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

Latest controversial study:

www.bmj.com/content/bmj/371/bmj.m3588.full.pdf

this'll make all the papers.

Look at who the authors are!?

Piggy, if we read this bit again:

Tier 1
The default position for areas in national government intervention is that education and childcare settings will remain open. An area moving into national intervention with restrictions short of education and childcare closure is described as ‘tier 1’. There are no changes to childcare, and the only difference in education settings is that where pupils in year 7 and above are educated, face coverings should be worn by adults and pupils when moving around the premises, outside of classrooms, such as in corridors and communal areas where social distancing cannot easily be maintained.

All nurseries, childminders, schools, colleges and other educational establishments should remain open and continue to allow all their children and young people to attend, on site, with no other restrictions in place.

Isn't that where the NW etc is at present? I think the trouble is, on Monday they should announce those area go into Tier 2, but they'll delay it for weeks or maybe even longer.

(I've only just noticed that there is a tier 4, total closure apart from KW etc.)

I had a quick look at the new Imperial paper on models of lockdown measures and deaths, posted recently in Daily Numbers. It says that closing schools is counter productive because it increases in-household transmission opportunities, thus passing it to older generations more resulting in higher death rates. Thinking particularly about multi generational households, I suppose this could be true?!

Sorry, am talking about the paper that piggy just posted. Written by modellers in a Physics dept.

Piggy. It seems to be computer modelling of different pathways through to a natural state of herd immunity ( ie not via a vaccine) which the vast majority of scientists reject as an appropriate thing to do.
So they are saying, if you want natural herd immunity, keeping schools and Universities open is better because it allows a higher proportion of young people ( who are least likely to be badly affected) to get Covid.

Surely it would only increase in-household transmission opportunities for the first 14 days after closure? From cases in children where they caught it at school.
Plus, there can’t be a lot of difference between 4 hours or more with your child in the household v all day? When 15 mins without mitigating factors is the time given for transmission anyway.

It doesn't make sense to me. How is there more risk of household transmission when members of the household aren't being in close indoor contact for prolonged periods with members of a thousand plus other households?

Are we pretending the disease just pops up in the kitchen? Maybe through the taps? To reduce household transmission surely the key is to reduce chances of bringing it into the household?

Morning

I didnt read but i cant see how schooling through a peak can be good for parents or grandparents as you say the time in home would be long enough to transmit and 100% no hospital spaces so guarantee to die for anyone even needing o2.

Also it would ignore flu etc risks to young and elderly... If they even need hospital for something else. Kids can and do spread that.

Also guarantees and hospital staff and care home workers are exposed via their kids and take it into work

Yes @Saucery and others I agree with all of that, plus surely the fact that death rates peaked in early-ish April suggests that closing school didn't amplify transmission?

I hope he told you from a distance!

@Piggywaspushed

Still no sign of a flue jab for DH either from GP or his school, who presumably have now been told there are no supplies for their deal with Boots.

My letter arrived yesterday. I assume the supply issue might be getting sorted and stocks are getting to the GPS now.

Yes educating, exactly that , plus the idea that somehow if you switch a tap off, then next time you open it all the water bursts out of control, which doesn't necessarily ahve to happen if we are cautious.

Some interesting analyses of this over on the data thread.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-54268038

Is this going to get Attenborough banned from being mentioned in schools?

The Edinburgh guy just been on sky news saying schools should not have been closed. He doesn't come across convincingly but maybe I am biased.

I think the issue with schools compared to say shops being open as it rises is
shops will get less busy as people can choose. So might choose against going/ spend less time browsing/less busy time
Schools are fining parents who dont send and some parents need to send to go to work.
Also i think it will affect peoples behaviour as if they know they are exposed by classmates there is no incentive to be as careful.
Even if 90% are being careful out of 300 kids that would be 30.

It's like we have a net (testing) but between everything
Time to get results
People not doing as told
The huge issue of asymptomatic

It isnt really a net more a stick.

