their friends, teachers and family was immense. Some young people struggled with not being able to go to school and this had a significant long-term impact on them.’’

-Paragraph 51 of statement

‘‘Some pupils wore the mask under their nose and needed to be gently persuaded to wear them properly.’’

-Paragraph 69 of statement

‘‘A lot of children are more disengaged and are lapping in schools. Lapping refers to pupils who refuse to go to class and spend their time walking round the school, hiding in toilets, corridors, small rooms, etc. These pupils can attract followers so there can be a number of them going round school buildings throughout the day. Senior staff have to be on duty to patrol the relevant areas and take pupils back to class.’’

-Paragraph 80 of statement

Thanks for reading.

End

Links:

Full statement- Graham Hutton-https://www.covid19inquiry.scot/sites/default/files/ev-documents/sci-wt0504-000001.pdf

Full statement-Jim Thewliss- https://www.covid19inquiry.scot/sites/default/files/ev-documents/sci-wt0504-000001.pdf

Video-Youtube-Scottish COVID-19 Inquiry Impact hearing | Education and certification | 6 November 2024 (afternoon session)

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cp9z07emr99o

https://www.sls-scotland.org.uk/about-us/