The Eighteenth Republic - More U Turns On The Horizon? - INSET Days and travel problems

[StaffAssociationRepresentative]

You are most welcome to this school staff support thread to get us through stressful times. It is meant for school staff only – a sort of room of requirement. Baiters, haters, goaders 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 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

Do not give ‘The Every twat for Themselves mob’ the staffroom password as a number of them are operating in an alternative reality.

No DfE muppets allowed

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 goad us then that is not allowed in the staffroom. Close the door quietly on your way out

Closer

Michael Rosen lived round the corner from me in London in the late 90's. I was never brave enough to gush at him but I did leave him a drink behind the bar in our local.

We have one HLTA that covers PPA for every 2 year groups, so they are all teaching 4 classes through the week - and not very happy about it.

What I'm not looking forward to is the requirement to set and feedback for remote work when any kids are self isolating. Apparently, as they aren't themselves off poorly, that will be the expectation. So we aren't blended learning, but need a plan for blended learning on an individual level for when this kind of thing arises.

Why not - dunno! I can only be 2m away from mine if I literally press myself against the wall like a pancake.

I’m so pissed off today. I’m very lucky with my school - our classes are small and rooms big enough (private) that I actually can keep 2m away from kids. However, I got a text from a colleague to warn me that a number of HoDs think that we should be willing to get close to kids whenever “best practice teaching” would mean working closely. So basically every time a kid needs help setting up a practical / seeing where they’ve gone wrong in a calculation / a quiet word about behaviour. By my reckoning that would put me as a close contact (within 1m) of 100 kids each day.

And when I talk to colleagues in my old school (state) it is clear that they will be essentially in the bubble of every single class they teach. So the new guidance means a single case in a kid could close a school due to the number of staff self-isolating!

Time to either cry or crack open the wine methinks!

I've just had a message on WA from our school Senco,

Sounds like the same senco I was chatting too a couple of weeks ago who included VAK on their lessons. I was

@phlebasconsidered

We're very different. We each exist as one bubble with me supervising my class during break and lunch. There's no supervisors or cover working across bubbles. Staff meetings are via teams and there's no inset together.

@phlebasconsidered

Why not - dunno! I can only be 2m away from mine if I literally press myself against the wall like a pancake.

That'd look good in a lesson observation

Ah weasel words.

Love Michael R, as we know!

That sounds good! I think primaries vary enormously. My sister's is being as shit as mine but our village primary is being very stringent. So much has to do with size and staff capacity.

It seems to me that those schools with more money, space and caring leadership will do a better job. Private schools especially. Another reason to rue academisation and this government.

I might actually do that if they even suggest an observation to prove a point!

@MrsHamlet

I love word of mouth, and Micheal Rosen. I got to sit next to him at a dinner once :)

It has to be David Crystal for me .

It seems to me that those schools with more money, space and caring leadership will do a better job. Private schools especially.

Yup. Because my school has the money to hire additional cleaning staff, the space to allocate a building to each year group and an SLT who are determined to give parents no reason to keep kids at home (unless they’re sick/isolating) we are far less likely to have to close than the school my nephew attends down the road.

Disadvantaged kids are being further disadvantaged by a government who have absolutely no idea what it is actually like in the average state secondary school.

Organised, part time school would be so much better for many teenagers than the random open/close/open/close which is likely to happen in schools where staff are unable to keep 2m away from kids. And, as they’ll all sit the same exam, even if grade boundaries are lowered in 2021 exams, those who have been able to attend school more often are going to be advantaged.

I think the level of distancing kept up by families will play a huge part in how often schools have to close. And unfortunately, the schools with more affluent catchments will have a higher proportion of families who still want/are able to social distance. I know that in my sister's disadvantaged area they have youth clubs operating pretty much as normal, with no social distancing, full contact sports, etc. I haven't seen anything like that near me (which doesn't mean it's not happening, but nobody in my social circle would send their kids to anything like that at the minute).

@SaltyAndFresh this will out me to anyone who knows me. But the first time I met David Crystal I uttered the immortal words "you're David Crystal" to which he replied "I know". Cringe. I was much cooler the second time round!
I may also have a slight linguistic crush on Ben Crystal.

So, have we all seen the DfE update?!

Errrr yes, you have. I just hadn’t noticed the EIGHT pages since this morning 🤣

I wonder if our special friends on FB have seen the latest update

Salty No! David Crystal is mine!! I met him at a book signing and may have called him a god

[quote MrsHamlet]@SaltyAndFresh this will out me to anyone who knows me. But the first time I met David Crystal I uttered the immortal words "you're David Crystal" to which he replied "I know". Cringe. I was much cooler the second time round!
I may also have a slight linguistic crush on Ben Crystal.[/quote]
They both appeared on the Hay podcast this year!

Love the DC appreciation on here.

OMG they have already updated the guidance

“ 28 August 2020
Removed a paragraph on what to do if a positive case is detected, as this information was out of date with the latest guidance at the time of publication.”

So the bit I quoted upthread about sending the bubble home has gone. Already.

Have you seen point 2 in the grey box - Prevention under Systems of Controls, seem to be pushing face coverings.

If anyone needs to know the differences from 8th August this website highlights them

www.diffchecker.com/1iH3iEPY

Does it basically say that key worker kids and those without tech can come to school even if they are meant to be isolating? Who is teaching them/looking after them?

Here they are quarantining whole classes, which pretty much confirms how impossible it is to stay apart (well it does to me, anyway, I’ve been awake since 3am ffs).