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

Just checked , by the way. We got rid of ClickView.

Some of the taxis were doing double runs Angelina, do I think it might be for the second child. Drivers and escorts in masks.

To be fair, my school have been really good. We have PPE and upgraded cleaning spray. On the negative side, I've been rota'd on to two bubbles, plus an assistance team.

Oh gawd the September thread is a real eye opener isn’t it? Some people really seem to loathe teachers.

@Piggywaspushed just saw on twitter that Clickview is free to all schools because of coronavirus....

They actually just compared it to nits and winter vomiting, saying we don't make a fuss over those.

That's because those haven't killed 40000 people! FFS!

Imagine saying to any other group of workers "I know we're still on alert level 4, and 8000 cases a day of a potentially fatal virus, but you're not allowed any safety measures that the general public are, so stop whinging or quit."

Thanks hercule. I have very fussy IT guys so if they think something is illegal they won't do it. We had Clickview but they stuck tot he letter of the law as to what could go on it. I suspect they will tell me it's not legal yo have my films on there because 'rules'.

Any TAs on here? Article I read yesterday saying TAs have basically become untrained cleaners. Will see if I can find it.

Oh, I don't know : maybe it's too early to open?

schoolsweek.co.uk/coronavirus-trust-was-warned-over-local-spike-days-before-it-was-forced-to-close-school/

TAs as cleaners:

www.tes.com/news/coronavirus-safety-fears-tas-told-deep-clean-save-cash

And in more excellent news:

www.tes.com/news/6-worrying-signs-our-teacher-recruitment-crisis

I'm a TA, not being made to deep clean but am on some fb groups where that is the case and some midday supervisors have been asked to clean too.

Currently all TAs at my school are in full time (even if thats not their normal hours) and essentially doing sorting and tidying jobs. We are in to cover lunches outside and in case someone cant come in. Teachers are only in if on a bubble or rota.

I've been seeing some shocking things in the NEU fb group similar to reports below and also an slt group (much less there, they seem to be extremely reasonable, but occasionally post an aibu that they have to fight.)

One thing in the neu is that a great deal of heads appear to think that as the shielded can now go out for walks, the clinically vulnerable can come back. Some appear to be doing so out of choice.

I think there's a TA with asthma who may be in, I'm not sure, but when I spoke to her before schools closed she doesn't react to viruses and coughs especially badly, it's hay fever and any chemicals. Whereas I actually fear all viruses from a lung POV (obviously not death, and I don't fear this one for that) as some can really floor me for weeks and weeks even with inhalers and steroids. I seem to have retained a childish susceptibility to croup too.

Gosh gravity, you're right : loads of the films are on Clickview.

Bet I am told we can't afford it!

The problem is that the vulnerable group seems too big. If you speak to your GP, they actually stratify that group into 3 categories . Can't remember the terms : but I think it is highly, moderately and somewhat, or the like.

Doesn't mean your GO will write you a letter, though as many are a bit gung ho and the DfE rules are actually slightly more protective that general workforce rules so doctors don't know them and may also think it is perfectly easy to stringently socially distance n a school or be given another role. The difficulty with actually getting a GP consultation does make any conversation about this rather hard!

Piggywaspushed
Any TAs on here? Article I read yesterday saying TAs have basically become untrained cleaners.

Not in my school. They hired an extra cleaner.

I think we will find that group gets redefined as we go forward. The problem can be though, chronic conditions can naturally worsen with age or other reasons.

Apparently they've linked a higher risk factor to men with baldness now!

I saw that on the other thread!

I think yours may be the only one ellle!

TA here. We haven't been asked to do deep-cleaning. We are doing cleaning in our own class during the day with anti-viral spray, taps, (we have sinks in class), soap dispensers, bin lids, light switches, door handles etc. But most teachers are doing it too, inc. deputy head. And because of the nature of our setting (SEN), we did most of this as routine anyway. School has hired a cleaner to be on site all day doing toilets, keypads, corridors etc.

Also our teachers are being expected to do more days in school than TAs, plus still do home support. Am aware we are more fortunate than many! There are also a lot of negatives, but not dwelling on those at present.

TA here, I've not been in yet. Those that have been in this week have been cleaning cloakrooms every 15 minutes. School closed to bubbles one day a week for a deep clean.

But to be fair @Piggywaspushed, re the Northampton DRET school which opened following a council warning re spike - that article's a bit biased, imo. Am under that authority too, and there's been no suggestion that schools should delay opening because of higher numbers of deaths in local hospitals; local press only reported a "possible" spike last week and I haven't seen anything this week.

Other schools in the area opened as planned.

@Piggywaspushed this is the article linked to but might just be Doncaster schools and not the content you need... www.doncaster-chamber.co.uk/news/details/clickview-makes-world-class-educational-resources-available-for-free

Also my children’s school have just announced plans for all students to return. Originally they said y1 this week, yr next week, y6 the week after. Now they are saying y4 will return with Y6 on 15th and will be adding a year group or two each week after. Classes are split in half - morning and afternoon with own teacher in own classroom....

I’m not primary but is this allowed that other year groups can now return?

I didn’t think this was allowed? It’s definitely not allowed at secondary but I’m not a primary expert.

Considering no school has followed the guidance, I think everyone is doing their own thing. My head's plan was to get everyone back - I'd LOVE to have everyone back in some form if it ends up being 'safe' to do so.

I'm annoyed that they've done loads of other relaxing of rules. If they'd just talked about schools starting, and strict rules for face coverings and so on for other people, there might have been a chance to see if schools have an impact on the R rating. Now that everything has gone to shit regard lockdown, we can't isolate schools as a cause of increased transmission or otherwise.

Science should be about changing one thing right?