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

So....the BMA want all work places to wear masks as a matter of course inc offices and schools.

I bet that won't be agreed to, but I will say that if they make them compulsory for more and more work environments but STILL say we don't need them in schools, it will make me feel very undervalued and overlooked as an employee, whether it's proven or not that there's less risk from the (younger) kids.

Also, we are hovering at about 85% attendance this week and it is dropping. I was missing 8 kids for Yr7.

Sadly, bottom set Yr10 all turned up 😭

@BelleSausage
Yes, that's how things were started last year (supportive) - this would be the second round of this sort of support. If it was the first round, it would easier! He doesn't think anything is wrong - when we pull up spelling errors and things, he just says 'oh, you can fix that when you're looking through it though', when he hasn't done what he's supposed to do, despite minutes of a meeting detailing him specifically, he says things like 'oh that was so much information, I couldn't take it all in'.

I'm really concerned that he's going to be doing live stuff to kids on Teams and parents will be able to see it.

I genuinely think the way we will end up going is primary schools stay in unless you have it. Only cases go home. Same as France.

What's everyone's attendance like? We've been hovering around 93% but that doesn't include all the kids on x code, with them it'd be more like 85! Loads off with colds and stomach pain

Does anyone know when I've put a behaviour consequence on go4schools if it's possible to view if/who has removed it? I have a student a warning in class for poor choices, they've had a paddy and when I'm checking on my students to see what else has happened over the day, it's now not there - all others put on were so I don't think it's something I did.

So the DfE have written to all schools and parents today basically telling them not to get tests...

www.facebook.com/notes/nhsuk/a-covid-19-update-for-parents-of-school-and-college-pupils/10164299076590444/

[quote Piggywaspushed]So the DfE have written to all schools and parents today basically telling them not to get tests...

www.facebook.com/notes/nhsuk/a-covid-19-update-for-parents-of-school-and-college-pupils/10164299076590444/[/quote]
That's not how I read that. It says get tests for the 3 symptoms - problem is that relies on tests being available. I think we have lots of kids off as they gave a symptom, but parents report something vague so they can return without testing or isolating.

I think anecdotally we all know of people who have tested positive with none of those three symptoms. The headcold is definitely coming out positive in lots of kids.

I read it as 'learn what the common cold looks like' because we're running out of tests right now and people who need them aren't getting them. Also, read as 'schools, stop sending kids home and refusing to have them back until a negative test for a sniffle'

Interesting that it's written by the chief nurse for maternity and early years but applies up to college phase.

Depends on the kid mine cough with everything.as do i.
but either this virus isnt as bad as the one in march or maybe the kids vitamin d has increased but touchwood they seemed to cough for maybe 7d rather than the 8w in apr.
They are now on over 10 micrograms a day.

It does mini butt he common cold and covid are not dissimilar in kids.

I do agree @Piggywaspushed. From memory, are they not part of the same family? So of course the symptoms are going to be similar, which doesn't help schools or parents at all.

Have you seen this:

twitter.com/mattcornell/status/1308860953673465863?s=19

Bloody hell what do the Dutch teachers think?!

It’s all very well deliberately infecting kids, but they aren’t the only people in schools.

Marking place....

Unions?

Not looking great is it?

I was doing well till I got sick. Now I’ll be going back to a backlog of ks3 qmas and aware if my chest is still bad the dashing about site in the rain and being hot from dashing under coats then cold as you cool down and are wet is going to be hard going.

I have no spare energy for the onslaught of emails from pastoral asking for work to be set for absent emails or to rework seating plans because x and why aren’t getting on or changes to how we’re meant to differentiate for so and so who is working at ks1 level or providing work for kids in IE last minute.

Even at the best of times I find all the emails requiring immediate action hard going when the day is already full of teaching and marking and planning and following up incidents. That didn’t really happen when I started teaching because the culture of, ‘I’ve sent an email now it’s someone else’s problem even though I know they’re teaching and won’t have seen it’, didn’t exist. Now it seems non stop.

I don’t get less emails as a part timer or less planning or less parents evenings etc I’ve realised. Just less marking really. If I didn’t turn my work laptop on on my days off I’d go back to 50 emails.

I genuinely don’t know how people cope with full time and kids though. I’m thinking of going to higher fte of 0.6 so at least the money is better and just accept working full time for 60% pay.

Uh autocorrect had a field day with that post.

I think England is doing the same and screw the school staff. Shoving everyone in and withholding testing has to be deliberate intent or utter neglect.

When I started teaching we didn't have emails, just a note in your pigeonhole. If they couldn't be bothered to deliver it, they didn't write it. So much quieter! Probably need to sleep now! Wine has been consumed. An entire day's training via Zoom tomorrow!

www-tes-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.tes.com/news/how-dare-gavin-williamson-criticise-teachers?amp

How to win friends and influence people - gav style

Arse. One of the schools whose kids I was surrounded by on the bus without masks last week has just sent a load of kids home because it has a +ve case. Obviously the chances of it being one of those kids is minimal but it’s not going to be an isolated case this winter.

This is what I’ve repeatedly asked work to sort a RA for given the government advice for the CV was not to use public transport. And I can’t believe they still haven’t sorted it after 6 months.

@Augustbreeze

From a private school parent on the thread about those schools running after school clubs, just to make all of us state staff a tad 😯:

"On the contrary, I think you will find that many teachers are less at risk in private schools. My own DC’s private school has put lots of measures in place including hiring extra toilets so each year group has their own. They have reduced the size of every class. They have put in portable hand washing basins. Staff are provided with masks and visors for close up work. The kids have their temperature checked every morning before they are allowed to enter. Parents have to wear masks at drop off and pick up. The dining halls are not in use - the kids eat outside in year groups. Two areas (including an entire playground) are going to have waterproof covers put over them so the kids can be outside even in bad weather. Dance lessons and orchestra practice etc will also take place under this cover so they are resurfacing the playground with a much softer material to allow this to happen. Every child from year 3 upwards has been provided with an iPad so books do not come in and out of school and they can switch quickly to remote learning. After school clubs are only in year groups now and there are no sports fixtures at the moment. Uniform has been relaxed so that no ties and blazers are worn."

That parent does my head in. Spent most of early lockdown bitching about their own dc private school, questioned whether I had any experience in schools (at which point I stopped engaging with them), so I don't know what has changed to make them suddenly start bigging up their dc school. They seem to have switched to having a pop at the state sector where they can, nowadays .

Positive case in 6th form now where I am. Head has been vv informative however and shared everything apart from who the child is (school rumour will be rife this am!).