Thirteenth Republic - School’s out for summer, no more pencils no more books!

[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

@Saucery I think we could solve a lot of issues in schools if we just said ‘tough shit’. Succinct.

@Saucery

No problem, FlagsFiend Maybe it’s not just my hands that are over sensitive at the moment Spending my summer holiday endlessly going over and over how to keep myself as safe as possible in Sept has been difficult.

I know that feeling, I'm very nervous about September. I wish I could just forget about school for the next 5 weeks :( but I can't get it out of my mind.

A much bigger problem is for some reason the mask makes my glasses fall off my face - this means I have to keep pushing them back on which I don't want to do as I'm trying not to touch my face. I can't see well enough without my glasses on to walk round a shop and don't wear contact lenses, any suggestions?

One of those masks that strap around your head (instead of hooking over ears) would work. Take a look at @combatcovidmasks on Instagram, she's got some called Solo masks. Can vouch for them being good! I hear Specsavers have an anti fog glasses spray too but I haven't tried it.

Currently very frustrated reading the Irish reopening plans. Honestly, I'd prefer if they just dropped the hygiene theatre and admitted that we're back as normal. I must see if I can link the seating diagrams they made though, they're gas.

Oh, now, see , I was jealous of the Irish plans because they seemed so much better than ours! Or at least funded!

Some funding but a whole lot of smoke and mirrors #edchatie on Twitter is hopping.

If this link will open for you, you can see suggested diagrams for primary seating (never seen an Irish classroom as big as the one in their diagram). I pity the poor children who are meant to be sitting at the table legs!
www.gov.ie/en/publication/a0bff-reopening-our-primary-and-special-schools/

There is a cracker in the primary guidance about subs. If a teacher goes out sick and no sub can be found, the SET covers the class. The school is allowed to bring in a sub on another day (which I thought was great as I had visions of a sub doing catch up work with children who missed support sessions). Apparently though the sub is to take the class and the class teacher goes off working in SET for the day 😕 Makes absolutely no sense to me.

All in all it looks great on paper but there's very little concrete advice in it. Keeps the public happy though so the government have what they want.

Sionncha why is there always a child who is blue on those plans? (Is that the one you catch Covid from?)

Sorry, Sionnach

Christ knows. Maybe it's the child you kick out of class first if/when you can't fit them all in?

Btw, our government decided that if secondary school children can't all maintain 1m social distancing in a classroom, some of them should watch it via livestream elsewhere. Imagine the phonecalls you'd get from those parents!

An interesting September ahead for sure.

My absolute worst nightmare being filmed running a lesson and live streaming it to children at home with parents. At one stage our head was suggesting we have the vulnerable children in, teach them in class, then stream that home to others. I mean really. Days of parents watching me try and persuade children out from under the table, or asking the TA to go after a child who has done a runner.

Yes, goats, but what an eye-opener it would be for parents to see just what many of us are up against in even the "naicest" of schools.

I’d pay good money to subscribe goats

Haven’t heard something described as gas for a long time. Made me

I’ve left the mask thread. Can’t bare it when it starts to go in circles with questions that have been asked and answered numerous times being asked by posters who haven’t, and have no interest in, rtft and won’t read your responses anyway.

I suspect the klaxon went off on their Facebook page and they have a comment bank like some teachers have for reports.

As cruel as caning them was an original one though 😆

I need to go to bed. Just arguing for the sake of it now - and because I hate to see a really stupid or callous post stand in corrected!

@Flagsfiend have same problem with glasses sliding down the mask! I was going to try and get one if those sports things you use to keep glasses on maybe? I’m fully resigned to looking like goodness knows what with mask/visor/combo so why not 🤣🤣🤣

The Nasuwt thread has been interesting

I just don’t understand the bitterness of posters. We are going back to school in hopefully what can be a safe way but nothing is good enough for them.

And my classes for 20/21 do not include anyone with a hearing impairment.

