The Twelfth Republic - push and glide to the summer break

[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

[NeurotrashWarrior]

Oh maybe it doesn't - I've been avoiding the guidance tbh as I found it too stressful.

[Piggywaspushed]

I can see why you would!

[Ellle]

It says 2 cases in the guidance. I remember reading it and people commenting on it because it was one of the first things they noticed, and it also stood out as being different to the guidance given for wider reopening on the 1st of June.

It also said the 2 cases needed to be close together withing a time frame (I don't remember how many days) for it to be considered an outbreak.

[RigaBalsam]

Checking in. Thanks staff

[WhyNotMe40]

I have also been avoiding reading the guidance. I do trust my Head and SLT to do the best they can but I wonder if maybe I should read it anyway.

[Piggywaspushed]

The last two paragraphs of this made me cross. Everything the DfE says makes me cross:

www.theguardian.com/education/2020/jul/07/headteachers-across-england-call-for-exams-to-be-cut-back-next-year

I mean this is just bollocks:

A Department for Education spokesperson said: “We recognise that students due to take exams next summer will have experienced disruption to their education, which is why we have prioritised bringing year 10 and year 12 pupils back to school this term

They brought them back for some 'face to face time', not to cram in exam content!!

[NeurotrashWarrior]

Normally I'd happily go and find it to look. I'm desperately trying not to have a panic attack this week. I've also had to fully abandon any home school work to get my own work done while also trying to claw back some assemblance on house tidiness. There's a lot of screen time this week!

[starrynight19]

A local school to me has sent a bubble home after a child tested positive. They won’t be back now until after summer.
I agree though very little in the news about schools.

[starrynight19]

Piggy that’s disgraceful if they think the face to face contact has replaced the months of missed teaching time.
I am so cross they don’t seem to be making any allowances for the lost learning time

[Piggywaspushed]

I realise that we are a bit shafted here since we are meant to say we have been teaching non stop and that it ahs all been amazing and no one is behind but there just has been a different pace. I am a long was behind in the option I teach because of sheer logistical difficulties.

It's such a disingenuous statement.

[Piggywaspushed]

I have to be honest (although I'd probably exempt neuro for the meantime!) I think everyone should read the guidance! Forearmed ....

[NeurotrashWarrior]

Lol thanks piggy. I'm going to wait and see what slt come back with and then check the guidance. They've been jolly good so far.

What the guidance is helpful or is understanding the reasoning, and links to the other bits of guidance eg for ECV staff etc.,

[tadjennyp]

It's so open to interpretation, isn't it? My union rep (and HoD) thought we would be going from class to class but the new exec principal was talking about the kids moving around as normal but going one way. 🙄 Who the eff knows?

[Saucery]

I’m sure our Risk Assessment will be a shining example of the Guidance

Speaking as a parent (sorry for sounding wanky), I am very cross about the lies about Yr 10 and 12 attendance. DS was offered one UCAS and one pastoral session (declined as not worth the risk and faff off attending, which was absolutely fine by his teachers).
The fact he is not behind is entirely down to the staff working their arses off to deliver the curriculum remotely, for which we are extremely grateful.
How dare the DofE misrepresent the time spent in school so blatantly

[Saucery]

*of

[DrMadelineMaxwell]

Waiting with bated breath here to hear what the Wales guidance for September will be. It's been promised that we will hear before the end of term, and Kirsty Williams has said to press it should be the end of this week.

So a whole week to put plans in place before the holidays - I feel for my headteacher. They have been in everyday for weeks on end doing all sorts of risk assessment and other planning and meetings. And all they are met with is parents demanding to know what is happening in terms of the leavers' service (not allowed) and what to do for childcare over the holidays now that keyworker childcare is stopping until Sept.

At the moment we are predicting full classes back in, with potential for the localised lockdowns based on a colour system like (I think it was) France had/has.

[NCsonoOuting]

The guidance says two confirmed cases within 14 days and the bubble has to isolate, and is then vague about what might make a school close, talks about consultation with local health people I think.

[Keepdistance]

I dont see how they can expect teachers to go on teaching after a positive case. Them or half the class could be coming down with it.
If they dont isolate the number 2 could be asymptomatic then 3 symptomatic.

[Piggywaspushed]

Well 'Us' For them have been at it again:

Meanwhile, a campaign group has said schools should be classed as “critical infrastructure” and not shut down if there is a second lockdown.
The ‘Us for Them’ Scotland campaign suggested schools should be treated in the same way as hospitals and power stations so they can remain open - even if there are “isolated cases” of coronavirus in the building.
In a letter to Holyrood’s education committee, Jo Bisset of ‘Us for Them’ said: “Can the Education Committee confirm that schools can be classified as critical infrastructure to stop the unnecessary closing of schools even on an isolated basis?

I do hope the Scottish Government ignores this! We are not power stations!!


And the BBC is reporting another lobby group 'September for Schools' as if it is news. When did the BBC just start doing this uncritically. September For Schools seem less aggressive maybe but they, too, are focusing on the struggle to home educate and not the safety of schools a s a workplace or the wider community.

I assume most of these posts that begin 'I want to hear from..' of 'How are you coping with...?' are actually the women who front these lobby groups digging for information.

[FrippEnos]

The sad thing is that they seem to have some political weight.

[Saucery]

And what do critical infrastructure places have in common? PPE to keep them as safe as possible. You don’t get one team in a power station not wearing masks and hugging the other team, do you. Or deliberately coughing on them, or needing personal care.

By all means designate schools as such, but then treat the risk assessment as a reality, not some airy-fairy wish list.

[ohthegoats]

You need to remember that the government really doesn't give a shit about teachers. When Gove was ed sec, his key advisor was Cummings. Cummings is now basically the PM. He referred to education as the blob. We all know that. They don't care. We'd have to strike.

I do however agree to some degree, that schools are critical infrastructure. Just not when schools are likely to be a key 'issue' in whatever is making the situation critical.

[TheHoneyBadger]

Morning all. Did read the guidance and have vaguely followed the Leicester situation. I think before whole school closures a mobile testing centre would be sent in and broad testing done and closure if lots of positive tests. That was part of the response and presented as a step in a series that were done before resorting to lockdown.

I’m in school this afternoon with a vulnerable group in a large IT room. I am expecting an interrogation as to where I’ve been and why I abandoned them and tall stories about the crazy supply teacher they had to endure if any of mine are in there

[AppleKatie]

Morning all, signing into the new thread. Nothing intelligent to add to the debate at the moment though, sorry

[minisoksmakehardwork]

@drmadelinemaxwell- it really gets my goat that since schools have provided free childcare for so long, there is an expectation of it now.

What would they have normally done during the holidays?

Get the bloody holiday clubs back and let them take over the cleaning etc routine of the premises they are using. It will take the heat off the teachers for a while for sure.

The only exception is where grandparents who would provide care are shielding, and even then the government has conveniently said shielding is over from the beginning of August. Call my cynical but I do wonder if the two are related.

I'm desperately hoping come September my dc's primary will have breakfast club back as that is paramount to me being able to start work on time. Dh can start later on occasion but not every single day so we've been sharing the late starts as much as possible but I have to take the early finish. Not too much of a problem at present as all pupils get free choice in the afternoon so bubbles are well and truly popped and staff numbers are less of an issue. I think our school's premise is separate out the students but overall key-worker kids are one giant bubble regardless of how many rooms we use and the year 10 and year 11 arrangements are separate bubbles.