Save our schools!

[motherrunner]

So, the Government has had ample opportunities to invest in schools to reduce the spread of Covid ie air filter systems but instead we were given a few CO2 monitors (one per 3 classrooms) and told to ignore the red flashing light and open a window.

Do we really think ex-teachers will ‘answer the call’ to save our schools?

news.sky.com/story/covid-19-retired-teachers-urged-to-return-to-classrooms-to-cover-staff-absence-as-omicron-takes-hold-12500466?fbclid=IwAR1-MPdPC7cU0AJB1pbgDY_oUYh-wOrQFoEUhhMdpaLXFMSrau22j2TeTJQ

@noblegiraffe

Us4Them have been posting on twitter about how outraged they are at the suggestion that they should get a booster jab to protect education.

Seems that they're not actually that bothered about doing anything to keep schools open for the poor kids who have missed out on so much after all.

Plonkers. How has the point escaped them that to keep education available, teachers have to be present to deliver it 🤦🏼‍♀️ you'd think the priority of any group dedicated to the aim of preventing school closures would want to do everything possible to protect the health of the people they totally rely on to provide safe, high-quality education.

My co2 monitor turns itself off every hour so I have given up on it. I will ask one of the children to be a monitor and turn it on when we go back.

Classrooms are full of lovely amazing germ carriers. My doctor has out on my notes that I work in a toxic work place. We don't just have Covid to deal with, we have chicken pox, shingles (yep cases in primary this year!) norovirus as well as coughs and colds galore at this time of year.

Of course teachers are off sick so let's ask possibly vulnerable people to come in and possibly also get sick. That sounds just so attractive a proposition!

I think we need to mix the kettles of fish, as it were, to support the students.

If schools are closed then teachers will not be catching covid and will be able to run their own live lessons if required. If schools are not closed then kids will be in the classroom (the ones who don't have covid) and a supply teacher will be required.

The fact that you called it a 'seminar where students can ask questions' - getting students to ask questions in class can be like getting blood from a stone. Even at sixth form. Getting them to do it in a live lesson is even harder. The skill of a teacher is anticipating and answering the questions in advance, or using questioning and assessment to tease out misconceptions that can then be addressed.

They are literally taking the piss now.

They fucked up the vaccination of secondary kids and primary aren't vaccinated at all.

Their records show that school kids aren't testing regularly AND the country has run out of LFTs

Good hygiene? With all that extra funding for cleaning? My school is pretty filthy.

Face coverings? Where? Not in the place where the majority of time in spent in schools.

Ventilation - they told schools to buy air filters out of their own money which they don't have.

cancel GCSE and A-Level exams NOW.

You know the current year 13s have never had the opportunity to take a single exam. Their GSCEs were cancelled in 2020.

I know many year 13s who would be very upset if their A levels were now also cancelled!

I really hope the Government don't force schools to close and cancel exams again.

Of course I know that - and all pupils who’ve had exams cancelled are upset. My point is that decisive action would save even more upset and confusion. We need actual mitigations, not ‘thoughts and prayers’.

@Blubells

cancel GCSE and A-Level exams NOW.

You know the current year 13s have never had the opportunity to take a single exam. Their GSCEs were cancelled in 2020.

I know many year 13s who would be very upset if their A levels were now also cancelled!

I really hope the Government don't force schools to close and cancel exams again.

Something has to be done though. It’s not a level playing field at moment.

Some schools will be affected more by staff absence than others. Some schools have closed already.

The trouble is that it's all well and good saying that this year's cohort really want to do exams but where there is such disparity between the educational experience of young people nationality, it would be totally unfair to plough on with them. Whatever decisions are made re schools in the next few days, we can be sure that there will be ongoing disruption and it has to be better to make proper plans for assessment now.

@noblegiraffe

They are literally taking the piss now.

They fucked up the vaccination of secondary kids and primary aren't vaccinated at all.

Their records show that school kids aren't testing regularly AND the country has run out of LFTs

Good hygiene? With all that extra funding for cleaning? My school is pretty filthy.

Face coverings? Where? Not in the place where the majority of time in spent in schools.

Ventilation - they told schools to buy air filters out of their own money which they don't have.

Brazen lies. Urgh.

By which I mean the DfE not you Noble😂

Well the government will just turn round and say they had to close because the retired teachers wouldn’t help the schools so it’s all their fault!!

