I'm on a rota to be in over the Easter 'holidays'

[pfrench]

So it's not school is it, I can't really be doing academic activities with them beyond reading.

How the hell am I going to fill 5 hours with activities that enable children to be socially distanced?

I think we go for film afternoon every afternoon, but other than that?

I'm not a very good childminder.

Sorry I may be missing something but why are schools open when it is school holidays?

I'm in ROI. Are you teaching from home also? Trying to get my head round babysitting kids over Easter hols !!!

They are open for the small amount of key workers children who need childcare.
Otherwise no work being set during the holidays (That I've heard of anyway) it is a welcome respite tbh

echt the unions won’t cover themselves in glory if they are getting arsey over holiday rotas. I will admit I have not read all their emails that carefully but when many/most other key workers are under incredible stress, strain and working many more hours than normal, the morally correct thing to do, if you are able with your own circumstances, is to stick your hand up and say “ yes, I can join the holiday rota”. I have done so

The unions are there to protect the conditions of service of their members. How this can be interpreted as arsey is strange.Those members want to volunteer, they can do. I'm well aware that key workers are working more hours than normal, but not heard that they have been rotaed when they are not being paid.

Doing unpaid work is exactly how teachers are going to fucked over when COVID-19 has gone. You can be sure that this will not be forgotten by the government.

Learn a TikTok dance
Write letters to NHS staff
Easter card or decorations
Paint a rainbow for school windows
Make a wish list of things you want to do
Look up things like draw google
Try the Kahoot quizz game - try a guess this animal one - who knew?
Out door games - get some hola hops to keep them apart for a fun keep fit session
Design something
iPad downtime
Try a new lesson - you learn something you haven’t got to grips with
Easter Bonnets
Learn a new song
Shop for the most ‘expensive’ .... see what they find!!

What about Easter/Spring crafts for part of the day then they can sit apart. Eg making cards, garlands with Easter eggs/chicks/bunnies. You'd just need card, string and colouring pencils. You could also play games using PowerPoint such as 'who am I' (one child sits in front of the board so they can't see the name on the PowerPoint and guesses who they are and others answer questions) or kahoot.

echt

Teachers get paid holidays, so to say that going in over easter is "unpaid" in nonsense. You will get full pay. I guess you are saying that you want to be paid to stay at home on holiday and then be paid again if you are required to work on a rota? And as mostly you are all being paid to stay at home anyway, there will be plenty of leisure time. All that has actually happened is that your "set in stone" hours of work are now expected to be more flexible.

This Covid crisis is real. Many people are going above and beyond to provide services and risking their own health to do so. That includes retired doctors and nurses who are going in over the "holiday". As no-one can travel it won't be much of a holiday anyway.

Keyworkers will be at work over easter as well. They will not be paid twice for just turning up. I have always had a great deal of respect for teachers, but reading your comment has made me think twice.

Teachers get paid holidays, so to say that going in over easter is "unpaid" in nonsense

Teachers do not have paid holidays. Their pay is monthly for administrative convenience.

They are required to work 1265 hours per year + time to complete administrative duties.

All that has actually happened is that your "set in stone" hours of work are now expected to be more flexible

Teachers have always been flexible. They still can't be compelled into the building outside the 1265 hours.

This Covid crisis is real. Many people are going above and beyond to provide services and risking their own health to do so. That includes retired doctors and nurses who are going in over the "holiday

Not unpaid, I'll bet.

I have always had a great deal of respect for teachers, but reading your comment has made me think twice

How influential am I :o

Too bad you think workers prove their worth by doing it for nothing.

In my school all teachers will have two weeks holiday, just not all will be the two weeks over Easter. Anyone going in to school over those weeks will have two weeks when they are not expected to set work for their class and the other year group teachers will need to pick up their classes for them.

echt healthcare workers are also working “unpaid” in the same light as teachers.
Salaried professions tend to include a clause similar to “ and the hours required to complete the work” type statement.
I know my teaching contract ( burgundy book) does, the hours you refer to are the minimum hours a teacher is expected to work.
My DH is a doctor, his contract also says something similar about hours needed to fulfil the role. He is currently working several hours longer each day and has meetings both weekend days.
As his contract is roughly similar to mine in terms of what I mentioned above, either he is working unpaid too, or we both are working extra hours in accordance with our salaried roles.
In contrast to you I don’t think teachers working unpaid will be remembered and used to stuff the profession over, I think the converse will apply, and if teachers refuse to go the extra mile then that will be held against us collectively. Usual caveats apply, of course don’t volunteer if you are a single parent with young children, or are immune compromised etc.

