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.

My usual strategy of not planning stuff till the night before is really paying off.

My phone Spell check tries to correct NASUWT to BASHERS!

Rofl Noble I'm not really meaning lesson planning, but a totally new learning rota (that wasn't not my job thankfully) and splitting classes and risk assessments for 2m. We were only taking in 33% at a time. Head teachers have put an indescribable amount of work in (and I'm not normally first in the queue to praise them, but they have).
It will be strange to leapfrog England in this way, we have been behind in terms of our plans to return and this time we will be in ahead of you. Scottish government have been very cautious up to now.
Parent pressure is an amazing thing

Partner in surgery right now and I'm reading about school openings... anxiety through roof issues...

goats you need to step away and read a book or go for a walk or put on Netflix. Literally no point in reading about schools reopening when it’s nearly as far away as the start of lockdown!

I've just had an email from my admin asking me to get my order for next term in by tomorrow. How the fuck can I do an order for next term when I have no idea what we need because I'm not allowed to go to school? What a waste of time and money.

Just copy and paste last year’s order? Having too many glue sticks and board markers wouldn’t be that terrible!

ohthegoats - can you tell them what you need but say minus any stock on site and give them hint where it is so they can check themselves? Its just i do the orders and everyone gets so cross when i dont order the right thing despite getting instructions like 'you know the yellow one - its bigger than my handbag'
Or order enough for 1/2 term on the proviso they let you order again? That way not too much waste if its wrong.

My DC's school has just informed all KS3 and 4 parents that live lessons/sessions on MS TEAMS will commence this term, with no recording allowed. It implies not even by the teacher. I thought that was necessary for safeguarding, but see that the national guidance says "follow your local guidance for recording."

Surely it's safer in all senses to record any sessions? And GDPR should allow it.

I noted that Boris said the guidance for businesses is coming out today, on the same day as announcements.

Why does it take weeks for schools??

The DfE really are shit aren’t they?

I just need to get out of teaching sometime last year.

sorry its all a bit crap for teachers right now.

Why does it take weeks for schools??

If the DfE managed to managed to produce guidelines on time and without errors or contradictions and that didn’t need updating within 24hrs it would surely be a sign of the world ending.

Not mentioned schools at all in this briefing yet! I am still waiting to know what our 'mitigating factors ' are!

We tell all Ss lessons are being recorded for my safety and theirs. No video from me ideally (although we do for short periods) or them.

We then say when the recording is stopped and that it is available only on the class stream.

Not sure how it breaches gdpr?

I plan a day at a time as well noble. It normally makes me more stressed than my colleagues, but right now I'm winning!!

I've had a lovely afternoon with my year 10 class. We played a game, girls against boys, and I realised how much I'd missed that sort of interaction with them. I didn't get that with my year 12 last week, because they're a much more mature and serious class (I was the disruptive influence on them last week, they just wanted to learn some maths!) I'm planning games for my year 10 again tomorrow and Friday. The maths is still challenging (they had to think really, really hard today) but we're all so much happier if we're playing bingo or noughts and crosses.

Great-down to one metre. A fortune has been spent on 2 metre signage and now that will have to be replaced with 1 metre signage.

School budgets are haemorrhaging. I really hope that there is an uproar from parents next year when schools can buy bugger all after December because COVID has blown the budget with sanitisation stations, signage etc

#schoolshavenomoney

A fortune has been spent on 2 metre signage

Just get a sharpie and write a little zero superscript to the right of every 2. (2^0) The maths department will love you for it.

And no sharing of equipment - I'm buying individual sets of everything.

Just put this on the data thread on health in relation to a link on twitter from info given to SAGE in the first week of June on reduction of transmission factors/reduction factors.

As far as I can see, these are the best things:

Reduce time in an environment
Change to work in a cohort
Technology rather than face to face
Maintain 2m distance
Lower density of occupants

Other good things:

Surface cleaning in general
New handwash stations
Face shields or goggles
No sharing of equipment

Useless:

Propping open doors to increase airflow.

Considering schools have been told they don't need to do any of the first list, don't need to or can't have money to do any of the second list, and have actively been told that the third list is what they definitely need to do, I'm unsurprised about teaching unions getting on their high horse.

Hiya, I don’t know if this is the right place to ask, but is anyone else’s school inviting ks3 in this term? I’ve been told that I’ll have my form in one afternoon next week for an hour and a half. In the hall rather than a classroom so they can be socially distant, but I didn’t think we were supposed to do this?

I’ve emailed my union to check but just wondered if any teachers here have had the same.

I've just been asked if I'd like to meet my new class on the 21st July. Erm, not really to be honest. But that's not the right answer, obv.

ohthegoats
And no sharing of equipment

Be interesting to see how many don't turn up with anything.

Also and practical lesson is about fucked.

Boris, that was not a question about school , you bellend.

But that's not the right answer, obv.

Of course not! You’re supposed to be thrilled by the prospect of seeing them.