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.

Shout insults back?!
I told my year 10 today (new to me and I never teach ks3 so they don't know me at all) that I was going to sit cross legged on the floor and meditate so they needed to be quiet. And I did, and they looked at me like I was crazy.
At the end, Darren (always in trouble; that kid) went out smiling. His support said he never smiles in English. He even read out. He never reads out.
I've done my bit now 🤣

Day one and exhausted here too 😴 My reception class were only in for half a day but confirmed by suspicion that despite my GP and occ health saying I can’t return unless I can social distance that is exactly what I’m expected to do as its bloody impossible with four year olds 😔 On my individual risk assessment as I’m CEV I’m also meant to stay at home if there are suspected cases and there’s three in our bubble already ffs 😬 day was rounded off nicely by a complaint from a parent that I’m not greeting the parents and my TA is doing so instead to minimise my social contact. None of the kids had coats so froze all day as we had to keep the windows open. Can’t do this 😔

I had bus duty today. Had to go check seatbelts on a coach with every seat full and no year group bubbles. Makes me wonder what the point of the rest of it is

@MrsHamlet

A message from Angelina - she's been banned for a week!

That is rubbish.

Oh and all the doors are now sticky with what I assume (hope?) is a layer of hand sanitiser:P

All our doors are propped open. Including the staff loo!

Also very tired here, being new and feeling like you have to be relentlessly cheerful and positive to other staff is knackering too.

All our doors are propped open. Including the staff loo!

So are ours! Last week a wee P1 chanced their arm and had to be chased out

A school very near us has a case. Last week things were definitely slipping but we're being much more rigid now.

Also, I had to have a gin before I made dinner. Christ almighty mine were horrific today.

Twitter feels annoying tonight. Too many people have "smashed it" or had a truly "awesome" day. I can't be doing with it.

First proper day back today. I was going to say it was manageable, but actually I didn't eat lunch or go to the toilet all day. Already aware of one teacher who is planning to leave as soon as she can line something else up.

The kids were trying their best, but it was all new to them, and it was clear our current policies have some gaps- e.g. we need a central stock of masks for those who lose/forget theirs, and we need a plan for wet break!

We also normally use parking in departments if there is a behaviour issue, but obviously we can't send students out to sixth form (etc) lessons as it mixes bubbles, and no-one has put a different plan in place.

Hmmm, my day was pretty ‘awesome’ to start with. It was lovely to have all the children in and they are mostly brilliant at following the new routines. Obvious joy in their faces at being together.
But then after observation the coughs were prolonged, the vomiting started, the feverish foreheads plain to see and the calls to parents began.
So fabulous if their school days stayed at the ‘awesome’ level, but it’s really only a matter of time in most areas.

I feel ill and it was only staff inset today. God help me this term.

Only just caught up, thought things would slow down but the thread seems quicker than ever!

Sorry Jenny to hear your news, it's tough at the best of times but must be doubly hard with everything else going on.

Had an email today from head of behavior to remind us to still sanction kids, but we can't give detentions anymore. Anyone got any good ideas? Phone call home is the only practical thing I can think of, but can sometimes be counterproductive in my school...

We've been told the phone call home will be super important.

Not sure how these phone calls home will take place when teachers can't get into offices that are at capacity.

We're still doing detentions and isolation (the old kind!)

So with the coughers, are your school(s) sticking to the it has to be for an hour or 3 episodes in 24 hrs (impossible for a secondary to observe)?

Thanks @TheHoneyBadger for the reassurance.
Also for clarification of bear/bare. I always avoided writing it down as I wasn't sure!
Any other primary teachers finding behaviour management trickier than pre Covid? Am just wondering if it's me, my new class or just the way things are after home learning.

We can't do detentions because of staggered breaks and lunches. It was weird today walking around at lunchtime seeing lessons going on!

My mate just texted to say two year groups now off for 14 days at his school. What a mess. I can see the threshold for sending kids home increasing until you only send home the kid on the same desk as them, and only then if they're not PP/keyworker.

We've moved isolation from a cupboard to the library and detention from a classroom to the hall. We still have on call too, but my number one tactic is looming threateningly... which I can't do.
We're recording everything and phoning home.

Gosh I'm fairly glad that our behaviour policy is usually that they miss out on something they like to do eg playdough or a special toy etc. At worst they have to be removed to a safe space but classrooms have that.

It must be a nightmare in secondary.

I'm struggling with not being able to move to the back row. They're pretty invisible now.

I'm considering a rotating seating plan where each row moves forward every week or so, so they all get a turn on the rows I can actually help.

noble you are a bloody genius!

@noblegiraffe

I'm struggling with not being able to move to the back row. They're pretty invisible now.

I'm considering a rotating seating plan where each row moves forward every week or so, so they all get a turn on the rows I can actually help.

This sounds like a really good idea, actually!

It's not sustainable for long, is it?

In general, not your seating idea.

It's not. We had to send two home today - we got calls from parents because child a in both cases was waiting for a test but siblings had been sent in. We then had to track down child b from the family. Which means setting work... sigh.