Not an entirely serious suggestion. But as a child when our teachers were winding down for the holidays they used to do the classic "write a big long word on the board and tell you to make as many words from it as possible". Works better for older kids obviously. I still have such strong memories of it.

echt healthcare workers are also working “unpaid” in the same light as teachers.Salaried professions tend to include a clause similar to “ and the hours required to complete the work” type statement

Teachers are not the same as other "salaried professionals".

Teachers are required to attend/face-to-face for 1265 hours per year. That is all they have to do in the building.infront of of students/staff/parents.

The + everything else is not face to face which is what teachers are now doing by working weekends and holidays, i.e. undermining their own conditions of service by openly working for no pay.

Thanks for ideas.

We did lots of drawing and painting.
Got all the gymnastics equipment out, including climbing bars etc.
Made a huge den with parachutes and said gym equipment.
Played on computers.
Drew all over the playground in pastels.
Played outside with tennis stuff, cricket stuff etc.
Lots of Just Dance.

No kid was interested in Joe Wickes!

It was fun. Had between 5 and 15 kids, more vulnerable than key worker. They had a ball. So did I.

Oh, and social distancing was impossible.

That makes me even less keen to go in for my turn. We should not be asked to do something that means social distancing is impossible. If it can't be managed with the numbers you had, the ratio should be smaller.

...of if distancing is impossible, we should have PPE

Schools in my area are running hubs which have schools open 7am-7pm including weekends and all over the holidays. We are each doing 1 shift (7-1 or 1-7) per fortnight and any ‘leftover’ staff are to be ready to cover illness. I’m a secondary teacher, but when I went in fro my shift there were 7 pupils, 6 from primary (4 were infants). Social distancing is impossible with small children. We did Joe Wicks, our door play, had colouring and games out and gave them some quiet time to work on what their teachers had set if they were of an age to be able to do that.
I really don’t mind doing it - I’m a supply teacher and have been kept on in my long term booking which I’m grateful for. Staff will get time off in lieu or extra pay for holiday shifts (don’t think it’s been decided which yet).

I can totally see why teachers are asking for PPE but what form do you envisage it taking?
The PPE used in hospitals for those working with active CV cases doesn't seem practical for younger children, who may be scared. Are masks and gloves effective? Or do they just collect the virus, especially gloves? For a teacher in nursery or a specialist school providing toileting help I can see fully dressing up and disposing of equipment each time would work but how many changes per day would help?

I have zero experience of working with small children. All the staff on the rota are secondary so I expect the primary ones are going elsewhere. I didn't think agreeing to go in on a rota was going to mean putting myself at more risk than social distancing allows for. I certainly don't want to scare small children don't know what the answer is there. Could maybe make a game of it.

Any more ideas for older kids, I'm in on Thursday, just for 3 hours, expecting about a dozen kids aged 11-16 (although I doubt there will be many over 14).
So far I've got a landmark quiz off twinkl, scavenger hunt (I'm thinking teams, most with items beginning with a certain letter). Thought I could bake some biscuits and get them to decorate them. Print off some colouring. Weather looks nice but not sure on outdoor activities?
I'm looking forward to going in but nervous about what to do, we're on Easter break and instructions from the head are to have fun!

Play rounder, well spaced out
Get them to teach you TikTok dances in the play ground
Try Kahoot on line - suggest quizzes for guess the animal a maths round lots of ideas they can use their own phones to log in
Maybe team challenges - build a bridge out of newspaper, build a working volcano (online bicarb and vinegar)
Maybe take in some board games and teach them a new one? Yazee or draughts.

Can you get hold of a lot of ‘trash’ set them a design an outfit only using cardboard cello tape and general crap you can find

See this video
Dresses from newspaper for some ideas