Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Dundee City Council working on plans to get free schools meals to city children after closures

Post Thumbnail

Dundee City Council has confirmed it is working out how best to get free meals to city children who are entitled to them after schools close their doors on Friday.

The local authority has issued an update after education secretary John Swinney told parliament that the Scottish Government would be prioritising support for vulnerable children and families of key workers.

On Wednesday, Nicola Sturgeon announced the closure of all Scotland’s schools due to the covid-19 pandemic. And earlier today Mr Swinney revealed that all of Scotland’s 2020 exams were being cancelled.

Dundee City Council said its schools are already working on plans to continue children’s educations from home using online resources and other “creative” measures.

The local authority also said it will strive to help parents experiencing childcare issues following the closures.

A council spokesman said: “We are making progress in dealing with this unprecedented situation and we are looking at how we best use our schools to support vulnerable children, pupils completing SQA coursework and assessments and children of key workers.

“Since the announcement was made yesterday (Wednesday), we have moved to identify those vulnerable young people who would receive support while the schools are closed.

“The council is talking to our emergency and key services and other partners to identify the families for whom childcare would allow them to remain in their frontline, critical jobs.”

He added: “We are also exploring how to best get food, or equivalent, to children who are entitled to free school meals.

“Schools are helping all pupils with work and online support to help in the continuity of their education, with many examples of creative thinking being shown by our staff.

“We understand that school closures will have childcare implications for many families across the city, and we are making every effort with our partners to help them through this extremely challenging time.

“We are discussing the recent announcement with head teachers and trade unions and will be providing further details on Friday that will cover the arrangements for the last week of the school term.

“During the next few days we will be working with partners to finalise arrangements for the Easter break and beyond.”

The council has also announced it will be closing community centres and cancelling food waste collections.

It comes after covid-19 deaths in Scotland doubled to six.

Across Scotland a total of 266 people have contracted the virus, an increase from 227 on Wednesday.

There are now 27 confirmed cases of covid-19 in Tayside and nine in Fife.

This is a rise of three for Tayside and one for the kingdom.

Follow our coronavirus live blog here.