The Tenth Republic - what is the new normal?

[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

If you come with a stick to beat us with then please do so elsewhere and not in the staffroom.

The OP is trying not to...

To be fair, it is very localised. it's Johnson's whack-a-mole in action.

I was going to say, I think they did discuss it and it was very quickly squashed. Is the OP the one in Germany anyway?

If it's just around the meat processing plant, then the same is true for Anglesey.

My school is open to every year group as from yesterday. I have 10 returners (incl 4 Key worker kids) and it's actually been delightful (home on PPA this afternoon). They're sweet kids and touchingly pleased to be back and trying hard to follow the rules (aged 9).
I've just had the nicest morning ever despite the fact that some of them can't remember anything we've ever covered in school at all!

Yes goats. Indeed.

I do thinkt he discussion juts being around deaths as a stat on wider MN aren't very helpful

Probably not. But then we don't have information in numbers about even potential medium term problems, let alone what long term issues may be and we won't have those until the long term (however long that is!) has actually happened. I am not sure I can, as a working single parent, justify giving up my job to home school a type 1 diabetic who as things stand is more than likely never going to have any covid-related problems at all in the long term, even if he is unfortunate enough to get the virus at some point. I am not sure anecdotal 'I know someone who knows something who has been diagnosed with....' is enough to be planning the rest of mine and my child's life with.

It is very difficult to deal with this as a parent. I know as a 50 year old, overweight teacher I am concerned about the science of how this virus moves about unventilated spaces and the potential impact of how 1 infected person in a bubble of 30 could have infected all of us by the end of a school day and what that means for the school community and beyond.

But I am not sure I can justify shutting down my life and that of my 10 year old on the basis of the information on longer term health issues as that information currently stands.

Lost, I do agree, myself and members of my immediate family and in the CV group; we can't justify not going to school any longer.

I think it's part of the bigger picture of taking what ever rules seriously, which the schools must do as they're on the front line.

It's currently apparently relatively safe to return, as long as rules are followed and bubbles or schools closed down for quarantine.

There has been a definite down play of the seriousness of the virus at times on mn for survivors. If people stop taking it seriously they start taking more risks.

Plus the basics of schools closing down again; quarantine as well as staff absences. that helps no one.

There has been a definite down play of the seriousness of the virus at times on mn for survivors

I absolutely agree. The 'back in school at all costs' mantra ignores the very real issues schools are facing and as I said up thread somewhere, I have discussed with my family about the legal situation should I happen to die of/with covid. I am squirreling away emails into an account my family has access to and I am waiting to see if anyone thinks they should be doing risk asessments on individual staff (I think they should be but we'll see). I do think that there will be unnecessary deaths in schools, particularly if we open too early (and I am of the opinion September will be too early for secondaries).

I also suspect the long term effects are going to be, broadly, enormous in terms of years off life expectancies. But does my not wanting to take those risks (which to all intents and purposes are very small) justify what is happening to the economy and how that will impact our children? I have lived 50 years - I hope to live many more - but if it ends here for me, or the rest of my life is impaired in some way, well, every twinge or cough at this point in life is a potential long term problem anyway.

I think we now owe it to the younger generations to get on with it with sensible precautions and an understanding that schools may well open and close on a regular basis and localised lockdowns probably can't be avoided. However, I am not sure I trust this Government to do sensible. And there's the crux of the matter!

Absolutely @Lost, I don't trust them AT ALL.

lost, that sounds stressful.

The irony is, a really good risk assessment makes stuff feel confident to work. A lot of our behaviour plans are effectively risk assessments and I imagine will include Covid too now.

I know this from previous experience with a head who didn't bother and a head (though now also lea I think after a few issues) who does bother, well.

Oh for fucking fuck's sake that is fucking insane the bastards

How are some of these behaviour and SEND kids going to come back to mainstream? Like seriously? I can't keep some of mine in the room at all in normal circumstances.

Sorry. Deputy first minister in Scotland has done a complete climb down and is planning to open all schools full time in August.

Ohthegoats we find it hard enough and we are sen, small classes and some doors are only opened with a swipey thing only.

It's really bloody complicated

is that a MAT saying 'how high shall we jump' bea?

How did you guess?

If it stays voluntary I don't mind that much. I just won't volunteer.

The y7 is current y6, to give them the transition they missed.

I can see the logic. It's not inherently a bad thing. But I need a break.

@Mistressiggi I know! On Friday I am clearing my home desk, chucking all school stuff in the spare room and trying to forget about school until start of August. Who knows what we are doing at the start of term? I don't know where to start planning. I'm usually all sorted by now. FFS

Misstress, looks like it's England too - Johnson says schools in England will reopen in September for primary and secondary school pupils in full.

At least this back full time for sept means that's the only things schools have to plan for. We don't have to start investing money, resources, planning time into the possibility that some kids might be Home some of the time....

Will parents be fined for non-attendance is the big question.

Kids are supposed to be back in now, but parents aren’t sending them in, especially in areas of high disadvantage according to Teacher Tapp.

From an anecdotal point of view, I would think in areas of high disadvantage you’d be more likely to get families with children in multiple year groups in a school, and if, like in my house, one child is in a year group back in school and one or more aren’t, it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to send just one back. All that faff doing the school run and so on, and then to still have kids at home anyway! For me, it’s preferable to have two children at home than one. Much easier. I wonder how much pragmatic little things like that are affecting attendance right now.

Opening full time for students over the age of 15 would make us the only country in Europe doing this : although, of course, plenty may plan to do that come August/September. Most countries are being most cautions about the oldest students, though/

I accept everyone's views on vulnerability and risk. Life experiences do colour things. I have seen my DH on a ventilator and lived through an extensive period where he was hospitalised because he picked up a community infection , so it makes me more anxious than most, I think.

@hedgehogger1 problem for us is we have already done all the planning for blended learning - this is the last week of term for many schools here. I know my dc's schools have also put in all the planning, rooms measured furniture moved the full shebang. It's a nightmare. I hope they're right about it being safe because I don't feel it.

Oh well, crying tree can get back to crying about having to do zoom meetings instead of how her children have missed 1.9% of their education.

I thought teacher bashing threads had actually waned a little on here recently but a juicy one has popped up.

Union bashing is just thinly veiled teacher bashing.

@Mistressiggi yes we had started too. I was being. Bit tongue in cheek, I also don't feel we can afford to not plan for it as I can imagine the end of August rolling round cases going up and the government changing their mind again at which point all the parents will be up and arms that we didn't foresee it

Thanks hedgehogger. Being full time makes my planning easier really not harder - and childcare certainly easier. But I don't believe it will be safe. We will have full sized classes (of some almost full-sized young adults) in front of us on 12th August, with no social distancing between pupils (he didn't clarify what staff would have). I feel sick about it really, and think I need to go out for a bit to stop thinking for a while!