The Nineteenth Republic - DfE guidance issued August Bank Holiday Weekend!

[StaffAssociationRepresentative]

You are most welcome to this school staff support thread to get us through stressful times. It is meant for school staff only – a sort of room of requirement. Baiters, haters, goaders and bashers can jog on somewhere else.

If you are NOT staff and just have a general education query please start your own thread.

You can play here if you are a member of one the following groups-

-ABBA - anti bashers and baiting association
-SWAB - school workers against bashers
-SWOT - school workers opposing teacherbashers
-STARS - schoolworkers together against ranting + slurs

Do not give ‘The Every twat for Themselves mob’ the staffroom password as a number of them are operating in an alternative reality.

No DfE muppets allowed

Other requirements for staff room entry include the ability to find the staff room, the ability to find a clean mug in the staff room, knowledge of the photocopier codes, and the ability to sniff out where the toffee vodka is hidden.

If you are fed up with cakes and biscuits there is now a cheeseboard on offer

If you come with a stick to goad us then that is not allowed in the staffroom. Close the door quietly on your way out

[Medra]

Thankyou for the new thread @StaffAssociationRepresentative I’m so glad I discovered these threads. They make me feel less alone.

[motherrunner]

Thanks @StaffAssociationRepresentative.

[TheHoneyBadger]

Evening. I think I have found my timetable-maybe the final version.

Bizarre days of back and forth and different length lessons. Guessing we won’t have bells or they’d be going off all day.

[DrMadelineMaxwell]

I would start a thread on this in the staffroom, but thought it may be better buried in here...

Is anyone else concerned what behaviour is going to be like in classes of pupils who haven't been in school for so long?

There were several pupils in my last class who I was able to manage and keep on board mostly because it was habit and the norm for them to go to school and learn. That habit is broken now. I fear several will become school refuser and worry how their transition to high school will go as it's such a big jump this year. Wales only had their pupils back on a rota basis so they could welcome all of them, and therefore the focus was on wellbeing and outdor learning, not class learning. So they had 4 days teaching that wasn't even full days of lessons.

[cheesecurdsandgravy]

Shuffling in.

Why, how are you doing? Did the bike ride help?

[MsAwesomeDragon]

Yes DrMad I am concerned what the behaviour is going to be like. I have a year 7 form, some of whom were back at school from June, others weren't. I think it's roughly 50/50. I have my form all day on Wednesday and think there will be quite a few very anxious kids, but also quite a few who have got out of the habit of behaving in a school appropriate way. Then my year 10 class are another worry, as I taught them in year 9 and they were a nightmare then, so some of them having done no maths for months and having spent all their time helping on the farm or playing Xbox, their behaviour will have deteriorated massively, from an already low standard.

I've not had a good day today. Not through school stuff, but one of my Guinea pigs died. We think she had a stroke. She went from running around to twitching to dead within the space of 15 minutes.

[MrsHerculePoirot]

Thanks @StaffAssociationRepresentative

@DrMadelineMaxwell I think some of our Scottish colleagues have commented on how good the behaviour has been since returning. I’ve deffo got some tricky characters in my Y11 class, and all of my toolkit for managing snd supporting them has essentially been removed so I’m clinging onto this being true for now....

[Piggywaspushed]

Blimey ! 18 didn't last long!!

[phlebasconsidered]

Hope you feel better Why. And sorry about your guinea pig, Awesome. My dd keeps rats and they are so lovely, but they don't live long enough!

Lots of my class will be coming back feral. They'll have done nothing but x box, most of them, apart from the farm kids. And i've already had virtual meetings with social services about 3 of them. I know at least one of mine needs to be handled out of the room regularly. He's usually running round the corridors using them like a Wall of Death at the best of times. And I can still see my violent one on my register as they are appealing his exclusion.... (bit me, punched the head).

I am deliberately keeping tasks short and choppy for the first half term. I really want clear expectations for behaviour though - usually we are expected to put up with tons of shit.

[Saucery]

DrMadelineMaxwell I am concerned how our SEN children (primary) are going to slot back into the routines, particularly as access to ‘free’ areas of the school is going to be restricted. We had an excellent system of Brain Break activities as and when individual children needed them, but a lot of that can’t happen now,

I am expecting some general restlessness from some of UKS2 too. They’ve missed out on the gradual transition up to Yr6, with increased responsibilities. I was in charge of organising one ongoing activity that now has an enormous gap, with no Yr6 to train them up, which is a shame. It was a fabulous way of letting Yr6 mentor and monitor and feed back to me how suitable the volunteers were (not that I wasn’t watching silently from the wings ).

