The Eight Republic - half term over - primaries under pressure- solidarity

[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 suppose that's something apple. I actually haven't spent time trying to work out the secondary stuff yet. My brain can only handle so much.

Three tier round here; I'm going to hear from my friend in a middle school later today.

I'm FE and we are due to return on the 15th on some kind of rota system. I'm predominantly pastoral and really struggling to balance the volume of calls and communication I need to have with the vulnerable students I am responsible for and looking after my own DC. Oldest is year 1 and has returned and is loving it to be fair. He is with his teacher in his class - is a year 1/2 mix so only 12 back. Youngest should be at nursery but is with me and getting way too much screen time

It will almost certainly change neuro since, going by that other thread, quite a few people have been successfully 'nudged' to view the shielding as shirkers.

The shielding are shirkers?! Jeeze.

Yes, I'm sure the "vulnerable" category will be expected to be in school in September.

The educational value of what we're offering year 10 and 12 is negligible. Year 10 get a week of lessons each (taking up 2 of the 5 weeks available, and still not going above the quarter of a year group in, as so few of them are coming). Year 12 will get 3 weeks, but less than half of them will be there.

I can't imagine that what I can do while I'm physically there with them will be any better than what I can do from behind my screen at home. None of the most urgent kids (you know, the ones who haven't done any work for weeks) are coming in, as they all think it's too risky or need school transport which won't be running. So I'll have a week of teaching keen year 10 kids who have learnt loads while they've been at home, while the ones who've done nothing will stay at home and continue to do nothing, getting further and further behind. Same with my year 12. The gap we are supposed to be addressing will get wider instead of narrowing.

I just cannot believe that thread. I work in a very small school and we only have 6 teachers. 2 of those are shielding so we also have 1/3 shielding.
Those saying shielders just need to get on with it are vile. No supermarkets have asked their shielders to return to work. Sadly shows how we run on the bare minimum of staff.

If, as someone’s school has done, bame staff have been told to stay at home for being at higher risk then I can’t see how they could ask vulnerable staff to go in as they’re also at higher risk.

I’m sure plenty will expect both vulnerable by ethnicity and vulnerable by health conditions to be in though.

I stayed up till 1am reading the unions are so powerful/jfgi thread. It just confirms how much some people hate us. I get that they are worried about their children and the economy, but perhaps if the government had listened to us, we could have organised our own schools safely and flag up issues with space and staffing.

They may not have a choice, Honey, if the government change their criteria.

I can't imagine that what I can do while I'm physically there with them will be any better than what I can do from behind my screen at home. None of the most urgent kids (you know, the ones who haven't done any work for weeks) are coming in, as they all think it's too risky or need school transport which won't be running. So I'll have a week of teaching keen year 10 kids who have learnt loads while they've been at home, while the ones who've done nothing will stay at home and continue to do nothing, getting further and further behind. Same with my year 12. The gap we are supposed to be addressing will get wider instead of narrowing.

This with bells on.

This is pretty much what I emailed my SLT and led to my subject being left off the programme.

It’s a farce. Pupils don’t need ‘face to face sessions’ with staff. They need teaching, lessons and the school experience.

If it isn’t safe to do that, it’s not safe to do school.

I actually cannot believe they are now holding teachers accountable for the recession that’s looming.
The level of hate from some posters is shocking. It’s become even more despicable than before and I didn’t think that was possible.

I think they do. Employers can choose to provide more for their staff than legal minimum protections. They just can’t choose to do less. They will have a hell of a lot of pressure from above but it is still a choice how to provide their duty of care to students and staff and some schools have stood up for that.

It's a joke. Lots and lots of surveys have shown that, across workforces, people WFH have found new, flexible ways of working and a new worklife balance. It is not just teachers who are reporting higher levels of well being and fewer hours worked while WFH ( I know that doesn't apply to everyone here and it is fewer from a high benchmark!) That is why there has been a surge in people requesting permanent WFH and why Twitter has basically said nearly all its staff can continue to do so forever.

The 'but other countries ' thing really really annoys me. In every country , including Denmark, unions and teachers have expressed concerns, especially France, and , in Sweden, not all the schools are open. that simply is not true.

And 85 - eight per cent!- of the workforce has children of school age.

What is the point of posting it, though? Fixed mindsets and all that.

I do think it is true that teachers and schools are a bit confused about the shielding list (as is the wider public) mainly because we 'closed' before it was finalised. I keep reading about pregnant women (who are not shielded), for example, and diabetics.

The shielding list keeps shrinking, too.

'It's the economy, stupid'...

tad , I don't think JFGI is worried about her children. She is just a union basher.

As I tried to explain it really is only the Fail and The Times running with that agenda.

Yes, lots of people are definitely confused about the shielding list. I'm diabetic, as are my sister and parents, we're apparently vulnerable but not shielded (although my parents were originally told to shield, but now it's only dad due to a heart condition rather than the diabetes). My sister keeps saying she's shielding, but she isn't, and she shouldn't be. She's got a whole host of medical problems but none of them put her on the shielding list.

And 85 - eight per cent!- of the workforce has children of school age.

Is this 8%? That's a point I was trying to make. I've had a load of tags over night from the shoe 👟 one but not sure I cba to go back and read the rubbish.

I smell a

And 85 - eight per cent!- of the workforce has children of school age.

Is this 8%? That's a point I was trying to make. I've had a load of tags over night from the shoe 👟 one but not sure I cba to go back and read the rubbish.

I smell a

I am disgusted that so many members of the public haven't given a shiny shit about the problems and lack of funding in education, for SEN, and for vulnerable children over the last decade, and now claim to be so concerned.

Yep.

With fucking bells on.

8% , yes, fat fingers.

That's interesting awesome. Without intending to pry ... heart conditions aren't generally shielded (this is my DH).

I think it's the combination of health conditions he's got piggy. So he's got 4 conditions that would each make him vulnerable but not shielded, but the fact that he's got 4 of them boosts him up to needing to shield. I'm not entirely sure, but he's definitely had letters and several phone calls from his GP surgery making sure he's shielding properly.

Actually, I've just checked with him, because it seemed like I'd got something wrong. It's his asthma that is the most important condition, putting him in the shielding list. But he has 3 other conditions as well that make him vulnerable, as well as being over 70.