madmandy

perhaps its time for parents to start their own school. Free schools do not exist in Scotland but something must be possible. There has to be a way to keep our children where they belong at home and educate them.

I don't think I am 'owed anything'   however if laws are in place to give certain education etc I expect them to apply to my child in a remote area same as a child in a town.  How would you feel if you were burgled and told, sorry because you live out there we don't investigate it.  The law of the land has given children certain educational rights. These apply regardless of geographical location.  No ASN teachers outside Lerwick???? sorry not legal.  Bobby check the law.

Yes if I don't like the system I can home educate, well yes and no. The laws on home education are different in Scotland to England as I am sure you all know Shetland Pete. I have home educated in England.  And just how apart from writing letters and attending meetings do I change anything? I stick to my earlier suggestion that having closed all schools eventually schools in Lerwick will close too. Don't be complacent because you live in a town called Lerwick- there are council estates in UK with bigger populations.

Sorry Ghostie...this time could you translate please as I ne'ar keen. Usually I do.

Hi Trowie- I am not aware of catrionas comment however if that is what she said she will have measured her words and chosen them carefully.

Perhaps -a radical thought what is needed here is for the three Northern Isles and other remote islands to have a budget for their needs be it education or roads and decide for themselves what services they deem relevant to them. Thus if they were given their allocation of the education budget it would be up to each to decide who what where and how. I believe that would be decentralisation and so could never happen.

instead of building a new Anderson why don't all the children travel to Aberdeen every week on Sunday night arriving in time for school on Monday??? Think of all the money saved. Don't like that idea? No well from up here in the North it seem reasonable. Just think Lerwick children would be on one ferry instead of two ferries and several busses. They would be with their peers in a herd learning important life skills...

In fact the more I think about it the better it sounds. All children over 11 to Aberdeen all week- for the good of their future- and the current school used as a giant primary boarding department. Instead of learning about oh crofting at home they can do it as a lesson.

Lerwick is considered a remote outpost by mainland Scotland so don't think that this could not happen.

when we moved to Fetlar the school was closed due to lack of children. our son had no school for his last term as it was not reopened just for him-admittedly we did not push it but as a parent I would not risk taking a family to Papa Stour..... wonder when the junior boarding department is being opened?

Baltasound is back in the closure mix again. I have a child with additional needs there. He will not be boarding in Lerwick.

So what do we do? Leave I guess or home educate. He has changed completely at Baltasound with the pressure of having to deal with lots of people taken away. His needs can not be met in a large school because it is a large school and even if kept in 'a unit' everyone is still there. Fortunately he should have left before closures take place. Out here in the Northern Isles he may find a job working with a few people and have a future. Dragged into a town he potentially faces a life of hell.

It would seem that the 'getting it right for every child' does not apply to those with additional needs who need something different to the one size fits all approach. Those like him -and worse -will need an escort from home to school and back again each week. They will need a lot of evening supervision in the hostel. Some will need all night supervision. Most can not share rooms. Where currently in small classes they cope with minimal extra help 1-1's will be needed in class. Where mum acts as homework scribe currently an evening scribe will need to be employed to do homework....the costs mount up. oh doing homework in a room with others wont work either as some can't cope. Then there is food with a child who does not like eating certain things and the autism problems of food touching on a plate... The closure of small schools that people have deliberately moved to be near because they met their childrens needs is going to cost a fortune in the long run. More than keeping schools open.

Oh and don't give me the rhetoric about cost because education closures is meant to be about education not cost. It is not possible to give a better education in a larger school because size is the problem...

