Surely they can’t keep schools open as normal if cases keep going up like today!

[Worriedmum999]

My daughter went back to school last Thursday. She really needed to go as lockdown played havoc with her mental health. She was fine doing her academic work but she is someone who needs the social side of school.

We are a vulnerable family and, with this shitshower of a government, I had no faith that cases wouldn’t rise and I wouldn’t be forced to take her out of school again. But I cannot believe that she has been back 2 days and the jump in cases has been so huge. I honestly expected us to be able to get to half term. Of course deaths are going to rise now. Why wouldn’t we follow the pattern of the other European countries. Add to that the fact that people can’t get tested now and we’re fucked. And I’m so fucking angry and upset about the damage that this is doing.

What are the government going to do? Surely it will be impossible to expect parents to keep sending their children to schools when the death toll is huge again and the ICUs are full.

A private school can do blended learning because for a class of fifteen it can pick up online outside school.

But how can it happen in state when the other half of school is being taught for the other session?

And that’s before any KW provision that takes up resources.

And my sore point was maths for GSCE as it was complex (further maths) so being back in the classroom for that is great

Thanks for the teacher appreciation, Marsha and you know if you need a hand with the further maths you can always ask!

The TA did not work in our school until
June, decision by leadership team. It seems a shame when perhaps they could have emailed or telephoned - provided some level of support or contact.

Basically we can not go around the classroom and write feedback directly into books. Most teachers, at secondary, work across year groups - books have to be quarantined/we wear gloves for marking etc. It is rubbish therefore I am setting all exam work via Teams and will provide feedback via Teams.

I think you would need at least one day for the home learning prep, which would mean pupils in for two days per group (or, four days in and one week off).
Or, in mornings only with the afternoon used for the at-home learning.

@MarshaBradyo I came to the realisation today that all my lessons at the moment would be better on the school's online platform than me lecturing from the front, being unable to circulate around the room. I feel that at the moment I am purely a babysitter which is fine....

My restaurant doesn't have windows that open.
We dont wear masks.
Im in close contact with my colleagues for 10 or 11 hours a day.
Staff room is 4x2m including toilet cubicles and we all do full change of clothes twice a day in there, again no windows.
Customers want to chat or need help with the menu.
600 of them a day.
I don't change pissy pants but i am touching things people have had in their mouths. Hundreds of times a day.
Not that different.
I can have empathy with teachers, a little in the other direction for all the people working in just as shit and worst conditions wouldn't go amiss instead of pretending you're the most hard done by profession.
The biggest difference is our kids education is actually really important.
People eating a half price curry, not so much.

We need to ‘keep calm and carry on’.
The cost otherwise will be far too high.

The truly vulnerable must be careful, the population must educate itself about the actual statistics And their significance and relative risk of individuals (which doesn’t seem to have concerned anyone pre-covid), and we must get on with life.

Is it likely this year will be repeated? It’s unlikely education will be adequate for some months yet.

@Pomegranatepompom school staff should not use their personal phone or laptop to communicate with their students, mainly for safeguarding reasons. Not all teachers have school laptops, especially in Primary School, and I can't imagine many TAs do.

Ah thanks Noble I blinking love maths and did economics at uni but was surprised at finding it harder than I remembered it when at school. Even paid a maths graduate for a few sessions but a couple of questions went by. I know ds appreciates class.

Monkey how do you see their work on the online platform? We only get output here rather than two way

They must now keep schools open whatever happens.

Teachers who no longer wish to teach should leave the profession.

@covidity

They must now keep schools open whatever happens.

Teachers who no longer wish to teach should leave the profession.

Those two statements contradict each other, surely?

I am a tutor not a teacher. I'm currently only doing virtual tutoring. Two secondary students ( different schools, year groups, issues, one with specific learning difficulties) have made better progress with remote learning than they did when in school full time. This is, I think, because they have been able to spend more time on actual learning rather than commuting, moving between lessons, coping with disruptive peers, and also because they have spent the time targeting the things they specifically we're finding tricky.

@MarshaBradyo probably not live but photos or on word afterwards but at least I could correct it within a decent timeframe rather than quarantining books. They can all ask questions/contribute as normal. My subject has changed beyond recognition because of COVID though, far more than other subjects.

This sounds similar to what we had but it doesn’t invite this:
‘I was able to give much more targeted input/feedback when teaching remotely. I can’t even look at their work now.’

That was me. Some examples...
We sometimes used the sort of apps mentioned by StaffAssociationRepresentative: some are very sophisticated so we could tailor the work precisely, pupils could ask questions and we could answer. We used Google Classroom to set our own work of all kinds. Narrated powerpoints. Home-made videos. Pupils submitted images of their written work so we could mark and feed back pretty much as normal. Some of the quieter pupils were much happier about asking a question discreetly online rather than sticking their hands up in class. The occasional live lesson.

It was a lot of work but we got better at it as time went on. Pupils who engaged with it made as much progress as they would have in school.

And that was full-time remote learning. Blended would have been even better.

@Scoopstroop

My restaurant doesn't have windows that open. We dont wear masks. Im in close contact with my colleagues for 10 or 11 hours a day. Staff room is 4x2m including toilet cubicles and we all do full change of clothes twice a day in there, again no windows. Customers want to chat or need help with the menu. 600 of them a day. I don't change pissy pants but i am touching things people have had in their mouths. Hundreds of times a day. Not that different. I can have empathy with teachers, a little in the other direction for all the people working in just as shit and worst conditions wouldn't go amiss instead of pretending you're the most hard done by profession. The biggest difference is our kids education is actually really important. People eating a half price curry, not so much.

If your restaurant as you say is that busy with no ventilation, then you can call HSE as it is not Covid secure. Pubs have been closed for breaches of Covid secure regulations, and other workplaces. You really should be wearing a mask with customers and in the staffroom. Personally I find a visor muffled the voice more than a mask anyway. I also won't eat anywhere where staff don't wear a mask.

My son got his schoolwork on teams, typed up his answers, and uploaded it back onto teams. Teacher could then read it. Some, not all, then gave feedback to him which he really liked (though he pretended not to)

@covidity

They must now keep schools open whatever happens.

Teachers who no longer wish to teach should leave the profession.

Excellent back to that old chestnut. You do know that we have a teacher shortage don't you? Science, Maths, Computing etc .... You are welcome to retrain and join us.

@covidity

They must now keep schools open whatever happens.

Teachers who no longer wish to teach should leave the profession.

Now this is just foolish.

@covidity but that doesn’t help teachers now who have to work until Christmas due to the way teachers’ contracts work.

I think there will be many teachers leaving at Christmas which will exacerbate the existing problems with recruitment and retention.

@Hangingbasketofdoom exactly

The truly vulnerable must be careful

Unless they work in schools, or are pupils in schools, or families thereof, in which they do not have this option.

For the millionth time...

Some schools founds ways to support pupils despite the laptop/phone problems. Some schools had all staff working. It’s the lack of consistency which causes upset.

It is that busy, the building design is really bad and has never been fit for purpose and certainly isn't now.
Staff room is mixed sex. One person at a time in theory but when 6 or 8 people start shift at the same time there's not really much to be done.
I cant afford more time off, I'm just praying none of us catch it which will be a miracle frankly.