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.

@TheHoneyBadger really easy! I printed stickers with the sections on to stick in books and I just record the % they've scored on those to appease those who think everything has to be books or it didn't happen!

Great I will remember and pick your brain if I get stuck when I come to using it (ds will be using it too for history).

I need to become more organised and efficient. So many things to keep on top of now. I’ve never really been good with routines and systems and I need to be as I know it will reduce my workload in the long run and reduce stress.

I think teaching way outside of my specialism just felt like constant firefighting and keeping my head above water. Hoping that can change now I’m back in humanities.

Just dropping in to the primary staff room for a biscuit on my day off. Being part time is fab!
Does anyone have pupils off for quarantine? We have loads (one class is missing a third!!), either quarantining or saying they need to SI due to symptoms. V low rates of CV in our area, and coincidentally those saying they have symptoms are the same families that didn't come back in June/July as they felt it wasn't safe.
Nice way to get round having to de-register whilst ensuring that school still obliged to provide education.
We had all singing all dancing online provision in the summer - I think parents were expecting that to continue and made their decisions based on that. They're going to be disappointed.
My class had a few missing yesterday, no contact from parents to say why.
This term is going to be interesting!!

Most seem to be back at dc school but at least 3 families i know of waiting for results.
I had a runny nose in the night (i get allergies) and it was tickling my throat.
Sort of makws you wonder what causes the covid cough as in theory no runny nose.

Anyone seen this?
Mass regular testing in schools - if they want everyone back with no masks I think this is the only solution!

www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/sep/02/mass-weekly-covid-19-testing-of-population-to-be-trialled-in-england

Nope. I’m not being singled out for my job to have an invasive test done by an untrained HCP every week. No way.

I think it will be the saliva test by then

Who knows what hastily produced fuck up they’ll proclaim as the saviour of us all in time for Christmas? 🙄

Have I woken up too optimistic ?

@WhyNotMe40

Have I woken up too optimistic ?

No, on the contrary, I seem to have woken up with an extra dose of cynicism and jaded world-weariness. 🌧 🌧

Ignore me, I’m sure Operation Moonshit will be an unqualified success, just the same as all the other government strategies to tackle COVID 19.

"Operation Moonshit"

I would just do the test myself, it doesn't need to be done to you. It was unpleasant but momentarily so. Doing it to the children was much worse!

(My own children, not my pupils, in case anyone from UFT thinks I am mass-testing my classes.

I just can’t comprehend why they didn’t give the testing money and kits to local nhs services. We have doctors surgeries everywhere who could have sorted out a safe way of administering tests to people on their books who needed them and the results would be more reliable than us all trying to self administer them or do them on squirming kids.

Yeah but then their mates' companies wouldn't have got multi million contracts without tender....

Spit tests are the way to go. We took part (as a family) in a nasal flu vaccination research study, and had to all have regular nasal swabs and spit tests. The kids very quickly started refusing the nasal swabs (administered by a nurse and they SMARTED), but the spit tests were absolutely fine. The kids had special sponge lollies to chew on so they didn't have to dribble into a vial. Apparently just as good (just more expensive).

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/4013407-To-be-pissed-off-that-secondary-school-are-doing-next-to-nothing-about-Covid

WHY NO SOCIAL DISTANCING II

Tbf this sounds chaotic but y’know everything’s a bit of a mess of no one really knowing what’s going on.

The staggered lunch and break system might as well be magic as far as I’m concerned.

I've missed a few pages. I've felt that I was being mildly OTT in my concerns about full reopening. I no longer feel that way. We had three year groups in today. The bottlenecks at times, the proximity, the potential for cross-contamination - without stringent national minimum standards, this can't work. I'm really quite frightened now.

I've given up worrying. There is absolutely nothing I can do. Whether we get an outbreak in school will be totally down to luck. I've resigned myself that I WILL catch it (that is if I didn't have it back in march as I suspect, AND have immunity) and I'm not going to see my vulnerable family members until this is over.

I feel a bit spaced and disconnected from it all. Seeing kicking out time at DS’s school ( no space at all to spread out on the pavement t) and the totally non-distanced parents at the 3 primaries we drive past on the way home gave me a weird, dreamlike feeling, as if the past 6 months never happened.

We are supposed to note down any instances of ‘contact’ at work, in the playground etc, in case anyone needs notifying of a case. Pissing in the wind, with all the contact they have had and will have outside of school.

Just back from INSET day . No discussion really of covid.

School still filthy. Anyone who asked questions was made to feel as if they were being silly.

A lot of questions got 'we haven't thought of that'

The one way system has penned me in my room. There are three ways in but no ways out!!

Could have done without it effing raining today, for sure!

One of my colleagues asked a member of SLT why we were making no attempt at bubbling.
Ouch.

Did they get a Death Stare?

Well, we are making a vague attempt at bubbling, but lunchtime in the dining hall well and truly punctured every single one.