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

[Mistressiggi]

Honey have your school management not mentioned risk assessments to you at all? We got one - you could calculate your own risk and request an assessment if you chose - though mind you it was just a week before we returned.
Well today was - ok I think, though no masks and people's ideas about what 2m actually is were fairly strange. I will need to insist on more distance I think. No pupils yet.

[Appuskidu]

@Mistressiggi

Honey have your school management not mentioned risk assessments to you at all? We got one - you could calculate your own risk and request an assessment if you chose - though mind you it was just a week before we returned.
Well today was - ok I think, though no masks and people's ideas about what 2m actually is were fairly strange. I will need to insist on more distance I think. No pupils yet.

When do the children start?

Was it SLT who weren’t sure how big 2m is??

[Piggywaspushed]

I just bit on the numbers thread but am fed up of the 'stay out of the staffroom' comments and the assumption that ill secondary pupils got it from us . We are to blame.

You tell me : I was the only member of my family ill , but regardless their only interactions are school. I sat next to two pupils who had been skiing. One had a cough. The other took two days off feeling unwell and then came back. What does logic tell you?

Fed up of people telling me I have been skiing (nope and It was term time) or down the pub ( nope never go there) or the supermarket ( hadn't been for ages). Jesus if everyone in the UK got ill shopping we'd all have to shop online.

There is SUCH denial that there might even be any infections transmitted in secondary schools.

[Mistressiggi]

Wednesday.
It's hard to say, whoever laid chairs out didn't know clearly, but at other times people were sitting on pupil desks but just far too close - I think the room was basically too small for the numbers. I will raise it tomorrow. If we can't be 2m apart we have to wear a mask, and no one was doing that either. Feel totally zonked now!

[Saucery]

I don’t know what they think we do in the staffroom. Go round hugging each other and licking the chair arms?
Ours was so spaced out and never more than 3 staff in there at a time. The smell of bleach wipes hung in the air. If I’d needed an emergency operation I would have been happy to have it right there on the table, it was cleaned so much!

[Mistressiggi]

Apparently there were only 10 students whose grades went down by two in Scotland
Piggy what do you mean by that - down two like an A to a C, a B to a D? We've several like that that I know of in my school, there can't only be ten in Scotland!

[Piggywaspushed]

The other thing worth pondering is that parents arent wrangling their teens, so they let them out all the time
They have therefore concluded they are as safe - or safer- at school! They'll regret that when all the staff are off ill! But I genuinely cant see why they don't keep their kids in!

[Piggywaspushed]

Hi mistress. It was in figures the SQA released. It was for one of the qualifications, possibly Highers.

[FrippEnos]

Piggywaspushed
I just bit on the numbers thread but am fed up of the 'stay out of the staffroom' comments and the assumption that ill secondary pupils got it from us . We are to blame.

It just shows how little they know or understand, I can't remember the last time I was actually in the staff room.

[Piggywaspushed]

It all moved on to ' you must have spoken to another parent or to a colleague '. Adults tend at work to pretty spontaneously socially distance so I doubt it somehow . I guess it could have been the PE teacher with the awful cough in a meeting who thought it was hilarious when everyone kept looking at her edgily but she was 2 m away from me and behind me. Anyhow, that is still a school interaction!

[Mistressiggi]

Yikes piggy, if it was they must all have been in my school!

[fuckweasel]

@Mistressiggi I'm not back until tomorrow. Just found out our seniors are expected to wear masks (unless medically exempt) and we are to have masks for tomorrow's INSET. I also have a discussion about my personal risk assessment tomorrow as I'm 'clinically vulnerable'. Feeling quite happy with how the SLT are manging things so far!

[Mistressiggi]

How are they enforcing the mask thing given the guidance? Is this just in your school do you think or is it a regional policy? Sounds very sensible.

20 higher maths candidates were down graded by two grades, so I feel a bit better now! (I'm not maths)

[fuckweasel]

I don't know if school or county wide? We are a tiny school and have very little behaviour issues so I think it will be easy enough to enforce. We'll see! A majority will have to wear them anyway as most travel by bus.

[Mistressiggi]

Good luck for tomorrow. We're all waiting for JS's announcement before doing appeal work!

[WhyNotMe40]

Anyone seen this? www.theguardian.com/education/2020/aug/10/scientists-urge-routine-covid-testing-when-english-schools-reopen

[fuckweasel]

I spent ages putting together work for a priority appeal last week. I really hope it's not needed!

[Piggywaspushed]

I saw that earlier whynot. Nick Gibb almost immediately said fuck off, or words to that effect.

[SaltyAndFresh]

It's a different call @Piggywaspushed. Articlenwas published this evening.

[Piggywaspushed]

What do you think he'll say mistress ?

Its a shame it's become such a political football now.

[Piggywaspushed]

It's a rehash of one published this morning. I recognise the scientists name. Anne Longfield is coming back into our fold now too.

I think scientists are a bit bewildered by the government's approach.

[Piggywaspushed]

I like the quote from Hanage at the end. It's a good one to use on the know it alls.

[Appuskidu]

Very interesting

The Delve report also stresses the need for stringent hygiene measures, social distancing and clear guidance for parents on when to keep their child home from school. A robust test-and-trace system and investigation of outbreaks is deemed essential.

We don’t have any of these things

[TheHoneyBadger]

No no mention of it but we’re not back till September so I’ll wait a couple of weeks. I do remember a survey last term asking about health conditions.

Glad first day wasn’t too bad. I reckon stick a mask on tomorrow miss. The longer you leave it the more difficult it will become. Not sure I’m going to feel ok if no one is wearing masks but I feel the need to. Peer pressure doesn’t stop when you’re a grown up.

[TheHoneyBadger]

Random testing in schools seems such a sensible idea and good data for understanding community infection levels, percentage of asymptomatic cases etc even aside from basic safety