Coronavirus (COVID-19) advice

Schools and nurseries

*Updated 3 June 2020*

For school meals information see Free school meals.

School hubs

Schooling arrangements for children of key workers are set to change from Monday 8 June.

As we begin to plan for the phased return of staff and children back to school, we are working to ensure our buildings are ready for a return in August.

To enable us to prepare for staff to come into school in June to help with these preparations, we need to make a change to the current model of our emergency childcare hubs.

Children who currently have a place at our School Hubs will attend their own base school instead. These arrangements will run from Monday 8 June until Friday 26 June. We will be in touch to let parents of children attending the hubs know of the new arrangements.

From Monday 29 June, the School Hubs arrangement will come back into place and will run throughout the summer. Arrangements will be confirmed as soon as possible.

Teachers and other school staff whose children attend an SLC school and who meet the Key worker criteria (both parents key workers) will be able to apply for childcare in one of our hubs through the central admissions process.

Hubs are staffed by volunteers and provide emergency childcare for people who work in the NHS, emergency services, the care and other key sectors, as they attempt to deal with what are unprecedented and demanding challenges.

Places are only open to those families whose children are well and healthy and who cannot secure personal, alternative childcare arrangements. Both parents/carers need to be classified as key workers.

Key workers include:

staff working for the NHS
staff working in health and social care
staff working in the police
staff working for the fire and rescue service
staff working for the ambulance service
staff working for the prison service
staff working on the transport network
energy workers
social workers
Social Security Scotland, HMRC and DWP workers
staff working on key tasks connected to the food chain and utilities services
funeral directors
Armed Forces
teachers and other school staff whose children attend an SLC school until the end of the school year

Applications can be made using the form below. Those granted a space will be notified via email, within two days of submitting the application. For those who are not allocated a place due to prioritisation, we will keep your application on file, should the position change. Please do not resubmit an application.

Apply for a place

School placing requests

Placing request outcome letters were posted on Friday 15 May 2020. If your placing request has been refused, please see our placing request decision page.

Nursery applications

The closing date for nursery applications for the new session 2020/21 was 28 February 2020. If you applied by the closing date, your outcome letter was posted on Friday 15 May 2020. For further information, please visit our early years update pages for 2 year olds and 3-5 year olds. Both pages contain FAQ sections.

Refunds for school trips

Around 100 school trips scheduled to travel between March and June, with some also planned after August were cancelled due to lockdown. We are in discussion with a number of tour operators, our risk management colleagues and the Council’s insurers to see what can be done to progress refunds. We have also sought legal advice as this is something we have not faced before on this scale. Unfortunately, timescales for refunds is out of our control, but refunds will be made as soon as possible. Further progress updates relating to your child’s trip will be provided through the school.

Resources for parents/carers

We have added the following resources for families and children:

Psychological Services COVID-19 helpline
Advice and support for school staff, professional, parents, carers and young people. Available Monday - Friday, 10am-3pm. (Leave a message)

Phone: 01698 455800
Email: enquiries@slcpsych.org.uk