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http://uk.search.yahoo.com/search;_ylt=A7x9QXh6lUJSeHsAAYJLBQx.;_ylc=X1MDMjExNDcxNzAwMwRfcgMyBGJjawM5YzNkZGU1OTQzdmgxJTI2YiUzRDQlMjZkJTNERUprQWZJMXBZRUk5azdNaGptNUpnYnpYUy44VWxibWU2NGMtJTI2cyUzRDVjJTI2aSUzRHg1bGlZNTZzOER1U1JHeWxCZWxtBGNzcmNwdmlkA0h1OENQVmY0Y0FpV0RhMXhVa0guSVE4VlZwb3hTMUpDbFhvQUN6cDIEZnIDeWZwLXQtNzAyBGZyMgNzYS1ncARncHJpZAN6YU1VYkdOU1J5eTNEcmZIY1dOU1JBBG5fcnNsdAMxMARuX3N1Z2cDMwRvcmlnaW4DdWsuc2VhcmNoLnlhaG9vLmNvbQRwb3MDMQRwcXN0cgNzY290dGlzaCBkb2xscwRwcXN0cmwDMTQEcXN0cmwDMTQEcXVlcnkDc2NvdHRpc2ggZG9sbHMEdF9zdG1wAzEzODAwOTU0NDM3MTEEdnRlc3RpZANVS0MwMDI-?p=scottish+dolls&fr2=sb-top&fr=yfp-t-702&rd=r1

do you get it yet....they are dolls.  They are not racist.  They are meeting a market need or they would not sell. Are we going to complain about all the above  because we are not Jewish/black/muslim or what ever.  Get over it.

She also sells trolls.  Have the trowies objected to these.  Is there a focus group to protect their interests?  Since they (most likely) don't speak English have attempts been made to canvas their opinion on happy smiling human dressed trolls being offered for sale?  Important issues.

This makes me so angry. Who is he to come here with his large chip on his shoulder and stir up trouble.

They are dolls,collectors items at that. They like collectors trolls are works of art.

Its as bad as the diversity training I did in a large UK city where we were told it was racist to ask for black or white coffee- it creates trouble and racism where there was none.

Now I want to buy a golly while I still can.

Please don't close. This man is out to create trouble and has proved this by his actions and photos.

all very well but that was 2011. Fetlar population is now 83 so has risen 20 since 2011 and I suspect other islands have changed too.

When in Milton Keynes we had to have diversity training. we were taught that calling coffee black or white was racist. since then we have had ethnic or non ethnic as suggested by my outraged English Caribbean extracted boss. It is things like this and making Christians take part in Ramadan in school that causes division and makes people 'racist'. For the record I am white ,fat ,disabled , wear glasses and am English. When used against me none are racist terms. However I do understand the frustration of the women in wales who took an Irish lorry driver to court and won for calling her an English *****. She was not English....

I have seen very little racism here. Much less than in other areas. I'm sure it exists but there are limited occasions in the North Isles for it to manifest.

Come to Fetlar for a fun day on Saturday.

Start the day with a walk with RSPB at 11am at Funzie Loch

Go wild on Tresta beach from 1pm.

Crafts in the hall from 1pm . Learn Hnefatafl as well.

Fish supper 7-9pm then

9pm till late enjoy Country Rok (tickets £8 for adults)

Café open 11am till 4pm at the hall

Leave your car behind and be picked up by our minibus from ferry.

Late ferry is booked to Yell at 23.35 and 1am to Unst.

Questions? Kyle on 07789 888173 or kyle@fetlar.org

living on Fetlar its irelevant to us. being disabled as well the trip to lerwick is hard. There is no chance of us getting there and back in a day. also i'm told there is no way to sit with hubby as wheelchair users are segregated away from careers. told don't know so don't shout at me.

Nonsense you say. Replies would be appreciated from those in Unst and Fetlar. Closing the islands would make financial sense. Ok through birth or incomming we choose to be here. Its not easy. A trip to Tesco is a day trip as is the hospital. secondary school is boarding or a long trip daily.If the North Isles don't stand together there will be no schools, no ferries to get anywhere and so no future. This black story is not a fiction, its a possibility.

