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

My test was ordered on the basis of a high temperature. My understanding is if you test due to symptoms and it comes back negative you can go back to work right away. But from what I’ve learned even that ideal scenario could mean 8 days isolating and the knock on effects of being a staff member short in school.

I genuinely worry that despite guidance schools will still be indirectly or otherwise pushing people to come in despite symptoms.

Genuinely want to hear if I’m being paranoid or if others envision similar pressures.

@Hercwasonaroll but that last para you quote does not mention a negative test result?

@TheHoneyBadger you may be right, although to be fair school leaders are really not going to want to risk the school having an outbreak/potentially closing, are they? Guess it depends partly on attitude of Head/SLT (/governors??) to risk. And possibly how good communication with local health authorities is even before you get your first instance of a teacher with symptoms.

I feel quite uncomfortable about these predictions. We're a massive school so why we said what they expected someone else ranked them and then predicted their grades. I've got no idea what grades they've been predicted at gcse or a level

@Appuskidu

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

They can’t. I’m not sure they know what the rules are either.

Right I've actually googled properly now and found the negative test guidance. Funny that the isolation guidance does mention this anywhere!! Apologies for any panic/confusion.

You do not need to self-isolate if your test is negative, as long as:

everyone you live with who has symptoms tests negative
everyone in your support bubble who has symptoms tests negative
you were not told to self-isolate for 14 days by NHS Test and Trace – if you were, see what to do if you've been told you've been in contact with someone who has coronavirus
you feel well – if you feel unwell, stay at home until you’re feeling better

Thanks @Hercwasonaroll. It is ridiculous that it's that confusing, and that difficult to find. And that the schools guidance is written slightly differently! Is that the only place where it says leave 48 hrs after a fever for returning to work, I wonder?

Naively,this hadn't even occurred to me!

schoolsweek.co.uk/heads-call-for-exam-appeal-fees-to-be-waived-as-schools-brace-for-deluge-of-challenges/

And this is pretty inetrestign:

schoolsweek.co.uk/pupils-required-to-self-isolate-will-not-be-marked-absent-dfe-confirms/

It also appears to confirm that we are simultaneously supposed to teach in school , and pupils who end up at home for a fortnight , which could be constant! I am not sure Oak etc is a solution there unless you are also doing it at school....

To be fair, most of my pupils would probably catch up via friends.

@Piggywaspushed I'm really concerned about having to provide home learning and school learning. I can't live stream myself for a variety of reasons, or record my lessons, so how on earth are we meant to do it?!
Parents were mostly happy with our provision in lockdown but we had the time to do it because we only had to be in one place at a time. If we have to be in two, we're jiggered!

This concerns me too. How can we do online stuff and be in school teaching? No facilities to record lessons and it isn't just a 'send the ppt home' job. SLT haven't really said anything about it beyond mixed 789 so they'll all have the same lesson.

While year 10 and 12 were in the were asking for volunteers to have their lessons recorded and sent home to people. I hate the idea!

I'm really concerned about having to provide home learning and school learning

This is a massive concern for me too.

I’m also panicking as to how I’m going to home education my two primary aged kids, whilst providing distance learning for the classes I teach.

The home education will happen when the inevitable school closures kick in around Oct time.

@WhenSheWasBad I can do it then. I did it from March onwards. What I can't see how we can do is a blended model when we're on site all day holding our breath and our wee AND trying to support kids at home self isolating or quarantining. That's the worst of all possible worlds. It'll be worse still for teachers with young families.

[quote MrsHamlet]@WhenSheWasBad I can do it then. I did it from March onwards. What I can't see how we can do is a blended model when we're on site all day holding our breath and our wee AND trying to support kids at home self isolating or quarantining. That's the worst of all possible worlds. It'll be worse still for teachers with young families.[/quote]
That's the bit that worries me as well. Although at least with maths there are quite a few places to find videos of most topics (corbettmaths, mathswatch, drfrostmaths, etc) so I'm in a far better position than a lot of other subjects. But the thought of having to do teaching in school as well as providing remote learning for pupils who are self isolating is a nightmare.