[phlebasconsidered]

Saucery - I was thinking that too. The usual coveted year 6 jobs of delivering messages, sports cupboard tidying, the coveted doing the pointy bit on the visualiser for singing assembly, house point collecting , putting the chairs out for assembly- all gone!

[Ickabog]

We had an excellent system of Brain Break activities as and when individual children needed them, but a lot of that can’t happen now

We had similar in our school, and i'm also worried about how some children are going to cope without them. 5 minutes out of the classroom often had a massive impact on a child, and allowed them to re-engage and access the classroom environment.

[phlebasconsidered]

Is anyone still running sensory circuits? I really wish there was a way of doing it still. It makes such a difference first thing.

[Saucery]

the coveted doing the pointy bit on the visualiser for singing assembly
We have it on a Pc now, but I just got Itchy Eyes because DS had that job with the visualiser at Primary 😭

All those little things, so insignificant in the grand scheme of things, I know. And they’ll get there, we’ll make sure of that but still, it’s a bit sad.

[MrsHamlet]

I mainly manage Bob and Dennis in year ten by sitting next to them.
Bob's attendance is dire, he's handy like Curley, and most staff steer well clear - he's had his HoY (also male) physically backed into a corner more than once.
Dennis is daft as a brush and soft as anything but a huge disruption.
I can't sit next to them now. Or stand over them. That's a massive part of my toolkit gone.

[Saucery]

@Ickabog

We had an excellent system of Brain Break activities as and when individual children needed them, but a lot of that can’t happen now

We had similar in our school, and i'm also worried about how some children are going to cope without them. 5 minutes out of the classroom often had a massive impact on a child, and allowed them to re-engage and access the classroom environment.

We are putting specific things in place but Because Bubbles they will need to be booked, which isn’t really the point when you’ve headed off a meltdown and they need their favourite corner in the library or a bounce around the Hall.

[Augustbreeze]

Just seen this lovely phrase, possibly due to Autocorrect, on the "Is anyone not sending there [sic] child back to school?" thread:

"Dd1 is starting A level and finds it easier to learn at school than at home, I’m hoping her school doesn’t get put on the the rotary learning thingy because she will do nothing in the 2 weeks she’s at home."

The 'rotary learning thingy' it shall become, at least in my head!

[Saucery]

You need to accompany it with an airy wave of the hand, AugustBreeze

[Augustbreeze]

Yes, as schools won't have access to their usual toolbox how will that play out in applications for EHCPs etc? Or indeed, fulfilling EHCPs? Not that I know that much about the process myself these days.

[phlebasconsidered]

Most coveted job after pointing at the visualiser is the weekly blowing up of all the footballs and whacking mud off of any sports equipment.

I agree Hamlet, my body is my best tool (in that way at least). Just looming behind or alongside stops so much. And I walk the room all the time!

I cannot see us teaching from the front for more than a week before being told to ditch it. Our head has already suggested that alongside is fine.

I am considering looking for a free small tent for my needy runner who needs a space that I can pitch outside my window!

[Saucery]

Any scope at all for pitching the tent in your room, phlebas?

[Flagsfiend]

I'm concerned about some of my students with SEN. We have one or two that possibly shouldn't be in mainstream as they need constant 121 supervision to keep them safe as they have no concept of danger (these are secondary aged children so should know not to stick things in sockets or climb over barriers to jump down stair wells). Not sure what is happening with TA support, but they wouldn't be able to help them from 2m away. If they don't have support, not sure what we are supposed to do if they run out of class - at least before you could trust the TA to run after them.

[Ickabog]

which isn’t really the point when you’ve headed off a meltdown and they need their favourite corner in the library or a bounce around the Hall.

Do you work in my school? It's the same here. You can't predict when they need those 5 minutes away, and preventing them from doing this feels cruel. I also worry about how disruptive it will be for them and other students.

[HedyPrism]

Thanks for new thread Staff. I'm also worried about behaviour. I suppose all NQTs are, but all the techniques I was taught and successfully used (circulating, standing in the door as they enter, looming over them, quiet words next to them) have been taken away.

[DollyMixtureLulus]

My school is challenging (but not as much as others I have worked in). Behaviour has generally been fine. Even the most difficult have clearly been glad to get back. We’re 3 weeks in and we’re only beginning to see small changes back to previous behaviours.

Academics seem mostly fine, but what I have noticed is a big decrease in concentration. I’m not an outdoors person but I’ve been timetabling in more short breaks (thankfully our head and building layout supports this).

I’ve been using disposable roasting trays and more food based sensory routines for one of mine (binned immediately and not shared), as well as those plastic hoppy stone things.