Anyone else praying to get through this week? On my knees

[EarlyMorningCoffee]

I could type it all out but I think it can be summed up quite neatly by

• SMT

• Nativity

I feel if I can make it to Friday, I can photocopy 30 Christmas workbooks, stick on a film and gibber in a corner.

@isitxmasyet Never any weekends or nights to work? Have you thought about a career as a comedian?

Non teacher parent here - you’re all heroes and I can’t even control my own 2 children at this time of year let alone 30. I honestly wouldn’t give a shit of the last 2 weeks of the autumn term was just wall to wall fun arts crafts videos and singing songs. They would still be learning stuff! I hope you have a great break when it comes!

Lots of sympathy to medics, social workers, police and other front line staff- Christmas brings its own unique set of issues to each group.

I know! Tbh, I’d rather they just bloody come now. Let’s get it done.

I’m secondary btw. I’d still take ofsted over what you have to do for the nativity. Heroes!

Well, it’s not like mumsnet is stopping medics from having a moany group? I’d love it if they did, we’d have an unvarnished insight into the realities of NHS life.

I’m not a teacher but occasionally read staff room threads when they pop up in active to see what it’s really like doing one of the most important jobs that will have a profound impact on how my children’s lives work out.

Also, from what I can see in my small school which has few teaching assistants, teachers spend quite a lot of time on their own not being able to do anything but put a nice professional smiley face on in front of the little angels. A lot of morning/break/lunch is taken up with supervision. So they’re not necessarily getting a lot of time to vent with colleagues. Of course they should chat here if they want to.

I personally find hanging out with small children for long periods of time very difficult and stressful to do really well with lots of interesting activities etc (was a sahm for a while). If teachers want to come and have a moan about trying to get 200 juniors into a nativity story with about 10 characters while listening to 75 different intense stories about elves/santa/why jimmy is being really, really mean, Miss - crack on.

Secondary freaks me out. I love making handprint cards and wonky one eyed reindeer and snowmen.

Primary schools can be magical at Christmas.

Non teacher here, but I do work with schools and want to raise a large glass to all school staff!

You're making a big difference, especially to all those children who may be facing a tough Christmas at home.

As for the nativity? I can barely organise two children, so I'll gladly give you all tinsel halos.

What happened to the TES forums actually? I used to teach but got out almost 15 years ago, and was reading this thread thinking that back in the day we'd have posted on the TES forums.

I do a job with weekends and nights and long shifts now, and have to work either Christmas or New year (am fortunate because two colleagues on my time like working Christmas and have always offered, so I do new year). Not taking work home is what makes it easier than teaching was. There is so much to be said for a clear division between work and private life.

Whoops! haloes even.

Blimey, there are some ignoramuses in this thread! I’m not a primary school teacher but as a parent I used to find this time of year stressful enough when it came to what extra Christmas activities were going on in school. Nativity, Christmas fayre, carol concert, music recital, Christmas disco, class Christmas party, charity fundraisers etc etc. So I fully understand that teachers will feel extra tired after doing their normal day to day work PLUS all that on top. It was clear that my kids’ teachers loved the kids and loved watching the kids taking part in these activities but it doesn’t take a genius to recognise that those activities take a LOT of organising and that for a lot of planning and prep it would have to be done at home during the evenings.

I think the reason the Staffroom came about was because of the Education categories and so many posters slagging off teachers with their “easy life” and schools for being shoddy. It probably felt fair that teaching staff had a separate place to discuss their own issues.

You could say the same of health and social care workers of course. Both topics discussed on here every day. But my guess is that the number of health workers far outweigh the number of primary school staff and that there are already plenty of channels for health workers to discuss their working woes online.

And finally. I work in secondary education as support staff. It truly IS shit and getting shitter each term. I am seriously thinking of saving NOW to ensure that any future grandchildren of mine get a private education because so many teachers are leaving in droves then there won’t be a decent state school system left before too long. I can tell you now that teachers are NOT leaving because they’re tired from putting on nativity plays, as some people are wrongly taking from this thread. It’s all the other impossible unnecessary shit expected of them these days that brings the stress. All the Christmas stuff is just extra tiring on top. People are not moaning about putting these things on, for goodness’ sake!

I still cannot understand why non-teachers feel the need to post on, complain on (or even read) the Staffroom threads. Leave us to moan in peace.

Ah, I miss the TES forums. They were batshittedly brilliant!

I’m a medic in hospital and this is also a very busy time for us but we don’t have a special group to moan about it.