What the Edinburgh astrophysicist

Came home from work in tears today.
Have started a new school and I just can't settle in. I teach a core subject usually but am teaching a non core for half my timetable. I've never been strong on behaviour management, or at least i was OK in my average comp before I left to have my child, and the behaviour of some of the classes is dire. It's two warnings then remove and I started with a policy of getting rid of the key players to let the rest settle and win them over. This was working quite well until I was told to be slower with the remove system and to give kids a longer chance to settle down. Except now they all just talk over me and I feel like an nqt although I've got five years under my belt. The kids aren't by any means bad kids, just completely uninterested and unwilling. Any tips, bearing in mind I've tried all the usual settling activities?
My planning and actual teaching are very good indeed but without the behaviour I'm not getting anywhere. Being new is tough and I guess I didn't realise it would be!

I got a text telling me to book a flu jab today. The only clinic is on a Tuesday morning. Try again in a week. Going to try the pharmacies but what's betting I get flu before I can have the jab?

@winewolfhowls that's hard work! Is the head of year helpful? I'm not okay with the "give them longer" advice - that seems like a cop out from above to me.
I'd take a two pronged approach: Quietly contact home about some goodies and some baddies. And ask someone senior to do a flyby every so often to just keep an eye and back you up.
It's hard being new

It can be really tough when new. Sometimes just being a face they have seen around for a year seems to make a huge difference.

Do you have any year 7s you can take solace in? They're new too and the relationships and reputation you build with them will pay off dividends in future years.

Moving slowly through it doesn't mean don't use it just make sure you give them repeated opportunities to improve explaining what you need to see and the old you already have a warning and have been given several opportunities to improve are you now going to do as asked or force me to give you a final warning/you're on your final warning and I will have to remove you if you continue to x.

Document it all on the board and when you remove email explaining exact behaviour and number of chances etc and ideally that you also gave them the opportunity to calm down outside of room and had a quiet chat etc.

Don't be put off using it just be very clear and measured in how you go through the system.

I had a year 10 group where I had to remove one guy and had another one hanging onto a final warning. It happens to us all sometimes. I try and do the minute outside and then try for a restorative chat outside before removing.

It will get better x

winewolf

I wish I could help but it's taken me two years (from NQT) at my current school and I'm dreading ever moving.

Feeling at the moment where I am seems to be 'let them talk as long as they aren't actively majorly disruptive' so basically ignore low level disruption.

I'm lucky this year and I only have one class where I'm having to do that, but it is really annoying. The more I try to enforce rules the more they push back - they actually get more done if I just let them get on with it. I make sure they have stuff to do independently (even if it's copying) without much input from me. That way the ones that want to get on can and the others are only hurting themselves. Then I mask up and circulate to try to encourage along. My usual tactic of modelling from the front just dissolved into a shouting match with them.

Also if you can find the time in a free track them down and ask to take them for a minute and have a chat 1:1 then about what you need from them and how they have a clean slate with you for the next lesson but if it continues you'll have no choice but to call home.

Some don't respond to anything obviously but some out of the heat of the situation will appreciate you taking time out to talk to them and wanting to give them a chance. I may take my own advice and try to catch those 2 year 10s tomorrow.

We're a restorative school allegedly but trying to find time for restoratives before you teach them next is a pita

Thanks for all the kind words, I think perhaps I struggle to find the balance of when to move them through the system (I do the names on the board) but I also seem to be forever saying, I'm giving you an opportunity here to turn it around, but then they don't seem to ever take me up on it!
And it's true about the sevens, (I don't have any eights but tons of nines) they are delightful and I have a fair few of those classes. I don't think the double lesson system is helping either, a few of my difficult classes are fine for one 45min session but then are losing it into silliness.
To be fair, head of year have quite a low teaching load so do patrol the corridors a lot, and seem very amenable to helping, but I just feel like I'm completely shit! I see other new staff not struggling at all.

ENGLAND: PHE data shows that hospitality businesses like pubs and restaurants accounted for only a small proportion of officially reported coronavirus outbreaks during August and September. Many more outbreaks – reports sent to Public Health England of two or more people falling ill and at least one of them testing Covid positive – have been linked to education settings and workplaces

There was a leak of interventions today. It basically showed that the government has no plans to lockdown schools or workplaces. No matter the facts. They just accept there will be disruption. Fine in principle if there were no high stakes unaltered exams. And no vulnerable people in schools.