The Twentieth Republic - all back and its time to bubble bubble ...

[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, especially if you have not used the hand gel. Close the door quietly on your way out and put your mask on.

Just to clarify the other threads are saying they arent testing for cough +snot as they wrongly think it's not due to the snot.

@WhyNotMe40

We are still having full staff and departmental meetings - just SD at 2m ish separation.

Can I ask what your schools have said if your child has to self isolate due to contact with a confirmed case? So no symptoms, but 14 days, needs childcare??
My head implied he would expect staff to sort childcare out and we would need to be in, but I don't see how? Keyworker childcare or childminders etc wouldn't want an isolating child, surely?!

Good point @WhyNotMe40! That idea only works if your other half (if not a single parent!) can wfh OR we go into lockdown and schools remain open, which still only helps if other parent is not a key worker.

@noblegiraffe

Everything’s dystopian. School felt dystopian. It’s deeply unsettling.

It is. I hated the testing centre and feeling like a contagion.

Lots of universities are offering asymptomatic testing to students and staff...

Who would agree to mind a potentially-infected child for a day, never mind 14? It's only going to be parents who will do it. We (both t) would have to stay off in turns, we have no other option. I'd be annoyed if we didn't get paid but either way we'd have to be off.
It's actually easier if you have to isolate yourself as that would be covered.

We have a member of staff who had had five tests by the end of last term, mostly so they could visit friends/family. I just think that’s wrong.

@Mistressiggi

Who would agree to mind a potentially-infected child for a day, never mind 14? It's only going to be parents who will do it. We (both t) would have to stay off in turns, we have no other option. I'd be annoyed if we didn't get paid but either way we'd have to be off. It's actually easier if you have to isolate yourself as that would be covered.

That's what I was thinking. And it's not as if we can take holiday - and I can't see schools agreeing to unpaid leave even!

By the end of last term I'd had 3 tests, because the first 2 came back inconclusive. I'd never get a test if I didn't have reason to believe I had covid, there doesn't seem much point to that!

I have no idea what our policy is on childcare for an isolating child. Dh can work from home very easily, and his boss (who thinks if you aren't in the office you aren't working, despite evidence to the contrary) will just have to put up with it!! Dd is old enough at 10 to be able to cope with morning and after school without childcare, but we wouldn't leave her by herself all day.

@WhyNotMe40

We are still having full staff and departmental meetings - just SD at 2m ish separation.

Can I ask what your schools have said if your child has to self isolate due to contact with a confirmed case? So no symptoms, but 14 days, needs childcare??
My head implied he would expect staff to sort childcare out and we would need to be in, but I don't see how? Keyworker childcare or childminders etc wouldn't want an isolating child, surely?!

They will have to suck it up (but we won't get paid).

My large department had its normal meeting of 10 people in a classroom on Friday.

Of course, it's those of us who aren't able to WfH who get what on again in this respect as WfH can just carry on doing so with an isolating child.

We had a staff meeting via Teams on Wednesday. Department meeting with 11 of us in one classroom Wednesday afternoon. Year tutors meeting with 10 of us in a conference room. And I went to a defibrillator training in the conference room with 9 people on Friday. If I was infected I could take out 30 staff!!! I don't think I am, but still.

From this week, no meetings in person. We can have small group meetings but no more than 4 staff in a classroom, anything bigger needs to be done via Teams. Although, funnily enough, the Teams trainings are in person with up to 9 staff in a classroom 🤷

Our head has just put on the school sm that colds are fine to come in with, ffs.

Thing is, it's not fine! My sister and one of her children were very poorly with classic symptoms but her other two just had runny noses but were still positive. Why are we insisting that kids can come in germ filled? And why are we not adding the WHO symptons to the test list? I bet I get kids in that have been sick in the night but are still bundled in.

I am now enjoying an excema flare up.

Somewhere on this thread someone said they weren’t going to work because their child had been in contact with a confirmed case. I remember thinking the guidelines say you don’t need to do that unless they get a positive test or you develop symptoms.

On a side note if children misbehave covid safety wise parents have to come and collect them. Thinking that would be awkward if ds does it given my collecting him would mean covering my lessons. I’m a lone parent and the second number to call is my parents house but they’re in their 70’s and previously shielding.

Can’t sit him in my lesson because bubbles.

Hopefully he’s not daft enough for us to find ourselves in that position.

We've discussed the 14 day isolation thing actually as we are in a local lockdown; if you are in the north west you can't have anyone else providing care for your child, so surely a parent needs to stay off?

SLT didnt know how to answer that one.

There is no way in this world I would ask my 70yo, asthmatic MIL to look after my DC of they had to isolate. She is a carer anyway. My DF works FT.

Supposing you paid someone - if your dc then went on to become a confirmed case, that person you paid would also have to isolate, so might well expect payment for their lost time too.
We have five days each of paid emergency dependent leave, that might be used up quickly.

I think we only get 2 days per year

Two days here as well.

Two days here.

Just been breaking the news emphasising how self isolation will work for ds1 at school to DH.

Some teachers really don't help the profession, do they? I'm not sure starting threads about how hard we work and people don't realise is the way forward 🤦🏻‍♀️

@NeurotrashWarrior What did he say? DS was supposed to start nursery this week, obviously now potentially can't.

Oh, that is never a good idea.

Just a grim faced hmmm.

I've been trying to explain the implications all summer (he'd have to wfh so I can go to work on my days) but he kept saying "we'll deal with it when it happens." Just he appears to have no idea what "it" was!

He can wfh but can also have meetings 2-3 hours drive away. Obviously if it's the toddler, wfh is less easy...

If cases rise I can see some school staff constantly needing to take time off for dependants.

Nearly 3000 cases today...

We're following France. They went from 1000 - 9000 really quickly. Such is the way with exponential growth...

But that’s not going to happen here ohthe goats. All the people in the covid section said we’re not the same as Florida or France and Italy. And the hospital admissions rate isn’t going to rise and neither will the deaths because the virus is weaker and everyone who was going to die of it has died. Or something.

🤦‍♀️