The Seventh Republic - the debate rages on but for some it is half term!

[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.

If you are fed up with cakes and biscuits there is now a cheeseboard on offer

I'm with you on the lazy culture, my students home learning seems to fall into 3 roughly equal camps (for those that do it at all):

• race through sheet fill in answers I know leave everything else blank
• type question into Google and copy/paste answer even if I haven't a clue what it means (lots of university level descriptions for KS4 questions)
• actually read help sheet and use that to answer questions (this is what I want them to do)

To be honest, it's not my battle as my head is being good about this. I have forwarded it to my union rep to ask her to show it to regional NASUWT.

I am worried that my DH (private school) is going to be told to come back in, though.

The 2m thing is now what we all seem to be expected to cling on to as if proximity is the only thing that spreads the virus!

Has there been any updated guidance now track and trace is launched or are teachers still supposed to just carry on if exposed to a kid with Covid?

Just reading about Korean schools closing again - 200 of them.

That is probably what we are facing; a period of localised openings and closures

Do you think? I don't believe our government will do this. Keep calm and carry on, and all that.

I think our schools will not be closed 'by the government'. Heads will have to make a local decision, and will be blamed.

Well schools were not allowed to close for deep cleaning before lockdown so I can't see it being that different after...

Loving the poster who turned the place down for their child going back to school Monday, but is now complaining they can't change their mind.

The whole 'I've changed my mind' culture is something that drives me mad anyway.

That post is astounding !

However, I do think that the announcement culture of the government is also at fault.

They announced that certain years can go back to school - no caveats. Then over the next weeks lots of guidance came out so that it meant that schools couldn't necessarily offer that - but all parents had heard was the initial announcement, so in their minds, the schools are opening on 1st June and their child can have a place.

However I do think schools should only open to year groups if they can accommodate all of the children in that year group - no matter what the parents say we know many will change their mind.

What irritates me about the local lockdown idea is that that is what should have happened at the start when much of the country could have been saved by locking down London. Only now, when they’ve passed their peak and have relatively high rates of people who’ve had the virus in London, do they want to do lockdown locally.

It smacks of London was far too important to lockdown so we happily let the disease spread across the country but who cares if pockets of the midlands or NE have to be shut down.

Not to mention bloody dc travelling infected but we’re all to be locked down if we have a high number of infections locally. They obviously do see how much they’ve undermined their credibility and moral authority.

User, I agree - and tbh that was what it said in the guidance, because it very sensibly said that once some children were in it was likely that other families would gradually send their children too.

However, I can also see that heads want to admit as many willing people as possible, so if 75% of Y1 say they don't want to come in, keeping places for them and refusing access to the 25% of Y6 who DO want to come in seems wrong!

@pfrench loving your comment on the "stop teacher bashing".

How the fuck did we end up in this position???

Why aren't the public up in arms about it? I would be about any other profession. Why is it that usually every man and his dog has an opinion about teachers except now?

I think we all need to move to Scotland

@DrMadelineMaxwell - OMG that just made me laugh.

Some people just aren't keeping on top of things.

Six weeks again people were calling for us to be sacked/furloughed/whatever and now there isn't enough of us ...

@pfrench loving your comment on the "stop teacher bashing".

The one with the swear words? I'd had enough.

Wish me luck... opening work email for the first time in a week. The last email I sent said 'I'm not using Teams, it's rubbish'. Erk...

Good luck pfrench.

Has everyone seen this? I’m just outside one of these areas and we take kids from there in our school

I think the thread on the school not offering a place reveals how confused many parents are.

They’re so London-centric. I seriously envy Scotland and Wales their ability to resist London rule

@TheHoneyBadger - same here, just outside an area, take kids from that area