The Twenty-third Republic - school attendance not great - half term to be renamed circuit break?

[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

Talking of pop, my ex bully's head's favourite was 'Could you just pop and see me at some point for a quick catch up?'

This never augured well.

We went to Les Arcs in January (friend of friend apartment in 1800).
Really liked it there and apparently we had the best January weather on record.

We were at les arcs 1800 too this year in half term. Once the ski train was cancelled though we haven’t booked for next year....

Unlurking to say I've bought thermals too, my teeth were chattering today!

@ohthegoats

I've got the hump tonight. Head talking about school trips today- guidance apparently they should carry on as normal. I mean really, just fuck off guidance. Had the rage in SLT - how can everything else in the world be restricted, not allowed to mix with friends and family, yet I have to somehow do my job as completely normal. Just fuck off.

Oh I know this feeling well at the moment.

Can’t sleep. Been awake since at least 4. Have got up now to have a cuppa and read my book.

Think I’m stressed because I’m partially responsible for training everyone on Teams and how to teach love and to home at same time. And because there is a lot of talk about tier 2, but no-one knows how it will work.

Our LA saying two weeks in then two weeks off. Then saying maybe done by year group - so we’d teach KS3 for two weeks then KS4/5. That wouldn’t reduce classes and would just mean two weeks off and still tricky to teach when in. I think we need to split alphabetically so we have smaller classes when in - live streaming maybe? Don’t know but either way it is horrific and I need to make sure staff feel as confident as they can doing whatever is decided. Going to start live streaming my lessons to myself and record them to practise 😱

Also have sore throat. Had slight temp of 37.3 last night - lower again now. But not high enough to warrant SI - blessing and a curse maybe! Also felt hot when I woke up - don’t know if that is age related? No idea!

Anyway sorry for the early morning pity party. I shall feel better later/tomorrow hopefully 🤦‍♀️

@MrsHerculePoirot Am with you on the can't sleep bit. Good luck on the remote learning stuff

Thanks @monkeytennis97sorry to hear you can’t sleep either

Having tea and toast now then going to head to work for 7. Might as well get loads of stuff done before school and try to come home early and relax!

I am with you night wakers. One shitty email from a parent has dominated my thoughts. All because of 2 minor errors on a self marking quiz I wrote (and haven't yet had time to mark manually)
The level of vitriol and over reaction from the parent is huge. I'm going to calmly phone today and talk her through being resilient for the sake of her child. (whilst trying to listen to my own advice!)

Just feels like such a kick when we're working so hard.

Sorry @Hercwasonaroll it’s shit when that sort of things happens. Despite me telling anyone else it’s not you it’s them etc... I’d obvs feel the same as you. Then be annoyed at myself at the same time. 🤦‍♀️ Hope you have a better day and the phone call outs it out of your mind.

@Hercwasonaroll I remember many many parents like that in a former job I had. Urgh

@Hercwasonaroll
The level of vitriol and over reaction from the parent is huge.

We have a few parents who are like this. Honestly, sometimes all I can think is 'how can you the time and energy to over-react to such a huge degree?'

I think there are a growing number of keyboard warriors complete with the empty wine glass in hand.

Thanks all! So frustrating because I know she's the one with the issue, not me. Still grates though!

The language used, you'd think I'd chopped his finger off, not given 2 marks instead of 3 on a teams quiz! I'll never be that parent.

I'm considering whether I need to make a complaint about a member of staff at the moment. Specific my line manager.

Can't put details on here because it may be outing but suffice to say, I think I may just have reached breaking point.

I'm taking today to consider my next move. Do I try to tackle said person on my own (ungrateful for the work done, and then had an ego trip in meeting about how great they are which was just so rude, and spoke down to staff) or make a complaint up the ladder. Or just find another job ASAP. The department has a long history of teachers not staying unless they're part time and I'm beginning to understand why.

Sounds like my last department that I just escaped guyf sorry you’re dealing with this. Possibly you could talk to a higher up in confidence for advice on how to handle it but making clear you don’t want them acting or saying anything for the moment? That’s part of how I managed to escape. Though now the old hod is all chatty with me on duty (and incapable of sd in the slightest because she probably thinks covid is a lot of fuss and nonsense) 🙄

Day off today and I’m having groceries delivered and starting a stew then going swimming for my mental health. I have planning to do later and lots of marking needs doing this week but determined to take some time for myself too.

