MuckleJoannie Posted September 23, 2012 Report Share Posted September 23, 2012 ..why are there so many temporary contracts? Probably because it will be a lot easier to get rid of people when the crunch comes. When the Scalloway closure was being discussed one of the points that was made was that as new teachers were on temporary contracts it would be fairly easy to reduce headcount when Scalloway closed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
engineer21 Posted September 23, 2012 Report Share Posted September 23, 2012 fair point MJ at least the money saving plan that just came out is from what i can see realistic! a bit of a shame to see in black and white just how much money weve lost! in a few years orkneys reserves will be well above our own and considering the throughput of flotta thats something we should feel very ashamed about! SIC could of learned alot from OIC in the past! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Urabug Posted September 25, 2012 Report Share Posted September 25, 2012 Could our school funds be caught up in this scam or even something simalar ??? http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01n2t2f/Panorama_Reading_Writing_and_RipOffs/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulb Posted September 25, 2012 Report Share Posted September 25, 2012 i would hope not. but saying that who know. but i bet they would not admit it if they had. that could explain a lot Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clickimin Clippie Posted October 4, 2012 Report Share Posted October 4, 2012 Just read http://www.shetnews.co.uk/letters/5643-discrimination-against-north-isles and couldn't agree more. When Dr Wills led the van guard to stop the upgrade of the AHS, which would be complete by now, one of the strongest agruments against the works was the disruption to school puils and the impact it would have on their education. Now the council is proposing to to create infinately greater disruption to the lives of many children and their families in the northern isles forever. Scrapping the new AHS, ringfencing the gas funds and savings from cutting the outrageous SIC sickness costs could easily avoid this stupidity. The need for a new AHS and the savings from school closures is, to quote our local bearded guru, A Convenient Untruth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kavi Ugl Posted October 4, 2012 Report Share Posted October 4, 2012 It's a shame the new AHS will probably be a horrible "cheap as chips" looking building rather than have a little inspiration. I'm reluctant to support the across the board school closures as proposed because I have very serious concerns for the peerier bairns having to spend 1-2hrs travelling each day or being forced to come to one of the hostels in Lerwick. There was an excellent article(Spaekilation) in last week's Shetland Times about the terrible effect being away from home and in a hostel can have on a bairn. Whether I get shot down in flames or not, I still feel that the SIC are hammering the frontline and not dealing with the paper shuffling and tiers of management side of things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
owdwife Posted October 4, 2012 Report Share Posted October 4, 2012 It's a shame the new AHS will probably be a horrible "cheap as chips" looking building rather than have a little inspiration. I'm reluctant to support the across the board school closures as proposed because I have very serious concerns for the peerier bairns having to spend 1-2hrs travelling each day or being forced to come to one of the hostels in Lerwick. There was an excellent article(Spaekilation) in last week's Shetland Times about the terrible effect being away from home and in a hostel can have on a bairn. Whether I get shot down in flames or not, I still feel that the SIC are hammering the frontline and not dealing with the paper shuffling and tiers of management side of things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MuckleJoannie Posted October 4, 2012 Report Share Posted October 4, 2012 When Dr Wills led the van guard to stop the upgrade of the AHS, which would be complete by now, one of the strongest agruments against the works was the disruption to school puils and the impact it would have on their education. Now the council is proposing to to create infinately greater disruption to the lives of many children and their families in the northern isles forever. As I recall the disruption to pupils that caused the last attempt to build a new AHS to be stopped was the school effectively being in the middle of a building site for several years. I don't have much sympathy for those who are pleepsing about bairns having to spend the week in Lerwick when they are at school. I had to do it myself and in those days (the 60's) many of the isles pupils had to stay all term. Me and my siblings all survived it and made friends from all over the isles, many of whom we still keep up with. Bairns coming to Lerwick to stay the week will have the opportunity to enjoy far superior facilities around the town that were not available when I was there - Clickimin, Mareel and Islesburgh to name a few. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clickimin Clippie Posted October 4, 2012 Report Share Posted October 4, 2012 When Dr Wills led the van guard to stop the upgrade of the AHS, which would be complete by now, one of the strongest agruments against the works was the disruption to school puils and the impact it would have on their education. Now the council is proposing to to create infinately greater disruption to the lives of many children and their families in the northern isles forever. As I recall the disruption to pupils that caused the last attempt to build a new AHS to be stopped was the school effectively being in the middle of a building site for several years. I don't have much sympathy for those who are pleepsing about bairns having to spend the week in Lerwick when they are at school. I had to do it myself and in those days (the 60's) many of the isles pupils had to stay all term. Me and my siblings all survived it and made friends from all over the isles, many of whom we still keep up with. Bairns coming to Lerwick to stay the week will have the opportunity to enjoy far superior facilities around the town that were not available when I was there - Clickimin, Mareel and Islesburgh to name a few. Another convenient untruth. The pupils would have been near a building site, like most are when their schools are upgraded - like I was when Bells Brae was upgraded and it did me no harm being in the huts seperated from the work site by a secure wire fence. In the 60s many shetlanders lived in poverty, so I don't want to go back to that. The idea that everyone could be happy living in Lerwick because it has the best facicilities is interesting - however 75% of us choose not to, so why force it on our children? