To be pissed that people are breaking teaching bubbles

[Manbag]

I work in an SEN class. The class teacher is off sick so we have been told that SENco will cover instead.

SENco took the register than left and we were left with a GR3 TA to cover for the WHOLE day. To my knowledge Gr3 are only allowed to cover in emergencies at short notice, as this will be ongoing for the next few days this is not an emergency and has already been planned.

The GR3 TA is a member of staff who has been working and mixing in other bubbles, where some staff have tested positive.

Im pissed off that despite working with some of the most vunerable pupils in the school this arrangement has been authorised by SLT.

Also is it acceptable that a GR3 is teaching the class for the whole day? The GR3 is more than happy to do it, but its usually the other staff in the class that are doing most of the work and the GR3 is just there to make things look like everythings above board.

Infact SLT are telling staff who have tested positive to change the day they first got symptoms and lie.

Im I missing something??? Surely this cannot be acceptable

Do you mean level 3 HLTA?
Yes they can teach a whole class for as long as slt wish them to. Unfortunately you don't have to be a qualified teacher to actually teach a class.
The bubble thing though. Presumably if the bubble closed and all had to self isolate then she would have done too as a close contact?

YANBU but sadly I can’t say I’m too suprised

Certainly in primary years this is allowed according to the gov website. How that helps bubbles though is another matter!

Unless there's been an update since September, school staff can cross classes and bubbles.

HLTAs are also allowed to cover whole classes on a 'short term' basis.

Outrageous that they are asking staff to lie about the day they first developed symptoms though. Are you certain?

I’m a GR3 and have covered full days lots of times and covered for 3 full days the other week. The school would rather me teach as I have the planning, know the children and routines than get a supply in who’s potentially been to lots of schools etc plus I’m cheaper!

We are using HLTAs and senior TAs to cover lessons when teachers are self isolating. However, we have managed to keep them within our super bubbles. It’s been really hard to cover absences some days.

My friend is a HLTA and is teaching nursery full time with an apprentice as her 'TA'. For the whole year. For no more money. She was pretty much told she would be made redundant if she didn't agree to it.

No not a HLTA, just GR3.

I understand that its better than getting external supply. However the GR3 covering had been working with a bubble last week and that bubble has now closed this week.

If someone from last week's bubble has tested positive, and the whole class is self isolating, then this member of staff should be too.

Exception might be - she wasn't within 2m of the infected child for more than 15 minutes.

How do you know what level she is? It is no longer necessary to do a level 4 qualification to achieve HLTA status.

Why don't you just go to your Head with these issues? You might be wrong about at least some of them, and she might be able to reassure you.

'Emergency cover' can be while another member of staff is off sick for a few days/week but not weeks or months. That is the legal advice I got when I queried who defined how long emergency cover can be.

Any grade TA can cover whole class if you’re an academy, staff can also cross bubbles. Much better for the kids than external supply - and for the budget!

No one should be lying about symptom dates.

It is madness that children can't mix bubbles. Siblings can't be near each other at school, as mixing bubbles, but there is no guidance on adults not moving bubbles! (Rather than common sense, stopping it).

The government really don't want schools to close, so they allow this 'loop hole' so staff can be moved into another bubble to cover when others are off! It's crazy and dangerous! Beginning of the year I was working in 3 different bubbles, thought the school has stopped this now!

Grade 3 can cover for interim periods, though I've seen on some TA groups grade 2 and even 1s, say they do regularly cover!!!!

Yup, it's madness that staff can cross bubbles but I guess some schools don't have much choice. We had a TA test positive this week - she has been listening to children read the day before getting symptoms, so about 5-10 kids in four different classes all had to isolate. Madness.

Pretty much every member of staff in my (small) school crosses bubbles at some point in the week. Bear in mind some teachers work across two schools as well and this is also within guidance.

The guidance states it’s fine for staff to go in and out of classes. The notion of bubbles is just to make schools sound safer; they don’t really exist as staff can cross bubbles.

Heads can hire whoever they want to teach a class-they can hire unqualified teachers. They can also call whoever they want an HLTA. It’s shite but allowed.

Asking staff to lie about symptoms is not acceptable.

No not a HLTA, just GR3.

A distinction without a difference. When the system first came in (IIRC) HLTAs were level 5 of the TA qualifications and required specific acreditation (and may still be for all I know) but since any HLTA post can be occupied by a Level 3 it's very rare for anyone to bother getting higher.

The notion of bubbles is just to make schools sound safer; they don’t really exist as staff can cross bubbles.

More than that, we don't eveen have to send home all the kids in a bubble anymore. Bubbles were effectively scrapped about 3 weeks into the new term when the government realised schools were going to start shutting. Some schools are still trying to stick to it (particularly in primary) but it's getting harder.

I understand that its better than getting external supply.

I imagine there is very little choice for the management.

Infact SLT are telling staff who have tested positive to change the day they first got symptoms and lie.

Have you witnessed this first hand? I'm not sure why anyone would do this- it's on the staff to be absent when they have symptoms- but it could theoretically be career ending.

We've just been told that the DFE has advised staff to turn the tracking off on the NHS app when in school because it's "too blunt an instrument". WTAF? I'm leaving mine on.

To add, my SLT is telling us to do this.

@rawlikesushi
TAs are all aware of each others levels and this was commented on at the start of the year. There is only 1 HLTA in our whole school.

I mentioned it to a member of SLT who made out like he knew nothing about it , and said if we're unhappy he'll talk to the others. But this is a load of crap. He had an input in the decision and was only humouring us by saying this

@annie987
Its not an academy.

School staff can cross bubbles. It's in the school guidelines.

I teach in infants and I work across the school. So I wasn't in a bubble with any other staff, but I did work with all classes and all children.

Ideally I would have been keeping 2m away from the children. However with infants that's pretty much impossible.

I tried to keep my work spaces as clean as possible and took every care with my own hand hygiene, etc. Despite this it felt inevitable I would catch Covid as I was exposed to so many close contacts weekly, which I did a few weeks back.

Unfortunately school guidelines say that staff can cross bubbles and classes, and that they don't have to SI when classes close as they are supposed to be 2m apart. However most staff know that simply isn't possible in a lot of situations and certainly not in lower primary.

My own school have planned to stop or reduce the crossing of bubbles where possible. I was due to join a tear group bubble the week I tested positive. However due to the number of staff absences this hasn't always been possible.

When I return to school I will see what the new process is.

Unfortunately no matter how hard my school try to keep staff safe from Covid, the guidelines mean that in order to keep going they have to allow this to happen.

We don't t stick within our bubbles at school, as a small school/team it isn't possible. 🤷

We also had our first positive case this week, but as the child started having symptoms on Sunday/Monday we were told not to close the bubble as they hadn't been in school since Friday.

The symptoms part is difficult if they aren't one of the main 3 symptoms.

I had a test in a Tuesday and it came back as positive the next day.
I didn't have the main 3 symptoms beforehand, but I did have other symptoms. At the time we (hospital/doctors) didn't suspect Covid and were investigating other scenarios. When the positive result came back it became clear the symptoms were almost certainly related to the Covid infection.

However PHE stated that due to not having the key symptoms they would need to use the test date as the first day. That meant no classes/bubbles in school needed to SI.

Track and trace however used my initial 'non big 3' symptoms as my start date. Had PHE used those then several classes may well have been affected.

School told PHE all the o formation and dates but PHE made the decision and told school what they should do.