The Third Republic - solidarity comrades!

[StaffAssociationRepresentative]

You are most welcome to this school staff support thread to get us through stressful times. Baiters and bashers can jog on somewhere else.

If you are not staff and just have a general education query please start your own thread.

You can play here only if you are a member of one the following groups-

-ABBA - anti bashers and baiting association
-SWAB - school workers against bashers
-SWOT - school workers opposing teacherbashers
-STARS - schoolworkers together against ranting + slurs

Other requirements for staff room entry include the ability to find the staff room, the ability to find a clean mug in the staff room, knowledge of the photocopier codes and the ability to sniff out where the toffee vodka is hidden.

Apologies, Herc. Just had a big slurp of coffee and didn't notice the autocorrect!

Aibu about nursery reopening email.

Even then there are ingrained misconceptions like "you add a zero to times by 10". I don't blame primary for teaching that to get them to pass SATS
See, this makes me cross! Primary are NOT "teaching them that!" It is taught very "practically" that the digits move columns right from the get-go, but absolutely consolidated in Year 4, once they start really going with decimals, where "just adding a zero" doesn't work anymore.
It's more likely that one or two kids still misunderstood and the assumption was therefore that they all thought it.

I don't think all primaries are teaching that, however the statement has come from somewhere and the students clearly think that is what they do. Whether it is something they've noticed and not been corrected on, or been given a shortcut for whole numbers.

I'm not primary bashing. You are experts in mixed ability teaching and do amazing things I could never do.

I've had an interesting perspective on the KS2 and KS3 maths issue also.
I work as a tutor and cover Maths and English at KS2 and also Maths and Sciences up to GCSE. (My background is a physics degree followed by PGCE and primary teaching).
I end up with a high proportion of students with ADHD, dyslexia, ASD and so on. Many not diagnosed when I start working with the student ( I think this is because these types of student are more likely to struggle at school so parents are more likely to seek extra help). I often start working with students in KS2 and continue with the same student through KS3 and 4.

With maths I notice that above average students in KS2 cope ok with the more advanced material but don't continue to do enough of it so it doesn't always become embedded and by the time they come round to doing it in KS3 they have forgotten it. The KS3 syllabus does not stretch these students as much as it could and they can end up treading water for a couple of years. They would probably do better with slightly less in the KS2 syllabus but more time to embed what they do and an opportunity for extension tasks on the same material, then a more rigorous and ambitious KS3 syllabus in preparation for spending time in KS4 that gives them the best chance at the highest GCSE grades.

Less able students get bewildered and sometimes defeated by the KS2 syllabus. Some of them have been drilled in particular techniques ( eg how to add fractions) but the majority of the syllabus is a big confusion for them. These students benefit from the additional time at KS3 going over basics but have often developed a "can't do maths" mindset by this stage.
They would benefit from a slightly slower approach all through primary school that would give them the best chance of being proficient at numeracy skills and help them feel confident at doing maths on KS3.
The National Curriculum in general doesn't allow for this though or the fact that "Student A gets it after seeing it once or twice, Student B needs to see thing seven times before she understands the concept".

Just seen the tents one. trundling along quite civilly, then got derailed into a school thread when it was specifically about nurseries.

All because the arrived.

Teaching in forests and tents-excellent. What could go wrong? At least they’d have somewhere to store their buckets.

Love the Daily Fail this morning...

Ministers voiced suspicion that political opponents and union barons were colluding to block schools reopening until pay demands were met

Union barons

Appu saw that called 'the blob'

That's interesting. I always think that it would do them good to continue to have maths every day in ks3 - although it would be impossible to timetable! And perhaps get the gcse done earlier. They're used to doing it pretty intensely by year 6 - my class have an hour in the morning and half an hour in the afternoon of arithmetic. I noticed that when ds hit year 7 he scaled back on his maths understanding purely from not doing it as much and he was average to start off with. Whereas dd is a superbrain and she's coped fine.

I also think that for some students like ds, he's better off just knowing the rules. He has never ever got place value but he can plod through just by remembering the rules for each method. He has no real understanding of why there's a placeholder in long multiplication but he does know to plonk it there.

Compost loos as well.
I think I fell out with last week about some sort of bollocks she was spouting, but can't remember what. I've had quite a few ding-dongs on school threads recently.
Maybe I need a lie-down.

Re: misconceptions in maths though, there are going to be many many more of those to unravel after a few months of Home Learning.

That's two threads suggesting tents/marquees.

Imagine a class running wild on the forest while trying lo learn times tables.

I don't think these people have met a group of children of any age.

The best approach I have seen to KS3 maths for the most able students is from a school using the Pearson Delta books. These really did keep the students going with quite advanced material and give them a great chance at accessing the highest GCSE material and grades.

What's the other thread, Riga?

That's two threads suggesting tents/marquees.

I think it’s because those posters are desperate for as many children to go back as possible, including their own, at any cost! The fact that other countries ‘opening up schools’ to low numbers at first after completely closing to all, is causing those posters to face the truth that we have always stayed open to a few numbers and if schools were to open a bit more, the numbers would not rise as much as those posters want. They hear ‘schools opening’ to mean ‘back to normal ASAP!’. Hence the crazy ‘solutions’ or mostly, ‘sod the solutions and suck it up buttercup!’

I'm 'jaded by life', otherwise known as being totally fed up with the shit coming from

What's the other thread, Riga?

Can't remember which one it was but a poster suggested hiring marquees as it killed two birds with one stone so to speak. Regarding marquees businesses and spaced classrooms.

Where are all the extra teachers going to come from to teach the split classes in these marquees. I'm not going back

Union barons!😂

Bastards eh? Trying to protect their members! tut tut

@EducatingArti The Pearson delta books are their high ability ones and they really do stretch the students. Just wish we could afford them!

I am loving the idea of tents/marquees.

I wonder how many new exits there would be by the end of the day.

Just quoting a post from a 'schools opening in September' thread in full, just because it reasured me that there are SOME sane and supportive people in the world:

"Whether schools are back in September depends entirely on the public response between now and then. If the virus can be controlled, the R number kept down, then some sort of normality can return by then. It doesn't have a will of it's own, it's controllable, but if people get complacent and ignore the social distancing measures (local press this weekend full of people at the beach etc.) then they won't open in September.

Some people moan about schools being off, then in the next breath talk about flouting the guidelines because they haven't seen their mum for weeks, they want to go to work, see friends, etc...they are the ones who should join the dots and see that if they do what they want, and not what they should do, they're pushing the opening date for schools back."

I don't know if the poster is a teacher, but it was very heartening.

Interesting that isn’t bothered either way about about schools reopening, yet rabidly and continually posts about schools reopening, even on posts which aren’t even about schools reopening!

I think she is a TA so in education. So sensible posts.

Ah, that makes sense.