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trowie246 Posted October 4, 2012 Report Share Posted October 4, 2012 I don't have much sympathy for those who are pleepsing about bairns having to spend the week in Lerwick when they are at school. I had to do it myself and in those days (the 60's) many of the isles pupils had to stay all term. Me and my siblings all survived it and made friends from all over the isles, many of whom we still keep up with. Bairns coming to Lerwick to stay the week will have the opportunity to enjoy far superior facilities around the town that were not available when I was there - Clickimin, Mareel and Islesburgh to name a few. I also went to the hostel (in the 80's) and I still remember the horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach when I had to get ready on Sunday afternoon and leave early evening to catch the bus into Lerwick. It was especially horrible when there was stuff going on at home on the croft or we had visitors over. Once I got over Sunday night I was okay and on the whole I had a good experience at the hostel. That was at 14 years old. The point is though that not every child will be able to deal with it. Some will really struggle. And you are asking 11/12 year olds to cope with it. The other very important point is that Lerwick today is not the town it was in the 80's. Also, bairns are being exposed at a very young age to things already - think how you would feel as a parent if it is completely taken out of your hands each and every week. It is common for youngsters to have experimented with sex at 13 years and drink and drugs are in the AHS. I have a young relative who is attending the AHS at the moment and this is what she is saying. I also agree with the poster who commented that we don't want to go back to those days of separating up families, it's not a good thing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shetlandpeat Posted October 4, 2012 Report Share Posted October 4, 2012 There could be similar points raised about a small rural school. You may never suit the needs of all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Infiltrator Posted October 4, 2012 Report Share Posted October 4, 2012 The other very important point is that Lerwick today is not the town it was in the 80's. You're right, whatever happened to the Wednesday night disco's in St Clements attending largely by schoolbairns where drinking was pretty common - Thursday 1st period hanovers It is common for youngsters to have experimented with sex at 13 years and drink and drugs are in the AHS. So let's get this straight.. You're suggesting that the junior highs should remain open to save rural children from having to live through the week in an unsafe(?) town and attend a school where underage sex and drinking is commonplace. I hope you've brought this up as part of the consultation process. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staney Dale Posted October 7, 2012 Report Share Posted October 7, 2012 http://www.shetlandtimes.co.uk/2012/10/05/south-mainland-parents-warn-of-potential-damage-if-sandwick-closure-goes-ahead I wonder how many hours Helen Budge has had to put in, attending meetings like this for review after review, consultation after consultation? All for a lot of abuse and little support from Councillors, who run scared at any criticism and can't take a decision. It seems she puts far more work into trying to deliver serious savings than any other director, as we've seen nothing of the promised savings on ferries etc yet - is this why there's a huge shortfall this year? I note that one brave soul at this Sandwick meeting who dared to agree with closing Sandwick secondary got a hostile reception, and that's the problem, only the antis speak out, and the facts get mangled. My ex-wife feels unable to admit she would prefer our bairns to go to a bigger school. She knows one or two folk who feel the same, but they only talk in hushed tones. meantime the poor bairns are brainwashed into thinking they will suffer huge trauma. Councillors with their wooly notions of digital education will let educational standards fall for every child, and chicken out of reform again. Half them have shown some courage, half refused to consider closing even Baltasound, the most obvious one for closure. They have not explained where they expect the Baltasound savings to fall instead. I expect they will just leave it to the long suffering Ms Budge to make a suggestion, then shoot her down in flames again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulb Posted October 7, 2012 Report Share Posted October 7, 2012 then why are your children not going to the AHS. if your x wife thinks the education is better seems odd not to send them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustMe Posted October 7, 2012 Report Share Posted October 7, 2012 Closing Baltasound Junior High might sound good in principle but just where are the Unst bairns going to stay if a storm springs up and they get stranded on Yell. OK so this may not happen all that often but plans need to be presented to Unst parents for approval before it happens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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