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

It’s coughing a lot for more than an hour or 3 bouts of coughing in 24 hours according to the guidance.

God knows where they find them.

The head did say she had to interview some very interesting candidates for vacancies over the summer term. Apparently there isn’t great choices at the bottom of the barrel

Thanks noble, not quite up to that level and no sign of a cough at all now. Thanks for the info re asthmatics mini.

We should definitely be able to run around shouting willy bum head, especially if Boris is in the vicinity.

Just stuck my head round the door to share this with you: the marvellous Dillie Keane She can always be relied on to tell it like it is

Excellent, OnlyLivingBoy.

The head did say she had to interview some very interesting candidates for vacancies over the summer term. Apparently there isn’t great choices at the bottom of the barrel

HoneyBadger, this should be shared with the heinous tossers on other threads who think anyone without a "can do" attitude should be sacked or those with the vaguest relationship to education should be fast-tracked into teaching.

Are they beating a path to your door? Thought not.

:o

@RafaIsTheKingOfClay re the kids on the bus. Perhaps just contact the school about the masks. We know we can’t do more about the year groups mixing once left school, but we would definitely remind students and parents, possibly every week in our notices type thing. It might not make everyone do it, but if some are genuinely confused then it might help?

I might MrsH. I just didn’t want to be THAT member of the public who complains when schools have enough on their hands.

I still need to think about the issue of getting home once I go back though. In reality leaving anywhere between 2.45 and 5.30 is going to involve bus loads of kids who haven’t been practicing SD all day.

Just here to pop in and say hello. It’s been a long week and it’s not Friday yet.

How are your schools communicating with staff? We have had a bubble closed today but I only know because a parent from my class read it on facebook and asked me about it.

We're getting emails - partly to ask if there's anyone who's had significant contact with case who hasn't yet been spoken to - but am not sure of timescales.

Another positive case in my school/ class I teach ( due to being part time I'd not met the child). Because of seating plans ( which are being used for track and trace) I've been left with a handful pupils that sit near the front/ were identified as not being in contact.

Fellow secondary colleagues, can I ask if at your schools, you too have parents not only complaining about their CAGs but also launching legal action against the school?

We have a handful of parents going after us because they are unhappy with their CAGs or mock grades but also refuse to sit the Autumn exam.
These are students who have the grades they need for their university place by the way and have got in. They are also their target grades or above. All of them.

It has been a nightmare gathering two years worth of data across multiple subjects and also trying to navigate GDPR as the students are 18 yet it’s the parents asking for this but not understanding we need the permission of their 18 year old.

One parent even sent in a clipping of the Independent that was claiming students could appeal and go for their predicted UCAS grade, which of course is not in the guidance and not what the exam boards are following.

The government has truly hung is out to dry.

Am on my knees trying to juggle all of this and settle into new procedures that are time consuming and trying to look after the current students we have!

Can these parents not see how unreasonable they are being!?

Thankfully not as far as I know. That sounds horrific.

Chloe, have a look at ALGI in Facebook.

It's an organised movement....

I was coughing in the night last night, but I'm still not totally over the cold that I tested negative with so I've put it down to that and asthma. I couldn't find a working blue inhaler in the house to see if that helped. No coughing in the day today. Found a blue inhaler in my work desk. Hopefully just a one off.

I have a child in my tutor group off with a positive parent by the sounds of it. Loads waiting for results for themselves or family members.

We're taking bets (not really) on which bubble pops first. Me and HoD have both said year 8.

I am not starting a whole thread to be told I am frothing/ doom mongering so I shall ask here...
DS plays football. Not great Covid security but it's allowed. Football training weekly on playing fields. Ditto.

Coach has messaged to say indoor training tonight. Is this allowed??

Kid coughing all afternoon- sent to medical (already been earlier in day for another teacher and sent back to class), sent back by medical. Kid just come back from two days off I'll (headache, dry cough, sore throat). Fuck this shit.

Ditto. If anything will make me resign, it's having clearly symptomatic kids consistently sent back to my lessons. They've coughed for half an hour in my lesson but not in the two seconds you're assessing them, so you send them back? Cheers, seriously.

I can’t remember seeing anything in the guidance that suggests it isn’t OK, Piggy

It’s 6 inside or out unless there’s an exemption and organised football would be an exemption. There might be some sort of covid secure guidelines but I think they are just suggestions rather than law.

Any chance he’s already had a test monkey?

@RafaIsTheKingOfClay told me he hasn't...

@Danglingmod

Ditto. If anything will make me resign, it's having clearly symptomatic kids consistently sent back to my lessons. They've coughed for half an hour in my lesson but not in the two seconds you're assessing them, so you send them back? Cheers, seriously.

Agree. I'm not impressed.

Any hint of a cough and ours are gone home. I'm quite impressed.

Poster on another thread says her children's school have just changed the advice to "You apply for a test and self isolate if you have two of the three main symptoms". This is advice from local public health apparently.

Please tell me this is not what they're going to do nationally in order to prioritise testing........

A DM article annoyed me so saying, that kids symptoms are different and it's not just runny nose. But
They haven't actually updated the list for kids so it won't pick up those ones with the fatigue etc.
But also won't pick up all the asymptomatic ones.
What % would we actually pick up!

So any school positives are what maybe 10%?
Also still annoyed about our bubbles growing and read the guidance which said early primary should try to stay as small as possible
'when staff or children cannot maintain SD, particularly with younger children in primary schools, the risk can also be reduced by keeping pupils in smaller, class-sized groups'

Thing with the 2 symptoms is
How many kids have both?
Dc1 had all 3 but over several days.
f2f has the same cold I think and has just a slight runny nose maybe and cough and the I wouldn't really think she was ill if I didn't know about dc1.

Also in Mar dc2 had temp and small vomit then runny nose then 8d later a cough.

Is vivid unusual in that you would have the cough straight away with a temp?

If you wait till you get to 2 symptoms surely many people will hear day 5 so can't test. Maybe they could clarify that the cough comes on quickly?

So effectively say 1 temp in we won't worry about that 1 symptom so into school until the cough turns up? 😷

rafa, no there are very specific rules about grassroots sport. I think I just found that indoor football was allowed six hours ago!

The venue, though, is a school, so...magic walls...