@BluebellsGreenbells

Well the government will just turn round and say they had to close because the retired teachers wouldn’t help the schools so it’s all their fault!!

No the comments on the DM page are asking the lines of ‘teachers are refusing vaccines’ and ‘going to parties over Xmas’. Current teachers are to blame and we should be guilty for putting retired teachers in this position.

*along the

@MsJaneAusten

I’m a teacher. I’m currently off work with post-covid syndrome, after catching covid in school. It’s been an absolutely dreadful experience - not only because of how ill I am, but because of the guilt of leaving staff to cover for me and pupils without a specialist teacher.

I’m fed up of politicians talking about mitigations in schools when there have been none, and ‘us for them’ wankers totally missing the point that school staff want schools open, but safely. Where is the actual plan to make things better?

This would be mine:

1. cancel GCSE and A-Level exams NOW. Take the pressure of ‘will they? Won’t they’ off staff, students and parents. Give schools time to properly prepare CAGs.
2. allow secondary schools to move to part time timetables (e.g. KS3 mon/tues, KS4 wed/thurs, KS5 Fri) Oak Academy for the rest of the week. This will mean that class sizes can be hugely reduced, teenagers get face to face contact with trusted adults at least once a week, staffing shortages become less of a problem and supply teachers can be redirected to primary schools.
3. ensure that supply teachers are entitled to be fully paid if they catch covid (and for any complications later)
4. stop OFSTED inspections completely, except for those in response to a safeguarding issue. Redeploy inspectors into primary schools. No, they probably can’t teach, but they can supervise classes in order to keep schools open as childcare at least.

Great suggestions. As a secondary school teacher I totally agree. I just wish the government would listen to us!

@manysummersago

Supply teachers have been treated appallingly and I think most of them have found other work.

True. No support or help from schools, agencies or government during closure and furlough, how else could we keep a roof over our heads?

CO 2 monitor in my class is always in the red once 30 children arrive. Opened a window and was slated by Deputy Head for my room being too cold. Her bright idea was to unplug the monitor and tell the children it must be faulty. It has since found a way in to the store cupboard. Lasted less than a week. Last days of term I had 12 children attending. The rest all had a covid code next to their names on the register. Maybe parents were getting ready for Christmas but at least 5 definitely were covid PCR positive.

@Derrymum123

Bet that deputy head is quite warm and cosy in their private office

@Blubells

cancel GCSE and A-Level exams NOW.

You know the current year 13s have never had the opportunity to take a single exam. Their GSCEs were cancelled in 2020.

I know many year 13s who would be very upset if their A levels were now also cancelled!

I really hope the Government don't force schools to close and cancel exams again.

I know lots of year 13s who won't be very upset. Bothered yes. But they will do whatever it is they are told to do.

One said to me last week , 'It is literally only our parents that tell us how upset we should be'.

I have a year 13 DS. He is perfectly philosophical about the whole thing.

I’m in Scotland and ds (S4) has his exams coming up, the situation in his school is awful, there are very few teachers in, the last couple of weeks they have been watching films or allowed to visit friends in other classes and chat. He missed so much last year and really struggled with home learning. He has ASD and without the schools direction just completely disengaged. I’m not sure what the solution is but I’m not expecting exams to go well for him.

I have a year 13 DS. He is perfectly philosophical about the whole thing

My Y13 is as well. It really wouldn’t surprise me if the exams were cancelled again.

@ArseInTheCoOpWindow

I retired last year. No way will l be going back.

Don't blame you.

I'd rather be confined to a room and forced to have sex with Michael Gove than go back.

@Derrymum123

CO 2 monitor in my class is always in the red once 30 children arrive. Opened a window and was slated by Deputy Head for my room being too cold. Her bright idea was to unplug the monitor and tell the children it must be faulty. It has since found a way in to the store cupboard. Lasted less than a week. Last days of term I had 12 children attending. The rest all had a covid code next to their names on the register. Maybe parents were getting ready for Christmas but at least 5 definitely were covid PCR positive.

😳 🤦‍♀️

ilovesooty < < definitely NOT envy.

@ilovesooty 🤮🤢🤮🤢🤮

@noblegiraffe

The DBS agency is ready for a 'spike' in applications schoolsweek.co.uk/dbs-ready-for-supply-teacher-drive-as-dfe-pledges-to-release-own-staff/

In worse news, the DfE is looking at releasing some of its civil servants to work in schools.

I'm sure they'll be popular in the staffroom.

I bet most won't last a full day.