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.

The number of funfairs around here is ridiculous. Lots of ‘open air’ events, with stalls and rides and bouncy castles etc. There is no chance those are being cleaned adequately. It would be safer to eat your lunch in a KS1 toilet area than take your child to one of those types of places, but from what I’ve seen on social media, plenty of parents were going there in the the last couple of weeks of the holidays.

Shit me I can't do this job any more. Day 4 and I'm exhausted, mainly from the incessant day, lack of time and space to work (10 in the staffroom, max!) and constant emails of "stuff to do", and then add 9 sets of baseline/post lockdown tests and I feel like workload is spinning out of control already.

I might just have to get a different job. I can't do this and stay sane any more.

From my local news - 3 different schools, 3 bubbles having to close due to positive cases:

www.expressandstar.com/news/health/coronavirus-covid19/2020/09/07/27-pupils-self-isolating-after-confirmed-case-of-coronavirus-at-sandwell-school/

www.expressandstar.com/news/health/coronavirus-covid19/2020/09/07/90-children-self-isolating-after-confirmed-coronavirus-case-at-wolverhampton-school/

www.expressandstar.com/news/health/coronavirus-covid19/2020/09/07/90-children-self-isolating-after-confirmed-coronavirus-case-at-wolverhampton-school-2/

Don’t think it’ll be long until this happens to us all. All pupils back today and I wasn’t able to distance at all on duty or lesson changeover.

Yes. August was the 'big spend' - get everyone in the pubs, restaurants, etc spending their cash with some fake confidence that everything is normal - look schools are going back full time in September so it must be safe.

Rising infection rates were inevitable from that and school is just the place they're being picked up because people are having tests rather than just staying home.

It'll be late September/early October before we see the school effect on infection rates and probably a few weeks after that to see increases, if there any, to death rates.

Guyfawkes - it's a cliche but we're all in it together and it won't just be you if the workload is unsustainable - it will be everyone and something will have to give.

I'm feeling really glad (despite the poverty lol) to be part time and to have spread my hours over more days than necessary. On Wednesday I am teaching virtually all day (I start a little later) and a duty spread over three different blocks and a further part of the school for the duty. There may not be enough gin in the world.

I suspect when kids try to identify who they have for history they will say oh we have sweaty faced woman lol

What a fucking day. Behaviour is off the scale., usual lack of will from SLT to support (there's no sanctions to put in place , person responsible for putting Covid behaviour policy in place is quarantined and not yet available).
Lots of chn complaining of feeling unwell today so I flagged it up, making it clear that I thought they were malingering but as sore throats were mentioned......Phase leader popped in to check them out. V annoyed to be there and tried to make me feel silly for flagging it up asked 'what would you do if there wasn't Covid?' Well nothing obvs, but that's irrelevant because there IS Covid now.
Furious

I think the slt have arranged my timetable and that of the very pregnant lady in my department in such a way as I'm already teaching most of the groups she was meant to have and she's left with a skeleton timetable that I could potentially add to mine when she goes on maternity leave taking me up to 0.6.

I actually need this financially and have penciled in what the timetable would look like and it would be ok for me but I'm seeing how stressful this half term is before I come to any decisions and start offering myself for anything for the next half term.

Roberts I had a sore throat-er today with only a couple of hours till the end of the day. I said try drinking some water, bare in mind I get a sore throat every first week back etc and said unless they felt worse they should be ok but tell 'mum'/whoever when you get home. Don't know if I made the right call but given we were in the midst of a power cut student services would have been run off their feet trying to get paper registers around the school. Agree the what if there was no covid question is irrelevant

Could an english teacher tell me once and for all is it, 'bare with me', or, 'bear with me'? I'm embarrassed to say I've made it all the way to 44 without being sure.

Bear - you're bearing whatever the problem/query is together, I think!

We certainly don't want collective nudity 😂

It’s ‘bear’. As in carry. You’re asking them to carry the pause along with you.