Hilarious. I take it you haven’t been on doctors.net recently? Doctors are way worse than teachers for bitching and moaning.

We have to keep ours working until next Thursday.

Can’t believe some of the comments on this thread. That Vincent poster sounds a real delight

Thing is, we need the staffroom. All difficult jobs do. In the real world we need the staffroom to have a moan, to talk to other teachers and realise we're having the same issues, to have a laugh and bolster ourselves with camaraderie and coffee. Then the bell goes and we go back with a smile on our faces and do our job.

I wouldn't walk into anyone else's staffroom and tell them they shouldn't be venting or crying or saying how tired they are. If you walked into mine you wouldn't know that last week I went to work on 4 hours sleep because I'd been ill but my 96 Mock Exam essays still needed to be marked by a certain day. Still teaching, still smiling, just occasionally needing a moan, a hug and a coffee.

So, with all due respect, if you're not a teacher, please fuck off out of the staffroom.

This time of year as a teacher is so hard- I've worked as a teacher but working elsewhere now. It doesnt compare. Nativity and hyper tired kids and this last push until Christmas- all the people judging who work in offices etc it honestly doesn't compare, you're allowed an off day, teachers have to keep the pace throughout the term, by this point it's fair to start the Christmas countdown, fun and relaxed - wordsearches, colouring, music- obviously phonics numeracy continues. The kids are exhausted too by now.
OP not long now! X

I’m 99% sure we’ll get The Call this week?

Thoughts and prayers, MsJaneAusten. Maybe they could make it festive by wearing Santa hats.

My Y11s are tough at the moment. They mostly held it together through the mocks, but now they are just done in. I’ve had tears, anger, displacement of concerns by really silly behaviour. Most can see that they probably haven’t done well enough to get a 4 (borderline group), but because we’re having a mock results day and I’m not allowed to give them their results properly, I can’t deal with the fallout from that yet and pick them back up. We’re in a really weird period of stress and hyper-exhaustion, I’ll be glad when ‘mock results day’ is over.

Yup. Feels like week 1452 of this term. It's the longest term, kids are tired and we are tired.

That would be fine....but add in marking the mock GCSEs, 3x parents evenings, Christmas fair after school, 6th form open evening, excited kids and the joy of cold and tummy bug season and it's just feels a bit of a slog.

I am very grateful of the forthcoming break and the fact I get a proper one (where I shall magically produce Christmas courtesy of Amazon and online grocery shopping 🤣) but yes, it really is very intense in schools this last fortnight before Christmas. People are tired and in many cases under the weather. Have some empathy. Nobody's saying their job is harder....just that they're tired.

Nothing like the season of peace and goodwill to all is there?!

ramping up the colouring in ODFOD. Personally, I'll be tackling James Joyce, Arthur Miller and a first critical essay with S1s - 3 of whom can't read.

Oh and the moaners need to understand that while having some sort of break every six weeks is clearly very welcome, those holidays are set for teachers, there is no annual leave allowance enabling you to pick and choose a day off for this or that whenever you actually need it. I remember when poor DH’s nan was dying the feeling of relief that her funeral fell during the may half term, as it meant that I wouldn’t have to face the awfulness of requesting a day off for someone who they don’t class as a close relative. Even trying to get another job elsewhere, the bloody headteacher knows about every interview that falls during term time. There is no taking a half day off like in other jobs and keeping it secret unless you get offered the job. I won’t even mention the cost of holidays because that’s something that parents moan enough about themselves.

So, with all due respect, if you're not a teacher, please fuck off out of the staffroom.

Seconded.

To be honest, the more we chat about this, the more this thread stays in active and the more posters will pile on here to take OP feel more stressed.

I do have to bite, though , to the poster who said we have at least two weeks off at Xmas - ermmm... no we don't. Less for me.

Not a teacher, huge respect to you all. I couldn’t do it. Anyone who works as a teacher has my support.

Now I’ll fuck off out of the staff room 😀

@ThroughThickAndThin01 you definitely need a NHS staffroom! But you're nice, you can stay here for a cuppa before you fuck off

Sure, teachers get nice long (unpaid) holidays (that are set in stone so we can never participate in anything nice that happens outside of those dates, plus pay sky-high premiums for trips long after our own kids have left school), but actually, the Christmas break is pretty much the same length as most other people's. NHS/retail staff aside, the vast majority of my non-teaching friends and acquaintances will finish on Friday 20th and return on Monday 6th - without all the pre-planning that we teachers will need to get done whilst "on holiday."