The Twenty-first Republic - All back but for how long? Why is Big Gav still in post?

[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.

Don’t gather in groups of more than 6 once term starts.

Unless you are in a classroom.

Urgh hand, face, space again.

The government don't seem to realise that 17-19 year olds attend schools. That's the age range of my y13 students.

WE want to expand testing to idenify people who are not just positive but identify more people who are negative.

Maybe we should just focus on sorting out the testing we’re doing at the moment before we start expanding it.

Wonder when they'll publish the details of the law. Organised sports OK, but does that include ballet/ yoga / drama? MN's gonna be busy!

@TheOnlyMrsW we always have loads of applicants for student librarian - they really do love it, even in secondary!

OMG Johnson is hopeless.

Whitty said basically if school numbers rise they will do something..

I thought Whitty might address the ‘other respiratory viruses’ issue there.

Peston not so subtly slipping in breaking international law there.

Did Johnson answer Peston about the international law breaking? DD distracted me.

There were a lot of words. I don’t know if they answered the question.

Something about him seeing differently, and not being able to see a barrier in the Irish Sea and a safety net underneath to protect the Union.

I might need to rewind as I zone out a bit once he starts speaking.

Closest high school to me has closed their Yr 11 today due to a positive case. That makes 3 high schools and 2 primary schools closed since Monday.

That was a bit of an odd moment, when he was talking about successful school opening. 99.9% of schools are opening showing trust in the government. Like the 0.1% hadn’t bothered to open because they didn’t think it was safe rather than opened and then had to shut again.

Yes @RafaIsTheKingOfClay, and didn't he also say 89% of children back at school? I thought that was quite an admission. Officially, everyone's meant to be back! The % of children who've been medically advised not to return is tiny, isn't it?

Yes. I believe having an 89% attendance was what ofsted used to put in our reports as having an issue with persistant truancy. Obviously that’s now a good thing.

I'm intrigued by the rule in my school that in some depts when different year group bubbles are in a room the desks have to be wiped down. But not in my dept and no one knows why.

Also completely impossible to be 2m from kids in 3 of the rooms I'm in, and in one of them the projectors broken. Damn it

4 kids from our local traveller site (it's massive) off with confirmed covid, but as they've not actually made it in yet their bubbles are still "safe". Other non confirmed kids from the same site still merrilly being sent it. I know they haven't been distancing- they're all more or less 10 families and they spent the whole summer letting the kids roam around together.

There is no common sense. None. So i've got one off in my class. Their sibling is off. But their cousins are in.

First day done. So lovely to see the pupils again, especially my form group (I've had them for 3 years already).

Only two subject lessons to teach, both of which were mainly admin/expectation setting, although I did do some algebra with Year 8 (and set them homework too ). It's going to take a bit of time to get used to teaching in front of a class again!

I think the rules in my school are that desks need wiping down if a class from a different bubble is coming in next, which shouldn't be too often for KS3/4. So I probably don't need to clean as much as I have been doing today.

I'm glad to be back but I'm not sure how sustainable things are.... my head is mashed after one quietish day!

I am really looking forward to seeing the police breaking up the large groups of teenagers who gather in various spots in my village... I am sure the teens will think it makes perfect sense.

My lovely year 13 class commented today on the fact that they can mix in school and outside until Monday when mixing whilst studying Hamlet is okay but mixing outside is not. Except on the bus, of course.

I imagine the police are looking carefully at rotas for next week, shall we say....

Did anyone else notice them say this today (BBC report):

"Vallance reminds people that young people, too, can get ill for long periods - and that other countries have shown that prevalence among younger people "soon changes to spread amongst older people"."

The messaging's certainly changed on that one, hasn't it?

@Piggywaspushed

I am really looking forward to seeing the police breaking up the large groups of teenagers who gather in various spots in my village... I am sure the teens will think it makes perfect sense.

This happens here even without lockdown. The traditional way of dealing with it is to disperse and then meet up elsewhere. I believe the current method is to just disperse and then meet up in the same place you were just given a 48hr dispersal order banning you from.

[quote noblegiraffe]Did we all miss Gav announcing Saturday school and longer school days or was it just me not paying attention?

www.standard.co.uk/news/education/schools-reopening-uk-gavin-williamson-coronavirus-lockdown-catch-up-weekend-classes-a4541981.html[/quote]
Time for that man to put his money where his mouth is.

That's my first use of the quote function- so easy!

We're now only wiping desks at the start of P3. So they can touch the desks another bubble has touched (sanitised hands, but they'll touch their face/desk/pens/face/desk/etc during the hour) but still not the textbooks used by a different class in the same bubble.

Our remote provision is going to be a steaming pile of shit. The 'year 10 topic' this term is going to be one they half-covered with me last year, then did again during lockdown, and we're planning to go over in October. Meanwhile, they'll be missing lessons on their current topic, which they haven't done before and won't do again.

I'm disappointed, we did quite well in lockdown I think.

I think I'm going to have to do my own thing and put stuff on the homework system for my classes, more work for me but I don't think my conscience can take it otherwise.

This is a heartening thread:

Why is Covid affecting schools? www.mumsnet.com/Talk/coronavirus/4018934-Why-is-Covid-affecting-schools