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.

Covid: Grove Academy staff shortage sees pupils sent home early

Grove Academy sent pupils home early due to Covid-related staff shortages.
Grove Academy sent pupils home early due to Covid-related staff shortages.

Grove Academy has sent a number of pupils home early as a result of classes being cancelled due to staff shortages.

The Broughty Ferry school told parents and carers on Friday afternoon that a lack of available teachers meant some senior classes were off.

A message issued by the school said: “Due to staff shortages the following electives have been cancelled this afternoon: Health & Wellbeing, Jewellery, Engineering & Craft.

“Pupils have been made aware that they are not to attend.”

Staff absent because of Covid

Dundee City Council confirmed that Covid was the primary reason behind the staff shortages, saying that a handful of pupils had to be sent home as a result.

A spokesman said: “Due to staff absence because of Covid, around 30 pupils out of a total of nearly 360 across S5 and S6 at Grove are unable to attend special elective sessions, which are not examinable choices.

“In the meantime, this group of young people is being encouraged to use that time to study for prelim exams which are coming up soon.”

Pupils in Dundee returned from the winter break on Thursday, as did those in Perth and Kinross and Fife.  Angus schools are due back on Monday.

Isolation rule changes could ease pressure

Earlier this week Nicola Sturgeon outlined changes to self-isolation rules which she said would help ease the pressure on school staff shortages.

Under the updated guidance, close contacts of positive cases who are fully vaccinated (three jags) or under 18 will no longer have to self-isolate. Instead they will have to do a daily lateral flow test for seven days.

David Baxter, branch secretary of EIS Dundee, said schools should see the impact of these changes in the coming weeks.

David Baxter.

He said: “The changes in the self-isolation rules will probably take some pressure off not just teachers but central services.

“But there are still concerns about the delivery of the coursework and the in-school assessment material.

“It’s early days so it will be interesting to see what the picture is like next week. I don’t think the true impact of what will happen will be seen until this time next week.”