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.

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If you are fed up with cakes and biscuits there is now a cheeseboard on offer

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@ohthegoats

Although - my main question is, as a parent are you going to send your child back to school if you know there has been one confirmed case in their bubble, even if their bubble is 26 children (which it will be in my case)? As soon as the WhatsApp chats start, kids are being kept off. It'll be the same as the two weeks before lockdown.

Yes, I completely agree-it will be chaos.

I think this ‘close contact’ bit is going to be interesting. It’s going to be impossible for people in my school not to be in proximity contact (within 1-2m of each other for 15 minutes as the classrooms are so small.

Thanks for the link.
I've been told I'm over-reacting by my siblings, one of whom works from home and the other doesn't work.

In reception i would say they are all immediate contacts.
France-
'Moreover, when school starts again, we will take care of high schoolers and provide two [washable] fabric masks" to each of the region's "500,000 high school students".'

@CallmeAngelina

Thanks for the link. I've been told I'm over-reacting by my siblings, one of whom works from home and the other doesn't work.

Yep-same here.

Both my parents and my in laws who retired nearly 20 years ago and don’t go anywhere, think I’m over-reacting.

Also not closing the bubble means it will actually go on longer as the sibling will get it and mean the whole school shuts.

I will be within two meters of my pupils in an sen school. We will have to physically handle unless they decide I'm not to.

But I'll be washing all the equipment they've used.

It was an expression of surprise when we said full class returning but limiting contact to their year groups only with around 25-30 students in the classes. So not that schools aren't following guidance but I guess surprise that they will be back full time full classes from the off. CAMHS isn't going to be face to face for a long while yet apparently, at least in our area. I appreciate other areas might work differently.

The dr probed how ds felt about COVID related schooling and Covid itself. Mind, ds is fine with schooling because everyone has to keep themselves to themselves and sit in specific seats which suits him just fine. Covid, well he's a bit wobbly at times but we just keep talking it through.

TeacherTapp not giving the right option again. "If you were offered a job with multi year group classes in primary would you take it..." - no option for 'I already have to do this, despite not having to do it when I took the job'. Closely followed by 'it's shit'.

Nice to see white male cronyism alive and well at the DfE

schoolsweek.co.uk/teach-first-graduate-and-conservative-teachers-founder-to-be-new-schools-policy-adviser/

I just had a distanced picnic with a nurse friend. She said i'd be fine and I was overreacting. But she's in full ppe to meet her patients and do home visits on very strict criteria and only in hospital when necessary with all surgery cancelled. Nobody in my family is sympathetic either but then, they are all right wing twats.

Unfortunately where I live, which is either blue or UKIP purple, all the kids I teach are looking forward to an entirely undistanced Summer full of fun because you know, it's just the MEEDJA! Two parents in my new class are active online already saying they won't wear masks and they've gone to city protests. Ffs.

well-received teacher recruitment and retention strategy

Hahahahahaaaaaa

Apparently my area is high. We are close to local lockdown and have been told to be stricter. Meant to be going away soon!

There's always a recruitment strategy (chuck money at them) never a retention one. We train up GTP students and some of them are really up front that they're only there for the initial cash but won't be staying in teaching. Pisses me off. Only ever the men too...

It'll be even worse with the NQT uplift now and the recession. We had it around ten years ago, the sudden influx of young male teachers. Funny how they only want to enter teaching when other options are limited isn't it?

I don't want to sound sexist but in our massive very mixed dept there's only been two men that actually pull their weight. The rest just generally seem to avoid doing anything. At least the old boys gone now, who just seemed to think the female teachers were there to clean his shit up

@hedgehogger1

I don't want to sound sexist but in our massive very mixed dept there's only been two men that actually pull their weight. The rest just generally seem to avoid doing anything. At least the old boys gone now, who just seemed to think the female teachers were there to clean his shit up

They always think that. Some of them seem to come with a massive sense of entitlement and the expectation that they will be a deputy head in 5 years. It's funny how it's so important for boys to have male role models when there's a recession isn't it?

My biggest bugbear is how entitled and male and laddish the Boys Don't Try authors are...

I can think of a few examples in my school of male HODs/Year Heads with female deputies where the woman seems to do all the work.

@noblegiraffe

I can think of a few examples in my school of male HODs/Year Heads with female deputies where the woman seems to do all the work.

But you never see that the other way around do you?

I've worked closely with 8 male teachers/TAs, and probably ten times as many women. Only 1 shit female teacher, 5 shit male ones. I notice that edutwitter celebs seem to mostly be male too. Anyway.

Yes goats I could give similar numbers. I used to mentor PGCE students too. The worst I ever saw was a male whoI kept asking to see his folder and would get brushed off. He eventually told me that trainees no longer had to keep development folders. Until his Lecturer visited and wanted to see his paperwork. We failed him and I'm not at all sorry about that.

Honey so true about enhanced early salaries attracting people who don’t really want to teach. Last academic year in particular of our 8 science trainees over the year, 3 openly admitted they had no intention of ever teaching but were only doing the pgce because of the massive tax free bursaries 😢 Another never applied For any teaching jobs.

www.tes.com/news/coronavirus-give-teachers-ppe-keep-schools-open-say-researchers

Interesting reading - Royal Society recommends PPE for teachers and older students.

I think we have got to the point now that there has been so much indignant debate in England about it and Them4Us are making such a clamour, that it just won't ever happen. It's going to be individual schools making decisions , brave enough to counter the guidance.