Parents fury over lockdown education at Auchinloch Primary School

The parents of a Lanarkshire primary school pupil are telling Clyde News they feel let down by the lack of support offered to them and their daughter during lockdown.

They say they have raised several complaints to the head teacher at Auchinloch Primary School from the end of April until now about the lack of homework received or contact from teachers, but claim nothing has been changed.

The parents say during lockdown, their child received one short piece of homework every fortnight.

The parents also added the head teacher has refused any engagement with them over the phone, and they have been passed onto his colleagues instead.

The mum said: "Into late April, we tried to contact the school to try to contact the head master who you couldn't contact.

"You were then put onto his depute and again, only by email - we struggled to get a telephone conversation with her.

"Teachers at other schools were doing video calls, they were doing interactive teaching.

"We couldn't expect the world and we certainly weren't expecting the world, but a wee phone call or a video call every 2-3 weeks to engage the kids - but basically we were shut down."

Clyde News has also seen messages which suggest other parents were also concerned about the lack of homework or support shown by the teachers at the school during the pandemic.

The dad adds their daughter doesn't enjoy school anymore because of what has happened.

He said: "She doesn't want to go to the school. She is unhappy there - she doesn't want to stay there, it's as simple as that.

"She's not been happy for a while because she feels her teachers don't care about her.

"Certainly during lockdown, they weren't interested in her.

"I have to say I don't blame her for feeling that way because it's exactly the way we feel and I don't really see that any of that has really improved."

Clyde News has also seen email exchanges between the parents and the school which show pleas for a meeting to take place.

The dad said: "We did speak to the school at one point and we brought up that other schools were doing video calls or they were uploading lessons which were accessible through YouTube.

"We're not asking for the earth - but just some sort of contact.

"The general consensus was that parents would like to see more interaction with the teachers and with the school.

"We have information here that can clearly show we weren't the only parents that thought this."

Aileen McGrane, chair of the Auchinloch Primary parent council, said: "The parent council was contacted by three parents over the period of lockdown with concerns about the educational provision - all of these enquiries were discussed further with the school.

"Only one of the parents felt it necessary to take further steps and we are not aware of any other parents who felt it necessary to make a formal complaint.

"The process at the start of lockdown was by no means perfect, but the school continued to accept feedback from parents to expand on what was available through this platform and continued to set work for each week.

"My personal feeling is that the time currently being take up by the school dealing with these factually incorrect claims is distracting from the educational provision at a time when it is most important as the children resettle into their environment after the disruption over recent months."

A spokesperson from North Lanarkshire Council said: "We are aware of this complaint from the parents of one pupil at the school and are engaging directly with them."

Hear the latest news on Clyde 1 on FM, DAB, smart speaker or the Rayo app.