Coronavirus: Pupils knuckle down for first day of home learning

Pupils across Scotland have begun learning at home, after schools closed indefinitely on Friday in a bid to halt the spread of Covid-19.

Many pupils may not return to the classroom until after the summer holidays, ministers warned last week.

Only vulnerable children and those of key workers such as NHS staff will continue to be supported by local authorities.

In an unprecedented step, all Scottish exams have also been cancelled.

On Sunday, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said older pupils who had course work to complete should now not go into school to finish it, as had previously been advised.

On Monday morning, parents shared pictures and videos of their children starting their school work.

Kaelan, a pupil in Miss Burke's class at St Blane’s Primary School in Glasgow, started her first morning of home learning with her favourite subject: maths.

Her mum Donna shared a picture with the school on social media as class got under way at home.

And Kirkhill Primary School in Aberdeen shared this image of P4 pupil Kai Campbell ready to start home learning.

The "eager beaver" was all set up with a laptop and some pencils to get back to his studies.

Joe Wicks, the Body Coach and an ambassador for the BBC's Children in Need, is hosting daily PE classes online for kids (big and small) to stay active while the schools are off.

The first class - which took place on Monday morning - proved popular, with many families sharing videos on social media of children joining in in front of the TV at home.

Live classes will be streamed every weekday at 09:00 on YouTube.

Katie and Owen Campbell, from Stenhousemuir in Falkirk, "loved their morning workout".

Their mum Megan shared a video of them on Twitter, enthusiastically following along.

She said that as an NHS staff nurse herself, she felt it was important that everyone - adults and children - kept busy to "get through this tough time".

She added that she thought the daily workouts were "great".

Many teachers took to social media to help and encourage their pupils from afar, and other resources for pupils keen to continue their studies were also highlighted.

BBC Scotland has also supplemented its range of educational content.

It has added to its educational programming, and will be broadcasting extra educational content for pupils in Scotland to help them continue to learn at home while schools are closed.

On the BBC Scotland channel and BBC Bitesize website, content made specifically for pupils following the Scottish curriculum will be shown for one to two hours daily.

The first subjects covered were maths, followed by English, science and social subjects.

There will be a range of content aimed at primary and secondary pupils.

Additional educational content will also be available on iPlayer - including the Authors Live series which is run in conjunction with the Scottish Book Trust.

It features some of the biggest children's authors of the time, as well as the likes of readings of popular children's book The Gruffalo - read in both Scots and Gaelic.