The Twenty Fourth Republic - conditions not great and are teachers becoming modern day lepers?

[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 yo

tadjennyp

Re the Head's letter school: you mean another member of staff has tested positive? How big a school is it?!

No augustbreeze a child this time

Can't remember being so stressed since my nqt year. Everyone seemed on the verge of either tears or violence today. Workload is massive compared to normal. Spending ages setting work for isolating kids when literally one kid has done it. Rarely cover is apparently not rare anymore as staff off with symptoms, childcare issues and ill dependants. Not sure how long we can limp along like this for.

tadjenny I’m sure your SLT would be understanding. What a hideous time for you.

MrsHercule bloody Ofstwd. Good luck with it all.

I snapped at the head this morning as I was given my fourth cover of the week and he made a joke about how little work I do. He's trying his best but we're all on our knees.

Sending much sympathy to all and empathy for the end of tether sentiments.

Have just finished for the day - stupid amounts of (pretty bloody meaningless) assessments to mark plus usual planning, adapting lessons for students who are literally working at lower than ks1 levels but are coming to a mainstream secondary, wading through emails and just realised I still haven't set work for an isolating pupil. Fuck knows how full timers are managing.

Just seen that we are indeed allowed to close windows now and we might all get classrooms back after half term!? So stopping bothering with ventilation and zones when infections are massively on the rise?? The sad fact is we're all so knackered from running around the school without movement time and dealing with behaviour issues from classes left unsupervised that we'll likely jump at the chance to reduce safety out of desperation.

Oh and I'm being reminded to apply for threshold before the end of the month but have no real idea on how to support my application - last year I was told to apply then rejected on the basis of not having advanced subject knowledge (I was teaching Science as a non specialist without any training or support at the time and I'd done pretty damn well to educate myself to the level of sufficient subject knowledge let alone advanced and they knew I was a non specialist when they told me to apply). Therefore I'm feeling reluctant to bother to go to the trouble if I'm just going to get rejected again. Head has generously said pop and talk to her about it but she's ridiculously busy and I'm part time so trying to catch her will be interesting.

Sorry - big me me dump but I am frazzled and have worked solidly at home despite working solidly at school and dealing with major behaviour incidents. I have ordered pizza. Work is killing my diet.

And seriously fuck off ofsted. I don't think I could be trusted in a room with an inspector right now. Never mind threshold I'd probably be struck off!

I don't think we'll see them except in the car park. It's been made very clear that it's not about us!
Meanwhile, the daughter of two staff is now a close contact with a confirmed case....

@MrsHamlet oh my god it's all going on down your way! to you!!

Twould be a noteworthy outcome of these little Ofsted visits if a teacher murdered an inspector because of the stresss of it all...

to all of you wonderful teachers.

Thank you.

We had to send a child home today. Coughing. That's it though, nothing of note.

Dithering about whether to send my child back to gymnastics. Smaller class, cleaning between groups. I'm thinking yes, same kids as at school mostly. Partner thinks I'm bonkers. Child is quite miserable at the weekends.

Tomorrow afternoon I am watching hamlet with y13. We're going to eat chocolate. Half of it is chilling in the fridge; the other half is at room temperature. It's their post mock break before it all kicks off again.
In other news, we have magic spray which means we don't need wipes any more. Allegedly.

If we're lepers, can I suggest we reconvene here. It's on the island Hawaii sent its lepers to, and where the remaining survivors still live.

Knowing our govt we’d end up in Bognor.

True :(

I’d take Bognor now.... or that hill a few republics back!

Can I come to bognor? What are the infection rates like there? Ours are ok here, so maybe I'll stay at home and hibernate.

I'm so tired I could cry. And I've got a headache. So I'm feeling a bit sorry for myself. But I've still got work to do before I can go to bed. I'll probably get to bed about midnight i think.

I’m an NQT, so I’m probably missing something about the Scottish decision to cancel National 5s.

Why is it safe for schools to be fully open? But kids sitting in an exam hall isn’t safe? Exam halls are actually socially distanced. No ones allowed to speak so masks could easily be mandatory (unless you have a medical exception).

I don’t get it.

Unfair access to full curriculum as a result of covid impact- repeated isolations etc.

Team meeting in Hawaii yes please

Unfair access to full curriculum as a result of covid impact- repeated isolations etc

Thanks for letting me ask stupid questions.
Makes sense.

One issue with the exams is the marking of the exams - markers generally are put in a hotel for a weekend and do the lot there. Loads more N5 exams than Highers, which are still going ahead albeit in a reduced capacity (some external assessment reduced in some subjects). Having no N5s also allows the H exams to be pushed back a bit in May. Don't know how the pupils will react, it came out after school today. Some highers have reduced content but in many cases staff will have already taught that part of the content (given we've been teaching it since at least June!)

Found it eventually! Snuck it into data thread but will probably be told off. Might get a more appreciative audience here:

www.gov.uk/government/publications/containing-and-managing-local-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreaks/covid-19-contain-framework-a-guide-for-local-decision-makers#annex-3-tiers-of-national-restriction

Literally none of this is happening.

(Speaking of the Data thread and telling off,

I wish there was a way of having an offshoot thread on schools, still guided by data/BCF or similarly informed!)