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.

Aye piggy but back then you could chuck a board duster at the kid chatting at the back without needing to go down to them!

I know.

Ah, fun times.

We have been told we are allowed to move around the room if we are wearing a mask, and kids have the option to wear a mask if we are doing so.

Not sure what to think about that, really. 2m distancing isn't possible in any of our classrooms anyway, though.

We've been told that circulating the classroom is absolutely fine, as long as you don't stay in one place for too long. The phrase was "don't linger face to face". So that throws the decision back to the teachers, so some will just wander around like normal and others will stay in our safe zones at the front. I predict that things will go horribly wrong at some point in the not too distant future.

I was thinking about the moving around the class thing and whether I’d just go ‘fuck it’ and start doing it. I think not, because if I had it and gave it to a kid in my class, I’d prefer to know that it was despite me sticking to the rules rather than breaking them.

But you can’t social distance from a lost Y7 who needs help reading their timetable I have found.

No circulating here. We have to stay in a box. I've spent ten years nagging trainees to move round the room like circling sharks. I don't think I can do this.

I don't think I can do this.

I will admit this only to you lot: I came home today and cried.

@noblegiraffe

I was thinking about the moving around the class thing and whether I’d just go ‘fuck it’ and start doing it. I think not, because if I had it and gave it to a kid in my class, I’d prefer to know that it was despite me sticking to the rules rather than breaking them.

But you can’t social distance from a lost Y7 who needs help reading their timetable I have found.

A y7 had a toilet accident today. My friend hugged her as she was so upset and then realised. It's so easy done.

I agree I need to stay in my box its hard though and I noticed myself moving out but accident even to shut the blinds. Will have to remember to delegate.

Virtual hug @CallmeAngelina

Anyone at a bus school?

What's happening on your buses and with your bus duties?

@CallmeAngelina

I don't think I can do this.

I will admit this only to you lot: I came home today and cried.

Oh Angelina big hugs. Xxxx

It is such a stress, it's so nice to get home to your own "safe place" but then it catches up with you
Circulating is not against the rules, here anyway, though. I think it's shocking some of you are in classrooms that don't even leave a 2m box at the front.

I came home today and cried.

Oh sweetheart :(

It’s shit. The whole thing really is just shit. I can tell it’s going to get on top of me soon as well. xx

@Piggywaspushed yes but kids aren't in until Monday. Bubbles being released one at a time.

Sorry to those having a hard time. My primary teaching today went much better than I dared imagine. Some kids had remembered terminology I taught them in February and not seen since. INSET at the secondary this morning. Line Manager (friend) and I sat SD. Hardly anyone else did. 2 colleagues in face coverings including when walking around outside when no kids in. I had mine in my pocket but didn't really need it today.

Y7 and Y12 in tomorrow. I'm doing a tour of the site with a y7 class. Their tutor is new so asked if she could join in too. Then planning for the term. Lots of my time as a music teacher is spent on extra curricular activities. I literally have one free lunchtime per term in normal times. Now it's going to be every day. What will I do? The "no singing" is so hard to follow...

@CallmeAngelina

I don't think I can do this.

I will admit this only to you lot: I came home today and cried.

(Hugs) I'm not going to say it's going to be ok, we all know meaningless platitudes don't help. What will help is hearing other people say things like this. I don't like to hear of a staff member being upset, but it shows that others are going though the same thing. It's ok to be worried, scared and totally overwhelmed. We shouldn't feel like we have to hide these fears, not just on here but in real life as well. Admitting things aren't ok shows you're human, and shows others it's ok to be human too.

@CallmeAngelina

People don't realise how stressful this is. Hug

I'm slightly less exhausted today, but I just can't seem to get my mood up about any of it. School have done the best they can, but it's just made a tough job tougher basically.

I have invented a new acronym for my SLT .

They have a TINPan attitude.

Anyone want to play guessing?

Thanks for all your back to school updates. I'm rooting for you all here from my viewpoint as a tutor.
I've decided not to do any face to face tutoring until October at least. I'm in a higher level "lockdown" area and I'm not convinced that things will remain at low enough levels. I don't want to potentially be the vector between many different families and therefore many different schools! ( Not sooo worried about getting it myself but as I'm over 50 with one chronic fatigue condition already I suppose I should take it seriously)
For those of you who have used different platforms for online teaching/meetings do you rate one as better than another? I'm thinking of investing in ms teams as it looks as if I'm going to be tutoring online more and for longer than I'd expected.
I like the idea of both me and a student being able to edit a document together in real time but don't know that much about it. I've used Google hangouts and zoom and have preferred zoom so far but ms teams is cheaper and has the collaborative document feature. Has anyone got any thoughts?

We get you Angelina. No minimising here. Not allowed. Staff has roolz.

You can collaborate on Google Classroom too.

I thought I had it piggy but ‘pan’ is shortened?

@CallmeAngelina sending a hug to you and everyone.

Just checked my email. Lesson observations have been planned for this term. WTF! Adults who are not in my bubble are supposed to stay 2m away. There is nowhere in my room when you can stay 2m away. Learning walks are book inspections are all planned in for the term too. WTAF!

Angelina. It’s perfectly understandable. I don’t think I’ve cried from stress as much in my entire life before as much as in these last 6 months. Got it down to a fine art, in fact! Find somewhere quiet, have a cry, blow my nose and get back out there. It’s shit.

Dh has plied me with wine and dd made fajitas for dinner and brought mine to me on a tray. Love 'em. If only someone digs out chocolate, I will cheer up a bit.

(genuine) to you all. xx