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.

We have a whole school (staff) Teams meeting, a subject teams meeting and year group teams meeting every week, as well as the inevitable faculty and subject whatsapp groups which never shut up, but there has been some useful stuff mixed in there amongst the chaff.

We’ve had online meetings which I dislike (even when I don’t look naked) and I’m good friends with one colleague who I text nearly every day. And my Hod and a couple of other colleagues check in via email every now any then. It’s nice to feel connected. I’d hate not to hear from anyone.

We didn't have any online meetings either. My hod phoned once every couple of weeks for 2 minutes to "check everything's ok". That was it!! And we're a very sociable department at school. Apparently we're not close enough to arrange contact as a group during lockdown 🤷 I've done phone calls with a couple of the others, but that's been between ourselves.

I've had no online meetings at all, by the way. No year team meetings, no whole school meetings, nothing. The most I've had was the Union WhatsApp group, but that was mostly about making sure we were as safe as possible when we opened more widely to pupils.

My department are awesome and we have a very active whatsapp group. We’ve had fortnightly quiz nights - with themes and dressing up 🤣🤦‍♀️ Some of us have impromptu games nights. And those that I get on really well with have messaged most days! None of which was really work related. Love my department. Would have left a long time ago if not for them!

No online meetings. I’ve not been in school either, I was on the rota once at the start but then taken off because there were so few kids. I don’t teach Y10 and we’re not having Y12 in because of the minibus issue so I won’t be in till September.

On the other hand, I’d bloody hate themed dressing up quizzes so maybe it’s not all bad

And there’s always the virtual staffroom here!

Hello all, hope you don't mind me joining the Republic? Have been lurking... I work in secondary school - not a teacher but timetabling, data, exams officer, all that sort of jazz.
I actually really like timetabling, and have been doing it for years, but it's very time-consuming... (at least to do well, and not give part-time teachers something shitty like some of you always seem to have...)
This month I've already had to construct something reasonably sensible for our Y10/Y12 (in about 3 days, at the same time as submitting all our CAGs!) and construct a September timetable for if we're back normally, which takes about a fortnight of doing nothing else but timetabling and which still needs work doing on it.
Now it looks like I'll also have to plan out some sort of year-group based bubble version too, which while I can see some possibilities as to how to do it, will hardly bear any resemblance to the usual one, so that's another fortnight's work that I hadn't planned for...

And I guess we won't actually be able to have any decision as to which version we're following until we know the status of the virus near the end of August? So that will be another great rush of work to get things set up in time for class-lists, registers etc... (as these will be different dependent on the version), at the same time as dealing with the aftermath of results days... Fortunately I'm employed all year-round at least, but I was hoping to have some sort of time off in the summer at some point...! (Like most of you, I have worked continuously every week since March).
I guess the usual union workload agreement thing of teachers having 2 working weeks notice of timetable changes will have to be ignored too...
Just having a little private sorry-fest at the work-load ahead...

We’ve had a few virtual department meetings via teams to sort out CAGs and rankings, and to organise our lockdown department tasks and we’ve had a social check in too just to catch up. Our department WhatsApp has been in use too. DH has had weekly dept meetings via teams too which we’ve had to listen to in the background, I do not miss mainstream’s obsession with meeting to discuss the obvious at all! Our staff Facebook group has been another social contact which has been just enough.

It's only a small study (37 symptomatic and 37 asymptomatic) so not necessarily terribly reliable, but a new study quoted in the guardian says:

This showed they had detectable levels of the virus for longer than those who had symptoms. Asymptomatic people are therefore likely to be more contagious.

@BlanketyBlankAgain I cannot imagine your job right now. I'm much less concerned about the bloody virus than I am about the logistics of September. And I'm just primary.

I am getting fed up of the BBC's misleading headlines :

www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-53181525

Read the whole of this and it actually suggests quite a number of children need ICU treatment which surprised me , given the whole 'children don't get it or spread it bollocks'. Obviously they are saying this figure will be lower % wise because of the numbers who would have been asymptomatic. It's an interesting study.

Now we have begun to unlock children form their prison cells, we are likely to get some more robust data.

Oh , I'd be fascinated to know what your year group bubbling thing is and how that even begins to work!

HI blankety. Did you put teachers in a bubble or have to have them moving between?

I'm really glad that this isn't a disease which mostly has bad results for small children, I think that would have made things worse. But..

about one in 10 children needed intensive care

a notable number of children do develop severe disease and require intensive care support

Those quotes worry be a bit. One in 10 children? That's 50 kids in my school needing intensive care treatment if they catch it? That's fricking loads.

The article does point out that this was study of children who tested positive, so not as alarming as it sounds, given the numbers that must be asymptomatic.

But it is still overlooked. Swathes of MN think children are just totally immune. Teenagers are increasingly behaving as if it is one big social event, it seems.

Hi BlanketyBlankAgain, glad you found the thread. It's helped to keep me sane during lockdown and it's been so helpful to see what other staff and schools are doing.

I can't even imagine having to timetable for September. We always get ours very late anyway, we break up in less than two weeks and not a peep yet, which whilst understandable, is making me very nervous!

I have an all day team strategy day today. School enabled video this week and I haven't used it in lessons, but I'm looking forward to seeing my colleagues again.

@BlanketyBlankAgain......Nothing constructive to add but my admiration .......it sounds complex! I am fascinated by your job though (y1 teacher) - how did/do you get into it? (if I can ask on this thread.......)

Hi Blank, as others, fascinating job and thank you for thinking of the part timers!

From what I can see on fb groups, lots of primary slt are attempting to get their heads around what on earth to do about the ppa staff so many have now. A large number are considering closing early one day and sending some home learning home.

The images of the last two days around here are concerning; it wasn't that bad when the weather was good a few weeks ago. The beaches have gone crazy.

We all knew the last few weeks were an experiment to get data. I wouldn't be surprised if the dfe thing about not staying apart has been put in to encourage more mixing to see how that impacts things.

Interesting note on the numbers thread that t1 diabetes is thought to be triggered by a virus. You're born with the predisposition, like most autoimmune diseases, and it's thought to be triggered by a virus. The poster and others had noted more members with t1 children in t1 fb groups recently.

BlanketyBlankAgain

Having seen what can happen with timetables you have my admiration for your work.

We have no hope of a timetable before mid August. I’m reliably informed by our timetabling guy that it isn’t even started yet.

I'm so confused by advice. If you're clinically vulnerable (not extremely) are you still supposed to be observing 2m?!

How are they doing secondary schools in China etc?

I can’t give you China, but I can tell you how it’s working in my nephew’s school. (It may have changed slightly over the last week.)

There is a year group bubble and class sizes are capped at 20. And children are supposed to be as far apart as possible. Equipment can’t be shared. The teachers aren’t part of the bubble. Start/finish and lunch/break times are staggered and they use as many entrances to the school as possible.

Movement around the school is limited. For most lessons children will stay in their classroom. Where that’s not possible, e.g. science/DT the children do move but there are one way systems in place.

In terms of transport, capacity has been limited. And kids/parents are being encouraged not to use it unless absolutely necessary. Catchment areas are much much smaller so walking/cycling is more feasibile. I think they asked parents who would still need to use it to work out what demand was going to be and then gave priority to those living furthest away if any route was oversubscribed.

There are 2 threads going about holidays and quarantine and September restart atm. One posted in education where the OP is getting a lambasting and one in AIBU which is generally more sympathetic.

People clearly trawl the education boards looking for teachers to scold.

What country is that rafa?