Hang in there everyone. We’re over halfway

I had a dream last night I was trying to drive and make a PowerPoint at the same time which I think is a pretty good summation of my mental state right now...

@GuyFawkesDay

I'm considering whether I need to make a complaint about a member of staff at the moment. Specific my line manager.

Can't put details on here because it may be outing but suffice to say, I think I may just have reached breaking point.

I'm taking today to consider my next move. Do I try to tackle said person on my own (ungrateful for the work done, and then had an ego trip in meeting about how great they are which was just so rude, and spoke down to staff) or make a complaint up the ladder. Or just find another job ASAP. The department has a long history of teachers not staying unless they're part time and I'm beginning to understand why.

I’ve had this and although I’m signed off with other and legitimate reasons it is the stress caused by this that has pushed me over the edge. It’s utterly miserable.

I don't think the HoD realises they will have bitten off more than they can chew with me.

Thinking about it, we were mansplained to. How to mark, how to do things (bear in mind we are all at least 10yrs qualified!).

There's a lot of outing detail but I've spoken to sensible people and the way to handle this without looking like a bitch is to go down the route of the fact there's been no help or development in the department for staff. I'm going to go up the food chain about my development and it'll become clear by proxy how little has been done.

Gav is speaking soon in HoC apparently (James O'Brien just mentioned it's).

*The number of schools in England affected by coronavirus outbreaks has continued to rise, with secondary schools hardest hit, according to official figures published by the Department for Education in England.

The proportion of schools reporting that they were not “fully open” because of Covid-19 cases has risen by 50%, while the number of schools closed completely appears to have doubled in the space of a week.

While 93% of schools said they were fully open, the proportion who reported they were not fully open due to suspected or confirmed cases of Covid-19 jumped to 6% last week, compared with 4% the week before.

Across England that would equate to more than 1,000 state schools classed as not fully open. The DfE defines schools as “fully open” if they are able to provide face-to-face teaching for all pupils on roll for the whole school day and they have not asked a group of pupils to self-isolate.

The number of secondary schools unable to fully open increased dramatically in the space of a week. On 17 September 92% were fully open, but by last Thursday the proportion fell to 84%. That would suggest that more than 500 secondary schools have been affected, which would be one in six. The DfE said that the closures were “mostly due to Covid-19 related reasons”.

Pupil absences remained unchanged at 88% across all schools, but in secondary schools the absence rate dipped further to 84% from 86% the previous week.

There was also a small increase in the number of schools closed completely last week. The DfE said that 99.8% of state schools and settings were open in some form, compared with 99.9% the week before.

That would suggest around 40 schools in England were completely closed at the end of last week.*

Generically pissed off. My DM lives in NYC. Every year she sends me a gift and every blooming year customs sting me for a fee.

So, this year beforehand , we agreed : at least two names on the parcel, don't over egg the value, tick this 'this is a gift' box.

She did all these things but paid extra to send it, at which point, her PO (she likes to blame my end for everything!) printed a label with just my name on it, bunged it in a new envelope and sent it. So I got charged £37 to get my own present. I sent my DSis's Xmas gifts back because I was going to be charged for those and I knew it would be tat. Took 6 months to get back to her.

To top it all off, it is/was a rather delicate necklace (definitely worth $100 because she included the receipt) and it got tangled in transit so is only fit for the bin.

So ,now she is grumpy, DH is grumpy because I paid, I am ungrateful and grumpy and it's all so shit really.

That's crap piggy. I assume she won't agree to just not bother with sending physical gifts. Any way you can persuade her to order something online and get it delivered straight to you next time?

She keeps saying this but never does...she likes her trips out. She also likes to boss her (sixth...) husband about by sending him to the PO.

That's so annoying! (Your mum sounds like something out of a movie though, I wonder is my image of her in my head accurate Very glamorous life!) Nice she is trying but an amazon voucher would be good too!

Not as glamorous as it sounds. …