The Twenty-second Republic - the DfE have no idea, Gav MIA, bubbles in and out

[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

They couldn't do that; spd is a serious pregnancy issue. Women can end up in wheel chairs due to the severity of it. There are a lot of maternity laws there for this very reason.

You can always leave it off your cv. You were taking a career break to have a baby.

And how could you get a terrible reference for being pregnant with spd during a pandemic that made your job more physically demanding than foreseen?

If the "circuit breaker" happens, and schools remain open, a period of increased mitigations would make sense, eg masks for all at secondary at least, all schools obliged to end corridor crowding, supervision whilst on buses.

And strict rules for students returning - curfews, limits on numbers gathering together.

Not saying these could or would happen, just that they'd be sensible!

Otherwise as others have said, is anything going to be achieved?

Maybe blended learning as a circuit breaker?

colours you’ll get another job. Look after yourself first and foremost

ColourMeBlue, I remember the horror of SPD when I was pregnant with dc1, dh had to lift me into and out of chairs in late pregnancy. Do you have a girdle? I found that one helped a bit, to "hold" everything into place better.

I've hidden the thread about redundancy for state school teachers. The usual posters with their axes to grind.

Blended learning requires several periods of a fortnight therefore not a short period of time, surely? How could schools possibly plan and implement a new rota system at such short notice?

I’m probably worrying too much. My absolute ideal would be a permanent part time post for next September, followed by permanent full time (more likely) followed by supply ... I’d rather not do supply unless I really have to! Thank you for the support I wish I could relax and enjoy my time off but I can’t!

Just been binge reading this thread while arguing on others...
Thinking of you all. This is just shit and so fed up of the bashing threads.
Colour please don't feel guilty. You and your baby are what is important.

Independent sage said schools =0.5 i think.
The outbreaks in schools were higher than other places (not sure about care homes but obviously schools affect care home staff as parents).
Even if schools didnt go back monday you still have 2w of infection then who they infect.
12% of kids off anyway, wonder if that will grow with people thinking there is going to be a lockdown.

We were on a weekly plan.

This made me laugh though...
How could schools possibly plan and implement a new rota system at such short notice?

Since when have we ever been given enough notice?!

does yr partner have basis for authority on the issue

The only thing my partner has authority on is the planting plan for his allotment

He's quite high up in local authority transport planning/policy (or something... not entirely sure?) though, and he's known about some lockdown bits earlier than has been publicised.

colourme I can pass on a pregnancy girdle if you'd like? It was passed on to me. It supports your tummy a bit too.

I also still use an si belt sometimes. That was more because I over stretched joints and had bad advice post pregnancy and knackered my si joint.

I can really recommend the MUTU system to support post (and I think pre?) pregnancy. It costs but I've really enjoyed it. As we have to do online stuff anyway it was handy during lockdown.

I think the extra hormones can sometimes make pregnant women extra worryable. You naturally want to protect your baby. It's also the uncertainty isn't it, which is magnified so much at the mo!

A lot of my anxiety was actually because the Head at the time never did risk assessments for pregnant staff. In an sen school with children with v challenging behaviour. Just knowing someone is thinking about the environment and how you feel and trying to somehow minimise risks is very mentally supportive.

Quite a lot of Sen schools did either a fortnight or a week on week off blended learning in June/July.

It worked really well, and vulnerable staff could wfh on supportive things.

Zero cases in the schools I know of, though community cases were v low then.

@TheHoneyBadger

You can always leave it off your cv. You were taking a career break to have a baby.

And how could you get a terrible reference for being pregnant with spd during a pandemic that made your job more physically demanding than foreseen?

All pregnancy illness is discounted and not included on your record I was told by the union.

Thanks so much neuro

I’m a worrier anyway ... not so much with non work related things but I do fret about work.

I know but there is nothing to stop them putting another school off employing me by making disparaging remarks about my teaching skills or similar ...

