The Nineteenth Republic - DfE guidance issued August Bank Holiday Weekend!

[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

We're entitled to 3 non contacts but get 4. Which is nice but they like to remind us of this fact every time anyone raises workload as an issue. With the number of extra toilets and sinks and laptops we've bought this year, I think we can kiss that bonus free goodbye next year.

We’re on a 2 week timetable so no need to ever round up. Instead of being due 2.5 frees you get 5 per fortnight as a full timer.

I’m 0.4 so they happily round up duties etc to 0.5 which obviously I don’t complain about that but when they also expect you to attend every meeting, inset etc it begins to rub

I'm intrigued by the idea of a 4-day working week. If I'm 0.4, does that mean I would continue to be 0.4? So I'd work a bit less than 2 days a week for the same pay?

I cannot see the Government doing this! Well, not for teachers, anyway. And even if they did, you could guarantee that they'd find a way to twist it so the 5th day became our PPA.

Oh God I would love a sabbatical. I'm owed 2 years!
Off to Google Lamy ink and various pens. Whilst dreaming of sabbatical.

Outing, but I did a career break to do my PGCE. I wanted to have a job to go back to if I decided teaching wasn't for me.

I have a black pen, a blue pen, a pink pen and a green pen. Students are fascinated by fountain pens and touch typing, apparently. I knew I learned something useful at school apart from how to get in a sports car without showing my knickers.

Omg Hamlet, we are of an age! My secondary had a big room full of typewriters. All the girls did it. I only got as far as asdf;lkj without looking. Our teacher had a big poster of Edwward Woodward as the Equalizer on the front wall and she would declaim "Eyes on the Equalizer!" while we typed.

I love my fountain pen. The nib only writes for me now. It is moulded to my scrawl.

@Piggywaspushed

I do know two people who took sabbaticals. One has left teaching and one did not come back to our school but went to a private school. The school really gained nothing from it.

One of our lovely MFL teachers is taking a sabbatical from Easter. I know for a fact he will not come back. He is a brilliant young teacher with three years experience but feels all the joy of the job has been suck out of him.

Yes, that's really why these two did it. Two very talented teachers, unappreciated by SLT.

I can’t write in a fountain pen. But I can touch type like a demon. I like to impress the kids by continuing to type near perfectly whilst looking at them and having an unrelated conversation 🤣🤣🤣

On a far more worrying note, I am not sure what smart clothes fit me anymore. I will have to spend tomorrow sorting out my wardrobe

Anyone fancy filling in the Bingo card?

Ohh Staff, I’ve just done the wardrobe sort (and even rescued some trailing hems!)

Just been looking up the latest on the sabbatical which was spring 2019. It seems to have been quietly dropped.

@Piggywaspushed

Anyone fancy filling in the Bingo card?

where is the bingo now? I looked at Smile's thread in AIBU and thought it is a matter of time. No point putting proper work stuff there

And i need to sort out shoes .....

The Wish I Wasn't A teacher thread: Jupp would love it.

read to the end of this and it is like listening to Clav!

www.theguardian.com/world/2020/aug/30/covid-19-forcing-schools-in-england-to-juggle-pupil-and-financial-safety

Staff: none of my smart clothes fit me any more. I had to do a primary run last week.

Luckily I think my shoes will do until I need winter boots :)

Need to do some serious laundry tomorrow though.

*Primark

I'd like a sabbatical. I don't quite know what I'd do with it, possibly some sort of masters? Definitely something where I didn't have to be the teacher though.

I had a whole cpd course in 19/20 and loved it. There were 8 full days where I was out of school, with 16 other maths teachers plus 2 tutors, talking and thinking about maths. Every time I came back invigorated and desperate to try out some of the ideas. That was only possible because the course was fully funded. I believe the school had to pay, then when I completed the course the money was refunded, with an extra couple of hundred to help cover the cost of supply (although my lessons were covered by internal cover supervisors). I wish I could have something like that every year. Like a local authority maths cpd group. Even if it was after school I would be prepared to go to it once a half term or something. It would be far more useful than the generic cpd we get internally. The last external cpd person who came in (about 6 years ago) was talking about boys underachievement and basically told our head to leave the maths department alone because our results spoke for themselves and if it's not broken don't try to fix it, lol. We liked him, the head not so much.

I'd kill for a sabbatical. I'm over 25 years in. I think it'd rejuvenate me nicely.

I did my wardrobe sort last Wednesday (ahead of the game 😉) so I could take anything that didn't fit to my mum's charity shop when I went to visit her on the Thursday. I now have new trousers (with pockets!!!), 3 new dresses (with pockets!!!) and some new tops. Because none of the stuff I had from last year still fit. I've gone DOWN a dress size since last year!!!!!😁

I see that 'Get Off' is still firmly fixed their 'high horse'