The Fifth Republic - safe space? Solidarity Comrades!

[StaffAssociationRepresentative]

You are most welcome to this school staff support thread to get us through stressful times. It is meant for school staff. 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.

In the other staffroom, there is rhubarb & ginger gin, along with tea and coffee.

Sadly I think that is the answer too.

It seems increasingly impossible for any members of the public to get questions answered. The system is set up in such a way that makes it so easy for MPs to just ignore questions they don’t like!

HoC is just spent point scoring and shouting at each other.
The TV presenters generally don’t ask anything difficult.
MPs don’t answer what they’ve been asked and nobody pulls them up on it.
If a member of the public gets picked for a question on anything, they never get a second chance to clarify when it has been ignored.
The unions can ask some questions but then the media ignore it and just report ‘leftie unions block vulnerable children returning to school and ruin life chances’ type stories.

If seems impossible to get ‘at’ the MPs in any way?!

Feeling quite down at the moment.

But Michael Gove can personally guarantee me that we’ll be ok, so that’s good.

Yep, none.

Thanks for the book recommendation too. I don’t believe my biology has any bearing on my working life beyond statutory breaks to do whatever I need to do. That’s a basic right I will not give up for this, or anything. A UTI will take resources from my immune system I’m going to need given the rise in viral load I am expected to put up with, apart from anything else.

Well, he did backtrack on even that appu....

TV presents on the whole know very very little about schools (and many care little) so they do ask all the wrong questions (that will be why breaks for teachers and SEN haven't been asked about) but I did like that Marr focused on schools a s a workplace.

Gove was very careful not to vilify unions : love to hear what eh says behind closed doors! I guess we will know when his wife writes an opinion piece.

I wonder what year groups Williamson's children are in? They are quite young. Hancock, too.

Does anyone know what happens with this 'one adult in the room' thing with EHCP kids who are entitled to 1:1 support?

Our 1:1s are all shielding. All TAs are being ‘used‘ as teachers. We have nobody else. I doubt the parents will want to send them, which renders the government focus on ensuring the most vulnerable children are in schools, a complete farce.

Well, he did backtrack on even that appu....

Oh, I missed that-what did he say?

Looks like they are older. Oldest one is possibly year 11. Interesting!

appu, Marr kept pressing him on his 'guarantee'.

It was great when Gove tried the shopworkers/ healthcare workers line. Marr should be on MN . He retorted straight away ,'quite a few of them have died'. Gove looked a bit ill!

Gav then said stuff about personal risk management, minimising and did the old teachers as selfless garbage. His guarantee is about a safe workplace and so threw it nicely back at schools there.

There have been multiple complaints to unions at my school about workplace safety before, and during, lockdown.

We all now SEN parents can be amongst the most vocal. they will kick off big time! Quite rightly.

I read somewhere that a large proportion of TAs are in at least the vulnerable group.

I have only just learnt for the telly that Skate Parks are now open. that's an astonishingly short sighted decision.

No wonder my school's local police had huge trouble yesterday with groups of teens gathering.

Piggywaspushed
We all now SEN parents can be amongst the most vocal. they will kick off big time! Quite rightly.

But as we are seeing, they are likely to kick off at the schools and teachers and the government will back them up.

I can’t believe they have opened skate parks. Do Boris and the rest of his cronies have one brain cell between them!

I have been pondering live lessons. I see so much more written work form my year 12s than I used to because they send me their notes and mindmaps and send me messages about films they are watching, for example. I actually think a live lesson would reduce the quality and quantity of interaction at that end of things and render them much more passive. it makes me sad that live lessons are just being accepted as best because private schools can (and d) do them.

This is why my DH's private school which had a really really sensible approach to live lessons is now moving to six live lessons a day they had perilously had 1 in 5 of their lessons live) and why many state school teachers are now being told they have to do them, at a point when other changes are occurring.

I feel really strongly that being better at the IT of a live lesson does not make you the best teacher : it just makes you more suited to now, perhaps. I am envious of people who can do all the tech, of course!
But I don't even have the wherewithal to use the tech , even if I wanted to.

At the moment, all my year 10s hand in quiz answers , filled in ppts etc. to me. If live lessons come in, they can go away for 10 minutes and do it, but I will be less inclined t tell them to hand it in for checking because that would increase workload a lot. So, the quiet ones and lazy ones slip out of sight again..

Random rant brought on by looking at my year 10s and 12s lovely work.

But as we are seeing, they are likely to kick off at the schools and teachers and the government will back them up

What wins though, inclusion or safeguarding?

I’m glad I’m not a Head!

I’m going to have a look in the staff room! Do we have to knock?

Stand by...

ineed I think they're arguing that they don't have the room in the early years as there was already an identified issue space wise and are using the "do your own thing" clause

What's that hips ??

Posted by one of our oh-so-helpful critics elsewhere.

Seems quiet here so far though...

Ah!

Piggywaspushed

We may be getting/had a visit from one of our favourites.

Visitors without a clear identified permission are currently strictly forbidden.

They must bring their own hand gel too.

Oh, is this like a royal visit? How exciting.

takes me back to when Sarah Ferguson visited a café I worked in. We all gloves for that, mind.

wore gloves

This is so tiresome. Blunkett on LBC honestly feel like we are being ganged upon by self serving clueless fools who have never set foot in a classroom since they were a pupil.