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

That letter is outrageous. It should be reported in the press. The head should be sacked!

We have another case and no bubbles have popped. My husbands school has one case and year group have all been sent home. School says its following PHE advice.
Which is right?

Confirmed case at my school. Pupil whose Dad was positive with the virus and the child still went to school

OFFS!!!

That letter

I think most U4T have gone quiet because they got what they wanted, as did the media.

But, yeah, I have seen a few posters suggesting kids should go to school even if symptomatic. Because they don't get very ill.

Seven people from Maine have now died who all went to an illegally large wedding. Maine was almost literally NZ before this.

Our Pupil Zero and entire family have been seen out and about in the village!

Is there any mileage in reporting a poster (Scots in name) for repeatedly posting disruptive false and misleading claims, albeit in quite a scientific sounding way? I doubt it. In fact am sure it wouldn't get anywhere. It's like she's being paid to sow fake news on every thread.

I'm getting quite annoyed.

I hear you, august. I think she may eventually be evicted from data thread, possibly by a tactic of being ignored.

Maybe @BigChocFrenzy will step in decisively @Piggywaspushed ... rubs hands in anticipation..... I need something to cheer me up tonight!

I've put the letter link on my Twitter. I think it should be reported in the media: I'm stunned that the head thinks it's okay to blame school staff when a) they weren't breaking any rules and b) there's no actual proof or was spread at the party. It's disgusting.

And re: the letter, even if, EVEN IF, it was spread at the party, for that Head to give such a public bollocking to his staff is outrageous.
I hope they all resign!

Me too, @CallmeAngelina. Except I wouldn't hand my notice in now, I'd wait until the last moment to make it as stressful as possible to employ someone else in the run-up to Christmas.

Can I just say a big thank you to all the TAs out there. The TA in my year 7 classes is totally saving my sanity keeping on top of my SEN kids and letting me know if they're struggling so I can differentiate further. We normally have a 'nurture' group but they're all mixed in this year so it's more differentiation than usual.

My TA is surely an angel sent down from above, and she is not paid nearly enough for the work she does.

Confirmed case too, today, at my daughter’s primary but not in her year group/bubble, so I don’t have a huge amount of info. There will still be dickhead posters who would blame the teachers for this though.

My stomach is tied in knots. Am cracking here trying to juggle everything!

Feel disheartened, the NE may be in local Lockdown from Friday.

Not hugely clear what that means but I think schools are remaining open.

Which is fine but it is all rather shit.

And can I please say if you’re wearing a visor or mask please fucking speak up! I actually have good hearing but I cannot hear you whispering from behind a sound barrier.

I had a particularly whispery ta today in 2 of my lessons and strain as I did I couldn’t hear more than one word in 5.

Anyway! Needed to get that off my chest lol.

Somehow we still have no confirmed cases but 40+ waiting for results and plummeting attendance.

Off to check out Noble’s latest thread.

I'm confused as to how effective a local lockdown would be. I mean, how different from what we have at the moment.
If schools continue to run (and all the associated services), and shops and pubs remain open (even if the latter have a curfew), then who's locking down? What is the point of non-essential shops being open if the general public aren't supposed to be going out and about?

Me too @NeurotrashWarrior. My children came home with letters from our council pleading for us to obey the voluntary lockdown measures so we don’t have an official lockdown. We will find out Friday whether it becomes mandatory.

School reminds me so much of the start of March it’s frightening.

I kind of think you should be able to exclude a child whose parents send them in when they know dad has coronavirus. They’ve proven themselves to be unsafe to be part of that community.

I know people will disagree and why but ffs! Deliberately putting the whole community at risk is ‘beyond the pale’.

I have to say that I've quite enjoyed being back at school this week (after being unwell last week) but oh my goodness! The kids have completely forgotten all the expectations of school! We're having to go right back to basics (how to write the date and underline it/to use a pencil for maths work/how to join up, how to line up properly and walk in quietly) over and over again.
We're gaining some time through not having things like Assembly, but wasting so much more in handwashing and going to the cloakroom in tiny groups etc...

Yes the meaning of "lockdown" seems to be subtly changing doesn't it? It might be effective if there was a reasonable way of policing the 'don't meet with other households' part, but 🤷‍♂️

I’m mostly enjoying it too.

Today I relived the realisation that you should never ever assume year 7 can understand or produce even the simplest of graphs.

The open door policy is also amusing at times and reassuring that actually I’m not a bad teacher. Some people are screaming and shouting like madmen and seemingly not noticing that we can hear them or that the more they shout the worse the kids behave.

We do have a certain ‘way’ at our school and our kids don’t respond well to screaming and shouting.

I spent my duty picking up litter and chatting to year 10s trying to encourage them to at least not be huddled in scrums around a mobile phone. Which is more than most staff were bothering with. Including our super fantastic new head of teaching and learning who seems pretty bloody useless with kids and is offering us sucking eggs gems via email as if they are revelations.

I’ve reached a bizarre Teflon coated place of ceasing to worry about things I have zero power over. I’m either bang on with this or it’s a sign I’m about to have some interesting version of a nervous break down.

@Piggywaspushed

Confirmed case at my school. Pupil whose Dad was positive with the virus and the child still went to school

OFFS!!!

yes - so bloody selfish! That dad should be named and shamed in a school bulletin!

@CallmeAngelina

I'm confused as to how effective a local lockdown would be. I mean, how different from what we have at the moment. If schools continue to run (and all the associated services), and shops and pubs remain open (even if the latter have a curfew), then who's locking down? What is the point of non-essential shops being open if the general public aren't supposed to be going out and about?

Yes a mate had pointed out we can go to the same pub but not meet outside!