The fourteenth republic - watching Scotland and ever changing DfE guidelines

[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

Oh fuck, piggy, here’s hoping for you!

For anyone whose school has conceded to visors you might want to note that Scotland has just announced that visors are not sufficient protection when worn alone.

@CarrieBlue it's all too much, I tell you! A former student, now doing some postgrad maths at Cambridge and who had done ALL of the possible maths a level modules in year 12 and only dropped 2UMS, told me once that his knowledge was "rather niche, Miss" and asked me which my favourite Agatha Christie novel was. He was trying to make me feel better after I ended up involved in a conversation about Physics which was well over my head. He was a wonderful boy!

No longer userlots of numbers!

@MrsHamlet - I have to get my 10yo to explain fronted adverbials to me quite often and I did an OU linguistics course which was unbelievably complicated, sub-atomic particles and fundamental forces are a breeze in comparison! (I shouldn’t admit that my GCSE’s in English were 100% coursework and involved no Shakespeare at all, should I?)

@CarrieBlue no Shakespeare? The horror 😂

I did wonder about visors. Having been out to a restaurant with staff wearing visors today, they are really hard to lip read through so may not be the magic bullet for the hearing impaired either. The light bounces off them and they crease so quickly leaving marks which distort the mouth. Admittedly the place was quite background noisy, but classrooms can also be like this.

Piggywaspushed hopefully if they do lockdown it will still mean you can travel as long as it’s with your household.
We had a lovely few days in Northumberland this week.
Couldn’t meet up with friends whilst we were there as planned but nonetheless still a much needed break away.

Poop, I just made a new thread about being worried about my exceptionally able class being downgraded and I see the Republic is on it already.

@Hercwasonaroll what do you mean that visors ‘crease’ aren’t they fairly solid plastic? The ones my brother uses at his pub have great coverage around the side but definitely can’t crease? Obvs I can’t comment on the lip reading aspect but that’s a real shame as I hoped they’d be ok for the teaching part and everything else I could double up or use my masks...

These were ones that creased when off the wearer. They all seem to be like strong laminator pouch stuff round here so if they are stored badly or with stuff on top they crease on the plastic. Even the "face shield" ones crease if stuff is put on them or they are stored incorrectly.

Was speaking to some people from church on Zoom last night and I was shocked by how little they knew about the plan for schools in September. OK they don't have children but one of them used to work in a school, one is a Whitehall civil servant and they're all socially concerned individuals.

But at least one of them thought we were all going back in bubbles of 15, possibly with screens between desks.....

@JulyBreeze if only! My 34 year 11 will barely fit in my room as it is... and I'm going to struggle to be 2m away

I was chatting with some other mums today. One is a GP, one a HR manager, one an NHS manager. All had kids in primary school.
None of them knew that we as teachers were not part of the bubble, that we weren't allowed to wear masks, and that is secondary school teachers will still be teaching multiple full classes with no mitigations.

People just don't know! Even people who you think would....

Do you think some of the misinformation is because of the stock pictures of Covid schools the media uses?

Oh yes even my parents tried to argue with me about the plan for September. Apparently I was wrong for saying bubbles were meaningless in secondary

@Hercwasonaroll

Oh yes even my parents tried to argue with me about the plan for September. Apparently I was wrong for saying bubbles were meaningless in secondary

My mum thinks we should all go back into work because 'it's ridiculous' and that as teachers we'll 'be fine, it's going away anyway' 😩

Yes piggy, I do think pics of Denmark/Korea are to blame. Let's hope lots of cameras go into secondaries in September!

In the same way it's annoying me that any article about testing is accompanied by a pic of a person in PPE standing by a car, usually with a swab out! This gives the (100%?) false impression that a trained HCP swabs you at a test centre. From my experience (5 tests now!) and from what I read on MN they always get you to do it yourself, which is not easy.

Mind you, even worse are the pictures of hospital swabbing (up the nose and down to the throat) which look terrifying!

Yep. If you’re going to post stuff on gov.uk you might as well not bother publishing at all.

I had a high temperature and dodgy stomach this morning and went through the online system to get a test. I had to give so much private data and basically sign away my privacy to order a postal test.

At each point they wanted me to give more data or sign away my privacy there would be the option to ‘cancel and go to a test centre’ instead (I don’t drive and am not in a city so not an option.

My test will hopefully arrive in 2 days and then I have to do it and post it in a priority post box (luckily I have one nearby) and I should get a result by text within 2-4 days of them receiving the sample.

In September that would mean potentially way over a week between ordering a test and having results.

I appreciate I’m rare as a middle aged single person with no access to a car but?? If I get symptoms on a Friday and stay home and order a test I will likely not receive it till Tuesday, do and post it ready for 5pm collection on Tuesday and by the time they receive and test it it’s likely to be the following Monday before I get a result.

So I could be out of school for over a week for a negative result or worse over a week before the school knows covid is circulating.

May have explained that really badly but I’m thinking an 8 day turnaround from symptoms to results won’t be uncommon. If you don’t have a priority post box nearby or are too ill to go out you are told not to test straight away but to book a collection and wait to take the test till your collection date.

I’m sure I’d get treated like a royal pain in the arse but reality is a high temperature or cough would see me out of school for over a week.

I thought you had to isolate for 10 days with just symptoms? www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/self-isolation-and-treatment/when-to-self-isolate-and-what-to-do/

@Hercwasonaroll the full
Opening guidance says this:

"Schools should ask parents and staff to inform them immediately of the results of a test:
• if someone tests negative, if they feel well and no longer have symptoms similar to coronavirus (COVID-19), they can stop self-isolating. They could still have another virus, such as a cold or flu – in which case it is still best to avoid contact with other people until they are better. Other members of their household can stop self-isolating"

Is this now different from the general NHS advice?? I know there's been wider confusion about this issue and also the different length of time if you've been asked to isolate pending possible development of symptoms (as it were).

Ah, here's what they send with a Negative test result:

"Your coronavirus test result is negative. You did not have the virus when the test was done.

If you feel well but someone you live with tests positive or you've been traced as a contact of someone who tested positive you must still self-isolate. Follow the guidance on 14 days self-isolation. If you get symptoms of coronavirus, get tested and self-isolate for 10 days from when they start.

If you're not a contact you may return to work if you've not had a fever for 48 hours and feel well. Talk to your employer first.......

If this result is for a child or staff member at school or nursery, tell the school or nursery."

I've had 4 tests this week (long story!) and it's been very disruptive and that was in the holidays, it would be a nightmare for a teacher in term time, especially as I believe two of the retests were my own "fault" for not avoiding my tongue when swabbing (It's very hard!)

One page seems to imply 10 day isolation for symptoms.

If you have symptoms or have tested positive for coronavirus, you'll usually need to self-isolate for at least 10 days.

You'll usually need to self-isolate for 14 days if:

someone you live with has symptoms or tested positive
someone in your support bubble has symptoms or tested positive
you've been told by NHS Test and Trace that you've been in contact with someone who has coronavirus

This page seems to agree that isolation is 10 days for symptoms too.

You should self-isolate for at least 10 days if:

you have symptoms of coronavirus and you tested positive, had an unclear result or did not have a test
you tested positive but have not had symptoms

Michael Rosen is right to suggest that the government should make a poster spelling out exactly what the rules are!

A picture speaks a thousand words...

Yes those stock photos are a real problem. People absorb the information from them and gloss over the text. We know this as teachers - dual coding etc.
And yes simple flowcharts and diagrams are needed for who isolates for how long when, as it is a bit convoluted!