To ask fellow teachers - who will be refusing to go in this week and next?

[JamesMiddletonsMarshmallows]

Unions have announced that we are not obliged to go into work this week.
I teach secondary and will be going in on the 18th, and remotely teaching from this Tuesday. I'll be physically in school this week too as I've volunteered to help with the mass testing. AFAIK, none of my colleagues are refusing to come in, but I've only really spoken to my those in my department. I do know one local primary that's closing this week due to low teacher numbers.

Can I ask fellow teachers, primary and secondary, what their plans are, if any?

My union isn’t advising we stay away. I’ll be going into school as usual.

I'll be in going in. Not heard anything about mass testing at my secondary school.

I thought the union instructions were to say that you are available for keyworker and vulnerable children with remote learning for others. I'm primary and don't know anyone not going in, but the conditions in which we're working are having to be changed.

Yes @Theimpossiblegirl I meant they advised we don't have to physically go in to teach.

I also wonder if my school is the "norm" - we enforced mask wearing 1st day of Michaelmas term with very strict sanctions for anyone not wearing them, or wearing them incorrectly, or mucking about with them. We are so fortunate to have a ridiculous amount of entrances, exits and staircases, split evenly across the building so keeping in bubbles was very easy and not one bubble ever had to cross the other. Staggered break and lunch times for the different bubbles, staff room closed for most of the term. Our brilliant site team were essentially redeployed to have a schedule of sanitising everything and everywhere. All staff wear PPE. We trebled our duty provision and limited places for pupils to roam, so we could more easily enforce social distancing. Luckily Class sizes are small and classrooms are big so social distancing is not impossible in the classroom. And we have had just 1 case of COVID (a sixth former who literally coughed on me then had a test a few days later, I bloody got it too 🙄) since September.

In Wales so up to the indivdual LA. I will be going in on Wednesday for vulnerable/keyworkers children and to teach online for the rest of the week.
Monday 11th Jan- 2 year groups in Mon/Tuesday, then a year group in a day until all in on the Friday 15th Jan.

I will be in and am supervising vulnerable children this week.

@Theimpossiblegirl

I thought the union instructions were to say that you are available for keyworker and vulnerable children with remote learning for others. I'm primary and don't know anyone not going in, but the conditions in which we're working are having to be changed.

But how will they change, when most staff don't want to/ afraid of sending the section 44 letter in. If schools don't close this way, we are saying we are happy the way things are and we will just wait for the government to close them.:: but what will that take? 60k cases a day, 1000 deaths a day!

The NEU stance is the green light staff needed to say no more and for the government to come back and do something different! Not carry on with their head in the sand

Primary - I’ll be in as normal at the moment (will support my head whatever they decide to do)

We have inset tomorrow and been told not to go in, but prefer to and have been given permission as easier for me. Thereafter teaching online.

Secondary school & have inset tomorrow - we can wfh if we wish but I will go in & am happy to go in whenever needed. They are using support staff to do testing.

I work with schools. Staff are supporting their legal right to a safe work place under section 44.

Locally, many teachers already signalling that they will be teaching from home. Schools are making arrangements for KW/v children only.

Number I have in local schools
from
10 staff, 8 working from home
49, 42 working at home
120, 48 working at home
27, 25 working at home
39, 4 working at home
67, 64 working at home.

A mixed bag so far.

I’m secondary. I’ve volunteered to go an and do keyworker/vulnerable kids because I’ve had Covid already and was lucky enough to get off lightly. Kids need looking after and I feel it’s better me than someone who is scared.
I am appalled at the position primary staff are being put in and fully support them taking action within the safe working conditions legislation.

It's only NEU that have advised that, NASUWT email is different.

I am secondary, Inset tomorrow and then online until the 18th.

My kids school we have heard nothing about - yet but we are in tier 4 so who knows.

I am primary. I’m going in - we are offering school as normal but I know already of 15 children who will not be attending (small rural school, around 75 kids at the school including nursery).
I am in the NEU but there are low levels of COVID (relatively) in our area and I don’t feel particularly unsafe at school. While we are in Tier 3 and other businesses can be open, I think I have a duty to the children to be in. If we have move to Tier 4 and things look more serious locally, I would rethink. But still be prepared to care for key worker and vulnerable children as I did before.

For clarity - when I say I don’t feel unsafe at school, that is everything to do with COVID levels locally and nothing to do with measures we have in place, which are the best we can do but laughable. A cold and a tummy bug have done the rounds this term, across all the carefully separated bubbles. We can’t keep those at bay. If COVID gets into school we don’t stand a chance of stopping it going round.

Not a teacher, but the DCs school will be shut tomorrow and then who knows after that due to teacher shortages, so some must not be going in, as advised by the NEU.