Just a thought colour but are there accommodations that would allow you to work? As in is it a case of either they change x, y and z or you will have no choice but to continue being signed off? Your doctor can specify the conditions needed to return to work and the school decides whether they can meet that.

I don’t think it’s quite as straightforward as that.

Firstly I am worried about being in trimester 3 and coronavirus: in theory the answer to that is to maintain social distance from students and colleagues but in practice as we all know that’s near enough impossible.

Secondly I’m in a lot of physical pain and discomfort from SPD and flare ups in my back and pelvis. It’s exacerbated by walking but then I can’t exactly not move at all for the next two months

Thirdly is exhaustion, I’m anaemic and am on meds for this but even small exertions (going up a flight of stairs) leave me breathless and shaky.

So I’ve been going in feeling like this. But then I had a very unpleasant incident last week and I don’t feel I can any more. I am drained, very upset and very anxious now. Part of me thinks ‘sod the lot of you’, part of me feels rotten for year 11 especially.

colour, that sounds just awful! Could your union facilitate a proper "can adjustments be made to accommodate medical problems and also reasonable expectations" type meeting?

Ohthegoats, I probably sounded quite rude questioning your DP's "authority", apologies.

Yes I know schools haven't had notice of many things but surely implementing some entirely different kind of rota, at eg a week's notice, would be ridiculous? (Watch this space!)

Colourofblue one accommodation for you could be working from home, rather than just being off sick. That way you could produce as much as you could for your year 11s before stopping entirely. (As working at home with rest breaks etc would probably be easier). There are people allowed to work from home as result of Covid risk assessments so why not you?

Sorry to hear you're having a hard time colourofblue.
Don't worry about getting signed off - I've been signed off with depression, and another time with spd - was on crutches and really struggling. It has never affected my ability to get another job when I wanted.

Can I ask secondary teachers who use SMH / satchel - I've been thinking about providing work to those (individuals currently) who are self isolating. I asked my HOD if I should provide work, and he said no until it is a group due to in school contact tracing. As they don't want to pile on workload.
BUT - I've noticed on SMH that they now have teacher timetables, and you can post links or comments or documents into the lesson on there. I was wondering if I just linked to a relevant Oak Academy, posted my PowerPoint, or even just commented what the lesson was on - that might work? But I don't know what the students would see.
Does anyone have any knowledge about this?

This sounds awful, but I don't mind being in school throughout any lockdown. I think parents will keep kids off, classes will be small, and we'll just link to Oak for online learning. If we're in class teaching, we've been told by our head that we won't have to be available via email for parents doing stuff at home. It's a shit 'positive', but I was mostly concerned about workload chaos this academic year, and it might not be as bad as I was expecting. Key to this is that our parents are supportive of any choices we make re online provision, so anyone external can spin if they think we're not doing what they think we should be doing.

Oh colour

In normal circumstances the last two points could be enough to send anyone home.

Plus the virus. The pregnant teacher at work has been wfh but has a role where she can do a lot of that. I think she's due the end of this term so hasn't been given a class. She's been coming in a bit to do her role and the rest from home.

It sounds like being very open about how you really are and the demands of your role to your Gp is really important. They may make the decision for you. My GP did.

It could also help to speak to your union for advice - it's possible they have some advice or ideas for you or may suggest OC health to advise. Who may suggest all manner of adjustments or that you should be at home.

You need to prioritise your own health and your baby, and mh can sometimes impact birth outcomes or even how you feel afterwards.

There won't be a gap in service if you are signed off, but hopefully they'd accommodate wfh? Or adjusted duties / role. WRT a reference, they can't mention anything discriminatory. That's where speaking to your union could help.

When I say Who may suggest all manner of adjustments or that you should be at home I mean either signed off but more likely to be wfh.

I cannot teach my subject remotely. Ofqual did nothing at all to address this, whilst merrily removing history units and Lit texts. I am terrified of any sort of lockdown making things even worse.