Don’t they realise they are taking a glass half empty approach is not encouraging . All this wanting teachers to be like mediaeval flagellants needs to cease. In six months they will be moaning that we are setting too much homework.

And my classes for 20/21 do not include anyone with a hearing impairment.

There will be students who don't officially have a hearing impairment who rely on lip reading. A significant minority of people use lip reading to assist with hearing and they don't even realise. It's a really effective way to subconsciously mask hearing issues.

I think one of the issues is that these posters are either vexatious complainants at their schools (they are the stirrers and some are presumably active on education/SEN boards), a few active 'anti-dementors' and then just some very repressed, frustrated (sometimes anxious) posters who never complain to their school in RL but get whipped up on here by the former two camps.

It is always very instructive when a new thread starts about the risks of coronoavirus (educational or otherwise) how many people descend on the OP to tell them to stop being so negative and to basically try to bully them off their own thread. They won't be told that anyone can post their views or research or that they are behaving like the thread police. Instead they suggest the likes of ClimDad or Dom are bringing everyone down with their facts misery.

Masks is a current focus. When we go back it will be self isolation and illness policies and, again, schools will be held responsible. That one I am dreading because the rules on that are SO unclear!

www.expressandstar.com/news/health/coronavirus-covid19/2020/07/29/coronavirus-fears-grow-over-local-lockdowns-for-sandwell-and-wolverhampton/

I live in Wolves so obviously this worries me. If this is happening now, what will autumn bring when we’re all back in fully? Going to be a very disrupted time no matter how much the government/parents want life as ‘normal’.

Caught up on some of the thread.

Glad your holiday is sort of sorted piggy?

I'm really annoyed by the positivity vibe on mn. In but saying doom and gloom is good but being realistic and not editing out key contextual facts.

The media are also to blame. Apparently in the eu, (via a mate) the U.K. is being reported on in a very different way to how our own papers are reporting it. eg, second waves are being reported in Germany. Look at the numbers and they're similar to ours. But their population is 17 million more. We never got as low as them ffs.

I've been hanging out on fwr for my mental health (!!) as the rest of mn is doing my head in.

How many times do we need to point out that our class sizes are only akin to counties where they where masks in schools at a drop of a hat??

That mask thread, Jesus.

The only reason I'd say we perhaps might not be wearing ppe and masks in schools is if it actually were less safe due to how you've got to be so clinically careful with them. I've bought a load (Zalando were good actually!) and going to make some.

I like the idea of only going back part time on rotas and blended learning of cases are at a certain level. Is that Irish advice?

My anxiety is notably lower at the mo simply because the north east has surprisingly very low cases (main Tyneside area.)

By the way, hand sanitizer only works after it's evaporated from your hands according to my Gp mate. who is currently in hol in Spain

I hadn't actually twigged that. I'm going to to emphasise it in school.

If there's one positive (for us), it's that more professions are being added to the bashing list, increasingly. There have been two recently absolutely vile about GPs saying that they're refusing to see patients, including with very severe suspected illnesses (non Covid). My GP mate is on his knees, working even more hours than ever before, with more aggressive patients than ever before. (Luckily, he's a bloke and has probably not even heard of mn, and certainly doesn't have time to go on the Internet searching for evidence about how much some people hate him..!)

I agree that the Us for Them lot are obviously sensing flying monkeys to threads here to shout at teacher commenters.

Is it wrong to say I can spot them based on their writing style?

I suspect what they will be kicking off over on Oct is the constant lack of childcare once because bubbles are isolating or local lockdowns. I bet we’d seen an enormous reverse ferret once any kids got really ill in their local area. So short sighted.

I think GPs have always come in for it on here a bit. I think because the GBP think they are very highly paid and shouldn't whinge. The threads just never take off. I always suspect those threads are started by less highly paid NHS staff! The police come in for it , too. And GP receptionists.

Not sure there are many others though!

I do find it interesting on the Irish seating plans that there is advice on how and where to position a TA/SNA. Not heard or seen anything about that here.