Rachael Hamilton MSP and Scottish Borders Council Leader Shona Haslam have welcomed the BBC’s announcement on lockdown learning services amidst a return to remote learning.
Back in 2019, Scottish Borders Council funded the rollout of technology, including iPads, to all P4-S6 pupils through the Inspire Learning programme.
This programme greatly assisted pupils during the first lockdown to work remotely. Full-time remote learning became a reality back in the first lockdown starting in March, when schools were closed in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Now the BBC have announced new programmes to complement learning at home.
Judy Murray, Sanjeev Kohli and magician Kevin Quantum are amongst those helping to bring a raft of dedicated educational content to pupils in Scotland once again from Monday next week (11 January) on the BBC Scotland channel, iPlayer and online to help plug any learning gaps caused by school closures.
Similarly to the first lockdown in March, the BBC offered learning content for Scottish school pupils through the BBC Scotland channel.
From 10am every weekday, the BBC Scotland channel will offer a range of programmes for primary and secondary learners, focussed on the Curriculum for Excellence and complementary to the Bitesize Daily offering on CBBC.
Both Rachael Hamilton MSP and Councillor Shona Haslam have thanked teachers, staff, parents and pupils for their continued support throughout the pandemic and welcome the new BBC programmes and content.
Rachael Hamilton MSP said:
“I welcome BBC Scotland’s new lockdown educational content as with a return to remote learning in the Borders and across Scotland, it is important that children are still fully supported in every way to continue learning.
“In the Borders, young people were equipped with the right tools to continue learning remotely through iPads and laptops right from the off.
“The Inspire learning programme has been hugely beneficial in creating a digital learning environment.
“Whilst it doesn’t replace the benefits of face-to-face teaching, given the extremely difficult public health circumstances we are facing, it is important we continue to provide the best education possible”.