Teaching during a pandemic

[NebularNerd]

I posted before going back to work about my concerns about teaching at the moment, about feeling unsafe.

Since going back I'm finding there is little/no social distancing between students and staff. No/little opportunity to clean hands as I run between different bubbles for every lesson. We wear masks in corridors which is something, but not in the classrooms. I teach secondary.

Like everybody else, I'm just getting on with it. I'm hoping we're lucky and it doesn't reach our school, because if it does the 'safety measures' won't protect staff. When we have rules such as the rule of six outside of work I just can't my head around it.

As the numbers rise once more and staff and students begin to test positive, I'm wondering what is next for schools.

How are other teachers getting on?

@cardibach certainly not suggesting if people are worried it means they aren't thinking of the children. If teachers are back teaching whilst still being worried and working their arses off it is because they are doing their best for the children! It's not to say I don't find the job really hard at the moment but it's much better than the hell of wfh and supporting my own child. I really do not want to go back to that!

As a PP said, I'm end of term tired. Which is when I usually get ill. I know I'll be working all day Sunday and then back to full days in every bubble, with just a 35 min lunchbreak to mark, pee and hopefully have a cuppa on my own, staggered lunches).
SLT are not even bothering to ask if we're ok and I predict a lot of TAs handing in their notice soon as all behaviour support has vanished while they hide in offices (but we can all cross bubbles).
Teachers will be longer, because we can't leave until Christmas.
But the children are very happy to be back, that's the only positive.

I feel absolutely done in. It is exhausting and confusing trying to follow all our school's new policies and then they students leave school premises and socialise anyway!

I feel like I've worked an autumn term already. Plus I have the normal September sniffles.

@Kmx123

I wish teachers parents people would stop being so spineless You all know this is not sustainable stop letting the government say that schools are covid safe there clearly not there should be a walkout or something a better system needs to be in place to protect everyone

Please please listen to this! We are expected to put the health of teachers and pupils at risk; numbers of positive tests just keep increasing. It is a scary situation - anyone remember what happened in Israel?

Also I would love to arrive at another classroom where the fucking projector works (and I haven't forgotten my board pens).

It terrifies me, I was in the shielded group yet now I’m in a special school where no social distancing is possible and there’s a lot of body fluids! Have always loved my job but I genuinely feel scared. Not helped by several local schools having confirmed cases in the last few days and rates in the area I teach riding rapidly

@Dorual

Nursery/ reception have to be ten times worse than anything else. Can't just stand at the front. Have to get on to their level to talk to them. No tables/ social distancing/ facing forward but just business as usual. Snotty noses, huge crying and overreaching episodes, cutting up their food with your face about 1m away from theirs; less for doing up their coats and taking off jumpers etc at least 5 times per day. Toiletting. Sitting on carpet in circles. I'd give anything to be in secondary instead right now! There is no personal space with preschoolers.

Don’t make it a competition. I could explain the problems we have in secondary that you don’t have. But we aren’t in competition, we’re on the same side.

@WhiskersPete

Also I would love to arrive at another classroom where the fucking projector works (and I haven't forgotten my board pens).

THIS! Exactly this.

Every single fucking classroom.

No internet/sound/projector/board pens etc. etc., or not enough seats....

Can we say school staff, I work in a school in a small room with students in and out all day and I don’t get a break but I’m not a teacher.

Ditto @cardibach. Please don’t divide us. We are in this together and this is a safe space to vent, not draw lines between us xx

@PablosHoney

Can we say school staff, I work in a school in a small room with students in and out all day and I don’t get a break but I’m not a teacher.

Absolutely. All school staff are in it together - teachers, cleaners, TAs, kitchen staff, admin, grounds people..all of us

We have year group zones, and were moving from building to building.

SLT have been amazing but if I get asked one more time if Ive done the register before Ive even got logged on the computer, I may lose my shit

I’m finding that it is very pressured. All the normal expectations from last year are there but we’ve also got a longer day due to staggered start and finish time so the children can come in 30 mins earlier than usual and leave up to 45 minutes later. We’ve lost 15 mins off lunch too and have to supervise every break duty. We’ve been told to carry out assessments (which are to be sat in mock SATs conditions) in the next few weeks to address the fill the gaps in learning.

We’ve got lesson observations coming up which can now be several unannounced observations during the time period, performance management and we will all have a mock deep dive into our subject.

This is all before we can unpick the differing experiences of lockdown for the children and try to build up their confidence in school. I don’t have time to think about Covid measures for myself during the day so just trying my best to antibac and keep my distance from the adults in the room.

