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

Bit of anecdata hopefulness - all 18 yr olds in DS’s setting who have had confirmed Covid sailed through it with no problems and are now back. Parents and siblings who had it also fine.

I’m more of a natural Eeyore than Pollyanna but I grasped onto this gratefully, as it seems so inescapable for me and him not to get it.

We are placing bets on how long he will have when he returns. Will he make it to half term? 🙄

That is good news!

I'm fairly sure half term will be scuppered some how!

I would love a few mass testings of secondary schools.

The confirmed positive cases here have been mild. I suspect plenty of non confirmed cases.

I would love a few mass testings of secondary schools. The confirmed positive cases here have been mild. I suspect plenty of non confirmed cases

I think there are a lot of asymptotic cases in the community. I spoke to a parent who’s husband caught Covid from her. She tested positive but is completely asymptotic.

A friend’s school had a lot of cases. Their staff were 20s-50s and all had it mildly, thank god.

@Hercwasonaroll

I would love a few mass testings of secondary schools.

The confirmed positive cases here have been mild. I suspect plenty of non confirmed cases.

Me too.

I also note SEN schools are rising but there's no distinction between which are secondary or primary.

But they are not going to do mass testings of schools. They know what they would find and it would ruin the "schools are safe" messaging.

Exactly, WhyNotMe.
In fact, it could be that it is in fact schools that are driving the spread now. Yet we're all fussing about closing pubs, even if they're well-run.

Yup no way will they do it. Its obvious schools are spreading it. The government don't want to know this, so won't collect the data.

Like our safeguarding lead changed the time students needed to be recorded as "late" on the register to ten mins later, because the number of lates were too high.

I don't think the number of cases in unis is just down to mass testing. One of the local clubs held a student night last night despite the outbreak in the uni. And the 10pm curfew led to crowds with no social distancing at chucking out time. It's not the first time there's been crowds of them over the past few weeks either.
The fact that they are living in groups doesn't help either.

Obviously the mass testing does help somewhat.

I'm still curious about the primary children cases reducing. I wonder how much of that is due to reduced testing from that letter, or from how difficult the testing is on children, and how much is a genuine reduction.
If it is a genuine reduction - why/how?!

I'd guess the letter, but I wonder whether some of the lockdown restrictions are showing up. They are less likely to be socialising on their own at that age so if parents are sticking to the rule of 6 or local rules then it should follow that cases in that age group would fall.

Some of the lock down restrictions may be having an effect.

I also think the mass cold everyone got potentially treated triggered more testing ( some would have had a fever etc).

It's possible they had the cold and Covid, asymptomatically?

A lot of primaries round here have just had bubbles returning after their two week isolation (or full closure! I know of three!) So there may be a dip in numbers before a surge again?

In our area a reduction in primary cases is partly going to be caused by how difficult it is to get a test in the first place and secondly because the majority of families are not socialising. There are still a hardcore group of parents who are ignoring the rule of 6 outside of organised sports, but so far they seem to be escaping a covid test/diagnosis and instead are sharing sore throats and stomach upsets about...

DD2 has been selected for random testing so it will be interesting to see what comes back from hers, given in school her bubble is made up of many of these children and she has (the return to school cold aside) been absolutely fine. She is currently the picture of health.

I just wonder, given the state of understanding of many people, if the average primary parent:

• engaged with testing when term started
• realised how hard it was - getting one, doing it, waiting for results which in the main will have been negative and therefore seen as "a waste of time", maybe even lost money but would certainly have been inconvenienced by the household having to isolate
• decided not to bother with all of that next time someone coughed a bit?

Because "children don't spread it"

This would have been less the case with secondary children: they might have had more symptoms, and people can logically accept the idea that bigger kids get sicker/more likely to pass it on?

Just a thought.

Also, not that it's the right thing, but secondary children more easily left home alone, ie "You can stay off school til we get a test/the results but there's no way I'm calling in sick and losing pay"

@Augustbreeze

I just wonder, given the state of understanding of many people, if the average primary parent:

• engaged with testing when term started
• realised how hard it was - getting one, doing it, waiting for results which in the main will have been negative and therefore seen as "a waste of time", maybe even lost money but would certainly have been inconvenienced by the household having to isolate
• decided not to bother with all of that next time someone coughed a bit?

Because "children don't spread it"

This would have been less the case with secondary children: they might have had more symptoms, and people can logically accept the idea that bigger kids get sicker/more likely to pass it on?

Just a thought.

You have EXACTLY described the situation that primaries find themselves in.

Though you have omitted 'being utterly abusive when a child is sent home', so much so that SLT decide not to bother, because if the test IS negative then the level of abuse (in person, online and in local 'gossip' circles) will become unbearable.

That seems quite likely to me August. I think a lot of families aren't isolating when a kid has "a cold with a bit of a cough".

I woke myself up coughing a couple of times last night, but not had 3 episodes in 24 hours yet, so I'm on edge. If I cough at all today (other than choking) I'm going to need a test. And that will be a pain, although there seem to be plenty of appointments available round here atm, as neither dd nor dh will take well to being asked to isolate until I get results. And I need to go shopping. Maybe I'd better go now, before I start coughing.

@Augustbreeze

Also, not that it's the right thing, but secondary children more easily left home alone, ie "You can stay off school til we get a test/the results but there's no way I'm calling in sick and losing pay"

Absolutely.

A quite usual threat to primary heads saying they will send children home sick is 'If they turn out to be negative then I will sue you / send X round to extort money with menaces because you will have cost me so much'.

Funnily enough, only the very toughest of heads will still send home in that instance. Primary headhsip is lonely at the best of times but it is very. very isolating at the moment.

(And as a teacher I have been at the receiving end of a head choosing not to send home with clear symptoms because of the risk of parental abuse, alongside concerns as to the family's economic wellbeing should they have to isolate)

Cantkeepaway you sound like you speak from experience

Anecdotally in my secondary we seem to be having

1. Student has symptoms and is kept home but not tested (hassle/ don't want to risk time off work if it's positive)
2. Parent develops symptoms and seeks test
3. Parent tests positive
4. Child then gets tested and is positive.

Oh and because the child has been kept off school noone needs to isolate. Despite them probably having been in school with symptoms before they were kept home ill.

I honestly feel awful now but I think DS may ahve had it last week and the week before. The latest case in the school sits next to him in a lesson.

On the HE thread lots of people's DCs are being tested : lots coming back positive with cold symptoms.

I lost a whole row bit by bit last week from a a GCSE class, catching each others' 'colds'...

On another note, I want a colleague and I to both 'attend' a CPD webinar. This is the future isn't it? No more days off in London for jollies?

The school won't pay for us both to attend so I have been told we have to sit in the same room for 2 hours and watch the same screen. It's 4- 6 pm FFS!! Not happening.