Teachers: What is your school doing?

[noblegiraffe]

The DfE have said DO NOT CLOSE YOUR SCHOOL. Ofqual have said KEEP PREPARING FOR EXAMS AS NORMAL

My school seem to have taken this as an instruction to just keep on trucking. They might have put some posters up in the toilets about handwashing tbf.

Other schools, from what I can tell on here, are gearing up to teach lessons remotely, cancelling trips, stopping assemblies, wiping door handles with disinfectant, making kids wash their hands before lunch.

I can’t see much chat about it on edutwitter, even after the Times article suggesting that A-levels might be postponed and GCSEs put back to September.

Frustratingly, DP is showing symptoms and despite asking Friday no one will tell me what to do regarding continuing working. He’s now is isolation but frankly he’ll have spread it to me already. So I think I’m expected to go in and spread the germs 🙄😷

Yep, current advice is for family members to continue working.

They expect to change that advice in a week or two to include the whole family.

The focus on preparation in our place has been on getting work ready to set online etc. It occurred to me though that if schools do close, and they’re expecting students to work as normal at home, what are they going to expect us to do? Because with two young children myself that I would be looking after all day, I’m not sure how much work I would be able to do!

Just read on another thread that the NEU has written to the government for explanations and reassurance for the risk it's members are being asked to face.

Encouraging handwashing on arrival, break, before and after lunch, end of day. In practice, you can't force teenagers to wash their hands and there aren't really enough sinks for everyone to do it at the same time.

We are "preparing" for a sudden partial shut down due to predicted staff absences. If necessary, only years 11 and 13 will come in, and we will set work on Google Classroom for other year groups (we have used for homework for several years). Very little information as to what this actually means.

School trips are being reviewed "on a case by case basis", but AFAIK they've all been cancelled.

We have been reassured we won't be routinely increasing class sizes, as the classrooms physically aren't big enough to combine classes.

We also get daily reminders not to shake hands with colleagues, which I can't say is something we've ever done anyway!

I keep reminding people I won't be setting work if I am too ill....

We are on Day 2 of closure (ME international school).

Staff were in today for planning & to set work. Coincidentally we were shut last week for extreme weather (jeez it's been mad) so had a run at it before we were officially shut down on Saturday evening.

We are all setting work on Google Classroom daily by 8am, with a 24 hour window for students to complete. The ideal is that the students are online & working to their regular timetable, & teachers are also online then to respond to any queries.

However, half the city still doesn't have reliable internet or power after the weekend, & many teachers are supervising their own kids, AND lots of parents are at work during the day but supporting their kids with work in the evenings, so we are being flexible around all of these factors.

Tomorrow we have (voluntary) training on use of video software etc, which I'm rather looking forward to. School have been very explicit about safeguarding - no one-to-one video chats, for example.

My own 3dc (12-15) have been surprisingly brilliant. I got home this afternoon to discover that they'd all completed everything happily! In fact, a chap who looks quite like my feckless Y11 son had answered a local SOS from a colleague for babysitting, supervised their two Junior School age children's work, done some impromptu French tutoring to their eldest AND completed his own tasks. Evidently the real ds has been kidnapped by aliens, but I thoroughly approve of the replacement .

School are being very supportive - it's very clear that any staff in vulnerable categories are free to not come in.

Travel restrictions are probably going to be the next issue. Lots of staff normally travel to see family/partners/adult dc over the Easter break, & we are not expecting this to go smoothly - re-entry Visas etc. Again school are being very supportive - the message is definitely look after yourself first, & if you get stranded outside the country you'll still be paid.

So far, so good, really.

That all sounds very sensible and well organised Crow. Bless your Y11 son being all responsible - adversity can really bring out the best in people.

I’m hoping that it will be similarly well organised here but I have my suspicions that it may take some time.

From comparing where I am now to my previous school in the UK, I'd say one big difference is having post 16 classes (IB for us).

They are generally treated more as young adults - eg. if a class teacher is absent, work is set but no cover. So teachers are more used to setting independent learning, & that filters down to KS4/3 IYSWIM.

It's very much a steep learning curve still. As I'm also a parent I'm in all the WhatsApp groups, & some parents are finding the logistics very difficult. Teething problems everywhere!

Departmentally, I've drawn up a TT of what gets set when - each class has 4 one hour lessons, so I've staggered activities (teacher set work/reading of set text/online platform thingy/common assessment which will get detailed feedback) & one teacher is responsible for each year group. With a back up in case of their being ill or childcare issues - this is a big factor for us as lots of staff have small dc at the school, who are now suddenly not IN school.

The idea is that we will give detailed student feedback on one common task, weekly.

We are muddling through. Doesn't help that today was IB deadline day for all sorts of things - now that's done we should be able to spend more time planning more engaging activities & thinking about screencasting etc.

Lots of tweedy middle aged English teachers are about to become Youtube stars

Parents are being...well, they are being parents. Mostly very supportive; some not so much.