Disclaimer am not English teacher but humble librarian!

Today was exhausting and so much time spent on handwashing, hoping to be able to switch to hand santiser for some of it because its eating into the day so much.

Unsurprisingly, 1 adult supervising 60 children in 2 classrooms was stressful and ridiculous. Plus didnt feel overly safe, need to write an email and dont know how to word it.

@TheHoneyBadger I always thought it was ‘bare’ but then doubted myself the other day and never got round to asking anyone!!!

@CallmeAngelina hope you’re still reading and you are ok! See you soon.

First day with kids - all only in tutor time basically and their zones for break. Obviously it went well today but that’s because teachers weren’t moving about.... or kids between rooms really. I think tomorrow is going to be interesting. I’m exhausted and haven’t done anything and still need to plan lessons for tomorrow. Just want to drop into bed....

Bear!

We've got three self isolating because they went to a sports club with a confirmed case.

One y11 deregistered to home school.

One pupil (who I was under the impression was isolating after a holiday) was back today and told me they didn't have a calculator because they had been on holiday until Saturday.

So absolutely no regard for the start of term. I suggested Amazon Prime as a method of passing the equipment check (probably skating the line there but I'm so done with parents who can't manage to sort equipment, they are not year 7).

My DD told me she thought of walking along hand in hand with a bear to help her remember.
She has quite quirky ways of remembering things but when small was easily offended by illogic. She wouldn’t accept a frog jumping along the number line because “frogs don’t do that”.

Bear it is! Thank you

My embarrassing thing when I was younger was that I would mispronounce words because I was an avid reader but had no one who those words would come up in conversation with back then so had never heard them aloud.

I have recently seen a meme that says don't mock people for mispronouncing words - it means they read a lot. I thought it was just me.

MrsHP could you bear (see that?) to wake up early? I felt the same on Thursday night and just could not find the energy so decided to set the alarm earlier instead. It's quicker when your brain is rested.

Thank you borntobe's dd. I will think of having a bear with me in future and it will stick. With memory tricks like that she'll do great

I am shattered and we’ve not even started teaching proper lessons yet.

Since schools in our LEA went back last Wednesday at the earliest, we have:
2 bubbles at one secondary in the city shut.
1 bubble at another secondary.
1 bubble at a primary.
1 entire private sixth-form bubble shut.
2 bubbles at a primary on the adjoining LEA shut.

O am a bit relieved to hear others are shattered when not on full timetable yet - I thought it was me being a complete flake! I had to have a sit down at home for half an hour before picking my own kids up from after school club...
Tomorrow we will have all years back. This term is just going to be too much.

Hi all. Been too exhausted to even keep up with the thread much. I too feel like I can't do this anymore. Literally not a minute to stop for a breath. Nowhere to work, classes full to the brim.

Honey I'm really hoping you've sent emails asking your HT to bare with you You might get a great timetable then.
I struggle with "hear hear" or is it "here here" when I Gree with a post. I think it's the first one but not 100%...

Yes, it's "hear, hear" as it's short for "I hear you, I hear you."

Our poor NQT had got the year 10s that nearly broke me as an NQT when they were year 8.

I've got the year 11s that we're so horrific to me as year 9s that they got taken off me 😂

Both groups it's the social dynamics that make them tough, on a good day they'll crack on. But most days they rock up already shouting insults at each other. So if anyone has advice for such things it's welcome!

@GuyFawkesDay

Shit me I can't do this job any more. Day 4 and I'm exhausted, mainly from the incessant day, lack of time and space to work (10 in the staffroom, max!) and constant emails of "stuff to do", and then add 9 sets of baseline/post lockdown tests and I feel like workload is spinning out of control already.

I might just have to get a different job. I can't do this and stay sane any more.

Same. Today was doable with a PPA but full days tearing around, cleaning and being kicked out of my room are way too much. I will be dead on my feet again by Friday.