I just can't see how we can support home learning effectively either. It was taking me 40-45 hours a week last term to do it properly. I know that's less than some, but I only had half a timetable as I had loads of exam classes that I wasn't having to support. Add in having to totally replan every lesson to be me talking from the front with no practicals/worksheets/group work and it'll be 80 hour weeks to do it properly.
It would be much more efficient and effective to have one week in of cramming material and a week of consolidation.

We've also just come back from a lovely Northumberland hol, can't remember who else had? Weather was mostly glorious.

God I felt so refreshed! It's wearing off a bit and I found myself contemplating leaving the profession again yesterday.

Just catching up on thread; how are you feeling honey?

I was told by an neu rep that the aim is going to be to have some tests on site in schools for staff and pupils or even mobile testing centres that can be called to a school. (in our area, makes sense nationally but remains to be seen!) because they can see how disruptive it's going to be.

I can't quite see how that helps someone self isolating at home as they shouldn't be in school.

I imagine that one could be dropped off from school perhaps to a staff member?

This is the thing I'm dreading in sept/Oct tbh. The chaos. Also getting my own kids tested. We couldn't get a proper swab for the 2 year old when he had scarlet fever as he wouldn't open his mouth. It came back negative and I wasn't surprised as it wasn't a good swab. But it was definitely SF, even down to the slight peeling on his skin later. (My eldest had it twice as did I.) luckily they give abs anyway.

I'm just wondering what will happen in the instances for small non compliant children! I hope the spit tests prove useful but he can't spit yet. something to work on

The home learning while teaching is going to be impossible.

I think for primary it would be working through a work book you've started at school (my ds would only do it if he knew he'd been doing it previously) or something like reading eggs, white rose etc. Just key lit and num skills. Some fun science experiments perhaps but the biggest issue was working parents.

Secondary I'm less unsure but perhaps similar for lower years and some self study, research? Teens need such bloody spoon feeding these days I feel.

Also if they're ill with something else or COVID they're not actually going to be up to much.

Ooh starry it was you in Northumberland! Glad you had a good time :)

Re visors, some study somewhere found they were more likely to spread infection unless part of full ppe, as they need cleaning inside regularly without.

I had insomnia last night (fucking onions 🧅) and saw the bbc list of places where masks must be worn.

Had a little 3 am rage. Did manage to sleep a little before 7 though.

Is it daft that I'm already getting stressed about September? I had a couple of blissful weeks when it all seemed to far away to worry about, and now it's looming large in my anxieties again. I'm going to up my anti depressants dose.

£40 million for schools to set up transport networks to enable a full time return for pupils in September. www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/schools-reopening-september-transport-buses-funding-a9660756.html

They get that it’s three weeks away, right? Why the bloody hell are they just thinking of this now?

Is it daft that I'm already getting stressed about September?

No, I’m increasingly struggling with it. I can’t believe that I’m being scrupulously careful when going out, mask and handsanitiser and keeping distance and then in three weeks I’m going to be stuffed in a classroom.

Utterly, utterly ridiculous, Noble.

How the frick are LAs supposed to buy extra buses, recruit drivers and schools (re)rearrange start and finish times to make any use of this???

(Plus my Lea said they'd need £1m a week extra to enable sd on buses).

@MrsHamlet

I’m an NQT, so I’m still very much learning the ropes. The school I teach in is currently in a city that’s in lockdown.
I’m just worried about creating online lessons on a system I’ve never used before. I’ve only been in the school 3 times.

plus homeschooling my daughter (she’s 9) is utter hell on Earth. My son is 6, so he needs a lot of support to complete his lessons. If anything she needs twice as much prodding time complete work as him

Me, too.

Had two weeks of feeling pretty relaxed and now feel absolutely terrible.

(Need to stop reading all the threads about offices not going back until Spring 2021.)