The Teachers’s Republic Refuge - solidarity comrades!

[StaffAssociationRepresentative]

So continuing on from our boycott/flowers we need to continue to defend our profession. This is teacher/school staff chat - if you do not fall into that category please start you own thread elsewhere.

#solidarity

They seem to be saying that Boris will unveil his big ‘back to work and school’ plans next Sunday. I assumed it would be Thursday? I suppose Sunday will avoid mentioning the bank holiday issue. If he says on Sunday that all key worker children need to come back the next day though, that might seriously bugger up school rotas!

It’ll be interesting to watch the government go from ‘stay home, save lives’ to ‘everything’s fine, send your Y6s back’.

If we are still 2m apart at long supermarket queues and can’t have a coffee with your friend, it’s going to feel rather strange.

Start of another week Comrades! Potential of BoJo exit plan on Thursday and hopefully our unions will have raised concerns about the return. We all need to return to an environment that is reasonably safe. Granted some parents are desperate for us all to be back at once but hopefully that will not happen.

We all need to get time away from the keyboards and remember Friday is a bank holiday.

#avoidAIBU #solidarity #teachermentalhealth #avoidAIBU #Fridaybankholiday

Can I also suggest...

#workingnotshirking

We’ve been told to prepare a risk assessment for classes with less than half the number of students we have.

The max number is a 1/3 of normal class size

I'm not setting work for my year 13. My school decided not to set them anything as soon as it was announced that they wouldn't be doing their exams. What's the point? None of them would do it, because there's no purpose in doing it.

In my class of 11 year 13 mathematicians, none of them are planning a course at uni that requires A Level maths. They need the grade, but not the knowledge. So understandably they would not bother with work that isn't going to affect their grades. They do have a textbook (4 actually) that they can use to study of they choose to.

I've been getting up early to do my work undisturbed. I'm at my laptop at 7am every weekday, spend 2 hours planning, recording videos and sending emails, then get dd2 up to start her day (we generally start her school work at 10). It's weird, I'm normally not a morning person and prefer working late in the evening, but right now the mornings are better for recording my videos without noises from the rest of my household or the neighbours (one set have a barking dog, and the other set have been doing loud gardening all day). So I'm generally working 7-9am, then answering emails (while supervising dd2) 10-1, then answering emails and planning 2-5. It's a very structure to my day than normal, I'm not working in the evenings and can spend time with the family!! Dd2 is staying up late, but that's ok because she's getting up late in the morning and I don't have to rush her to bed so I can work.

Can I also suggest...

#workingnotshirking

Absolutely!

The government seem to have a real problem with leaks at the moment. I don't think it's a problem : it's a deliberate 'softening u' campaign!

On the news this morning there's talk of canteens being closed when workplaces go back, but then in the papers people are pushing for schools to go back. Where are the children meant to eat? everyone on packed lunches....?

It feels like children are about to be subjected to a lower level of care and protection than adults.
Yup. Sigh. I think all this will be causing all the arguments at the DfE, specially the practicalities of getting to school. Assuming they have thought of the transport issues...they can't have kids not attending school simply because they can't get to them!

Great hastag, cheese

I am actually feeling quite anxious about it all today-I can’t bear all these nuggets of information being dripfed to us. I don’t actually believe this is all made up, I think it’s quite deliberate-Torys and Tory newspapers are one and the same really. Back to work, back to school-sorry if you die.

The thought of Y6 starting Monday 1st and the rest of primary in later that week would be a right old mess.

It was only Saturday morning that the papers were full of Boris saying how ill he was, how much oxygen he needed and how contingency plans were in place for if he died. Now, its time to just chop chop back to school though.

I’m quite sure these little chunks of news are not leaks. I’m also sure the time gap between the “leak” and the proposed announcements are for sounding out and tweaking.

I’m SEN support and was accidentally coughed on by one child and spat at by another in the month before we closed. Social distancing will mean nothing to them.

Oh yes, I think these leaks are a way of testing public opinion.

The canteen thing was to reduce numbers of people in communal areas, so everyone on packed lunches poses a similar issue unless the whole timetable is redone to stagger lunches from 11am-2pm.

There doesn't seem to be much thought into practicalities or the fact that many schools have different challenges.
Think about all these new build where everyone has to pass through an atrium at lesson changeover, and then a 50s/60s school building with narrow corridors and congestion at doors to different blocks, PE changing rooms anyone?

They won't be doing PE....

I also think they will eat packed lunches in their specified small groups.

The Times front page (if you ignore the teacher bash sidebar) seems to have veered back towards caution today and the reporting is less gung ho. They keep hinting that Boris is at odds with those who haven't nearly died in the government.

If I have to make two packed lunches a day on top of everything else I'm going to lose my shit spectacularly. I bloody hate making packed lunches.

Morning all. My doctor has signed me off so I’m shirkingnotwirking. He’s also chasing up the hospital appointments I was meant to have had ages ago so we can start a treatment plan for my condition.

Huge relief I must admit.

I feel guilty but it can’t be helped. Hoping the consultant can see me and get things moving soon but suspect I may have to take immunosuppressants so not sure if that would mean additional shielding.

Leaving coffee and cake for you to grab between lessons and answering the same question 50 times by email

The teacher bashers are (or rather one of them is) back in action over on the measuring classrooms thread. Apparently, we have a defeatist attitude and need to adopt a "can-do" approach to re-opening schools and not fuss about silly things like no hand-washing facilities (paraphrased).
And I'm a disgrace to the profession (also paraphrased!)

Oh, I shall go and look. I hadn't looked at that one!

gravity. Ds always has pack lunches as the contracted out catering at our school is eye wateringly expensive. I recommend wraps. Much easier than trying to spread things on bread

Honey sickness is NOT shirking! . Don’t let yourself even think it!

#honeyhealth

Exit plan announcement reported by w papers as being pushed back til Sunday now.
Which is a pain as our whit holiday in the uk needs paying for 2 weeks before we are due to go, which is Saturday.
I'm under no illusion that it 99% chance wont happen but I was going to have known more before the past date originally and now it's the day after.
It's a family firm who we visit every year so hopefully they will allow us a days wiggle room. I feel for their business as whit week is big for them.

I've not come across that particular one before Angelina. Se was so rude to you!

To be honest she lost me at backbone.

People used to pretend to be NHS when they just wanted to teacher bash and have a moral high ground. Now they claim to be MH experts.

She was so rude to you!
Glad it's not just me. Not sure what I did to deserve that onslaught. I was mildly discussing the issues - or so I thought.

She , I think, has her own agenda. Just breathe her away. from a safe distance of now about 12 cm

Piggywaspushed

If memory serves, she is another one that claims to be a teacher.