The Eleventh Republic - countdown to summer holidays

[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

As a bit of light relief, a "leading think tank" in Scotland wants Scottish pupils to have 6 extra hours a week of school, for two years, in order to catch up.

o they know there are 5 days in the school week??

One hour 12 minutes a day, and not a minute lounger.

I didn't mention the best bit... a day you like to think of as part of the weekend, until now (Saturday)

Why can't they just change exam content and put that stuff into uni courses? I had to do the equivalent of A level chemistry during my first year at uni as an extra.

Hahahahahaha.

No.

Oak is an interesting one. For the price if they produce a years worth of online lessons which schools can use then it is totally worth it. I understand there are issues with arts and minority subjects. I teach one that isn't on there yet. But it could save a hell of a lot of work IF SLT are prepared to let schools use it.

Just reading through the TES potted guidelines, I think I misread the bit about clinically vulnerable staff. It seems that only staff who normally do admin roles could continue to WFH. That may have some inequality issues surely? They are far less likely to come into contact with lots of people in the first place.

I mean you COULD use the English GCSE stuff (if the got rid of the mistakes) but it's only Language , does stuff on pre existing AQA exams anyway which reduces resources that can and usually are used in school and is vvvvvvv dull. the KS3 stuff is poor.
But I have enjoyed the Latin lessons myself!

It is so dull. Oak I mean. I don't like the 'learn from booklet' thing either.

Don’t go shooting teachers in the foot. If not Oak then it’ll be some poor sod teacher.

Let’s face it, sometimes our colleagues don’t teach the way we would like either. And we’ve all supported terrible trainees. Oak will do.

There are actual errors on the English pages though.

Then send corrections but don’t talk schools out of using it!

Agree noble. Looking at the guidance it seems a blended approach is going to be required. We don't have time to do both. So Oak will have to do.

I quite liked the KS3 science content and in fact used some of it for my students.

Nothing I'll say will change that the gov has given £4.3 million to their preferred educators/mates to get their academy curriculum booklets sold.

Blended learning only works properly if we use their curriculum. Not going to do that, even if in the guidance it pretty much suggests we should.

I didn't mind it. In an emergency. We've got time to plan now for our own emergency coverage. If a school has been using Oak all along so far, they've had time to set their own work/curriculum/home learning stuff up for sure.

I have noble : multiple times...to no avail.

I think their problem is the government is bigging them up so much, so they look like a government project. If everyone knew it had been their idea and done form a place of goodness and public spirit then that would help but the government is positioning the narrative unfortunately , unfortunately.

noble, if you did know who to send correction to directly, I'd be all ears. Facebook and Twitter doesn't seem to work and their website has no 'contact us' type thingy.

What I don't get about all the moaning parents on here, is why they didn't just use them as they were intended. 3 lessons a day, easy. It would have been annoying if our school hadn't done stuff, but I'd have just plugged child into Oak or Bitesize. Both were well publicised. I linked them to friends who asked me for help.

We've got time to plan now for our own emergency coverage

We really haven't. I don't want to be recording videos etc that may never get used. Also the guidance is clear that there should be online provision for those not in school even when the majority are back. How on earth do you have time to teach all day and sort online stuff? Its unfair to ask staff to do that.

Oaks stuff will be ready for Sept so you can pick what you want from the year. Therefore if a sudden lockdown did happen, you can direct students to the appropriate work (if it is on Oak). Or you can direct students to the equivalent of what you are doing in school if they are isolating etc. It's not perfect but it's a darn sight better than every school trying to make it themselves.

Apologies for the diversion but I quite enjoyed Robert Peston’s brief summary of the September situation just now.

In fact I watched BBC’s coverage and ITV’s and much preferred ITV’s.

I guess because they just wanted to moan whatever goats!

You could get them personal lessons from Gareth Malone and Sir David Attenborough and Hilary Mantel and it wouldn't be good enough!

Especially fi they didn't use Zoom...

What did he say?

Massolit is brilliant for GCSE English Lit and A Level btw. Terribly expensive though .Free trial seems to go on forever mind!!