I would like to add though that I work with a great team who look out for each other. Hoping this will get us through so we can do the best we can for our classes.

@Kmx123 and @Showchin2, what the fuck do you expect us to do? You know that teachers (specifically in this case, not school staff) have had endless shit and been held personally responsible for partial school closure. You know that we can't simply refuse to go to work. Perhaps you don't realise we can't just strike. Please don't give us more crap.

School is like a parallel universe where the onus for infection control in my classroom is on me alone, yet I have to accept all the risk. I have to dash from one end of the building to the other because year groups are only separated for tutor time, then I have to clean between every lesson. Moving around the room to have out and collect books is unavoidable because otherwise I'd have to as a pupil to do it and could find myself liable if they became ill. I have to escort classes to break and lunch (lunch is only 30 mins anyway) then it's either duty or sorting out the classroom. I've been asked to attend a morning meeting 25 minutes earlier than my usual start time and do a 25 min duty at the end of the day (not every day). This is on top of the usual after-school intervention, meeting and CPD schedule which hasn't altered.

I know of someone in another part of the country who has been teaching a child who was sent in by a parent waiting for a test result, who has now tested positive.

As far as I'm aware there aren't any cases in my school at the moment but it can't be long. There's a point in the day where 500 pupils move through our open working area but there's nowhere else for is to be. It simply isn't possible to move around the school without being part of a stream of bodies, albeit moving in the same direction.

I just don't know what to do other than keep looking out for a different job.

@SaltyAndFresh it’s fine to let pupils give out the books. They are bubbled and don’t have to distance. You are expected to keep distance (I know it’s impossible). Not giving out books helps you keep your distance which is a definite responsibility you have ‘where possible’. I’m personally not touching books at all. They can take a photo and upload to google classroom for marking.

It's so shit. Thankfully my SLT and colleagues are amazing. No social distancing in my bubble for me and the kids (Primary) but we have sanitisers on the walls in the classrooms and at entry into the school.
Also PPA and attempting to distance from Year 1 (have to distance when it's not our bubble) but it's impossible. Had to help a child who fell over, stop a child cutting their hair ...
shorter lunch break- really manic. Luckily only one morning break a week.
My class much prefer facing the front in rows!

@pooiepooie25

It's so shit. Thankfully my SLT and colleagues are amazing. No social distancing in my bubble for me and the kids (Primary) but we have sanitisers on the walls in the classrooms and at entry into the school. Also PPA and attempting to distance from Year 1 (have to distance when it's not our bubble) but it's impossible. Had to help a child who fell over, stop a child cutting their hair ... shorter lunch break- really manic. Luckily only one morning break a week. My class much prefer facing the front in rows!

That should say I cover PPA and I do one morning break duty week

The same way nhs staff / bus drivers died it will be teachers next
government does Not care about any of you Its up to you to fight for your families
So many problems with testing any positive will be delayed There will be more time for it to spread

Go away.

Definitely no social distancing in my school as I teach infants and then all want to cuddle me/ sit on me/ sneeze in my eyes...

I just get on with it though as I know the risk of them having it is low and I'm healthy so should be ok. I'm also in the north of Scotland so I'm not too worried.

They've all had temps and sore throats in the last couple weeks and snotty noses but no positive tests. No wonder tho, quarantined for months and then all back together in a warm, germ factory classroom!

@Kmx123

The same way nhs staff / bus drivers died it will be teachers next government does Not care about any of you Its up to you to fight for your families So many problems with testing any positive will be delayed There will be more time for it to spread

You really make it sound like the virus spreading through schools will be teachers' faults for not 'fighting' hard enough. Did bus drivers and NHS workers die out of sheer lack of effort or something?

@Kmx123 has an agenda.

[quote cardibach]@SaltyAndFresh it’s fine to let pupils give out the books. They are bubbled and don’t have to distance. You are expected to keep distance (I know it’s impossible). Not giving out books helps you keep your distance which is a definite responsibility you have ‘where possible’. I’m personally not touching books at all. They can take a photo and upload to google classroom for marking.[/quote]
True. Hadn't thought of it that way. We have no quarantine on books. We're really expected to spray the desks down and then get them to wipe them which is how handing books came about, just trying to get the lesson started. I have nowhere for them to wait outside so lesson starts are chaotic.

Thanks @Kmx123, it's coming at us from both sides. I can't afford to do without my salary I'm afraid.