Perhaps it wont win any writting contests but that is not the point. When it happens its too late to say ohI wish. I do not wish to end up in a flat anywhere-not even Lerwick. Read the message not the writing style.

I really don't know why every one is getting so up tight. there is no population problem. what with food and plastic created cancers and antibiotics and pesticides in food and GM foods very few of us are going to survive. it takes a few generations but we will be culled. then there is the on comming financial crisis and the melt down of world economies so that will deal with a whole load more. In USA home land security agencies have stock piled enough bullets to kill every citizen twice. (why?) so the world population is doing to drop. those left will have a nice world to start again in and those in the right socieries-Masons/illuminarii/ UFO oh take your pick will survive due to stock piled food in under ground bunkers.?

And what is really sad is I am only half joking here.

Anyway what you have all forgotten is that the world ends at 8pm on Dec21st 2012 so stop worrying.

an approved training ground or gym sessions for parkour would be wonderful. its something fairly cheap, which should endear it to the council.....but please not just in Lerwick.

sorry for my late reply. my son used to train in Milton Keynes with excellent parkour tutors. he would love to have attended this event. due to other issues he could not stay in any hostel unacompainied by responsible adults. i do not have the money for him to stay anyway.

Parkour is no more dangerous than what children get up to anyway and is a lot safer due to the instruction given.

please please there is more to Shetland than just Lerwick and while not bad transport is an issue. we have two or even three ferries to get to Lerwick. Next time hold it on Yell so all have to travel......

our son would love to do this. He used to do Parkour prior to us moving here. I would get up early etc but how do I get from Fetlar for a 7am start?????

well if it comes to it i'm up for helping set up a free school but it should not be necessary. we have a good school.

our son attends Baltasound. It is an excellent school.

What I wonder is how many parents would be willing to help set up a free school if it or others were closed??

instead of complaining it is time for campaigning.

I doubt it would be cheaper to close out lying schools. transport, boarding costs and extra special needs staff would swallow any savings. It would also destroy families and communities.

Thank you for posting right to roam legislation. I take my home and my garden to be off limits then unless asked. My clothes line almost qualifies as a crop but definatly signals occupation and use of the land.

Have been wondering what is the difference between derilict and uninhabitable? Are they the same.

will proposed legislation on empty houses and council tax help get empty usable houses on crofts back in use?

Next to us is an empty house still habitable and needing only a little work........ but I have another point to make. What I object to is people (twitchers) hiding in my rotery clothes line to poke cameras at birds.

ok it only happened once. Right to roam is one thing and taken to logical end includes peering in empty house windows. Right to bird watch seems in Shetland to include making washing dirty.

good luck to the original poster I hope you get the infomation you need, we found SIC useless but very nice to talk to. crofters commision, well I think MI5 might be more helpful.

The hospital out patients and the staff are wonderful. if in doubt about this try attending almost any hospital in a large English town.

Try the four hr wait with a sick child at a walk in centre or the four hr wait to get admitted after an ambulence ride.or the usual two hr wait after appointment time in out patients while the car parking charges get bigger-all the while watching the automated board updating the waiting time. now compare that to the friendly helpful staff in Lerwick. ok so some are not so good but overall its a different culture.

of all the reasons for independence the eurovision song contest had not occured to me what a wonderful one.

The problem is there is a lot of hot air but where is the representitive to drive indedpendence. where is the person with the time and ability to talk to SNP and get concessions. things need sorting before any vote. does Salmon care? has he ever been here? are we of any interest to his long term plans? who will approach Norway?

without a Shetland nation political group nothing will happen and its quite likley too late for that.

think my brain is going...have I got this right. a special boiler/burner is needed to burn special pellets/fuel made from i think trees that we don't have. the fuel is to be transported around from production site to mid yell. why can't a rubbish burner be used and all crap burnt to fuel whatever- except of course for the carbon emissions.

some where along the way I've missed something.

reply in very short words please i'm feeling frazzled.