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

I rarely have a title. If I do, it's the question we're answering.
It pains me when I observe lessons and the kids are copying the learning objective. It pains me more when that is all they write in a lesson.

I think tbh everyone means well @Piggywaspushed, it's a case of wishing that MN worked a bit more like Fb and it was easier to go off in sub groups. (Not sure I mean Fb really but you get my gist.) And that, as everywhere, some people are kind, politer and more self-effacing than others.....

The knowledge on there is so valuable to us all.

Hmmm. Most. A few vocal keep schools open types joined a while back. It is usually they who shut down school debate.

@Piggywaspushed

Hmmm. Most. A few vocal keep schools open types joined a while back. It is usually they who shut down school debate.

Yes know the ones. It really is an obsession. Can't admit schools increase the spread not even a bit. No Siree!

@noblegiraffe just read this post from you on the "no T&T in schools" thread:

If they outright stated that schools weren’t safe for vulnerable teachers and kids and told them not to come in, then parents would start pulling kids out who have vulnerable family members, others would get spooked and the whole facade would crumble.

Thank you, I'd never thought of it like that. You're absolutely right. ☹️

Every time I keep thinking "why don't they mandate masks in schools?" I give myself the answer, "because parents don't want them (yet)".

We are completely at the mercy of a govt who bend to public opinion.

It pains me when I observe lessons and the kids are copying the learning objective. It pains me more when that is all they write in a lesson.
We have to print ours out. Every single lesson starts with sticking in the LO and SC strip. Even that is a struggle for Y5.

Belated thanks for all the BM tips. I only managed to do 1 observation last year, as I really wanted to start by seeing core subjects and my NQT time was in the afternoon. I had just arranged for some teachers to fit me in when lockdown hit. I've managed to do 1 observation since being back this term but there won't be any more sadly.

mobile.twitter.com/cyp_wellbeing/status/1314378031411200001

So sad

I have learnt that secondary school attendance is reported at 86 %. Your layperson might not realise how bad that truly is.

@RigaBalsam yes I saw this yesterday, just heartbreaking. So scared for everyone in education.

Our year to date attendance is 89% and we’ve only had two positive cases and close contacts only isolated. Which is pretty bad for the first few weeks of the year! I’ve got students in some classes I’ve literally seen twice for spurious reasons, and they’re the first ones to get a “medical - isolating” note on the register, of course.

8th case. That's 3 in one week.

I have learnt that secondary school attendance is reported at 86 %. Your layperson might not realise how bad that truly is

That is bad. I’m not sure what ours is but I’d be amazed if it’s in the 90%s

And 82% of secondaries fully open. That's 18 % with significant disruption ! (see? I can do maths!).

Literally no one cares. Except us.

So, obviously this is the reason for the push not to close bubbles. What the data thread, bless em, seem somehow wilfully not to want to hear, is how much education data is hidden, or massaged and controlled by politicking at the DfE. They will be actively trying to control that 18% stat.

Oh! That teacher is local to me!

Anyone in the current higher restrictions areas have a clue as to how "granular" the areas are that the restrictions are imposed upon? I'm wondering about the putative new three tier system and cut off points. My city and one of the attached local govt areas (district councils) has well over 100 cases per 100,000 but the other, more rural, local govt areas bring our overall county average right down. I have a funny feeling we are going to get let off when it's actually really high in some parts and less so in the proper rural bits.

Oh, and to prove my point, the vast majority of the "popped bubbles" are in the more densely populated bits of my county (only 3/18 secondary schools in the city with no closed year groups currently) - making us much more affected than the England average of 82%!

It's very annoying (lurking mostly) on the data thread and people determined to shut down schools discussion because "data"...there bloody ain't any because they're hiding it - we only have our own local knowledge (or not even that, in some cases!)

I literally don't know that kind of thing about my local area dangling. It's all hearsay.

What I do know is that in my school it is viewed as akin to snow day : a kind of pride in battling on despite the raging tempest and health and safety. It's like the bloody Charge of the Light Brigade.

It was pretty ‘granular’ to start with, Danglingmod. Areas next to each other, some under restriction, some not. Led to some genuinely amusing teasing on local FB groups! But the rates were clearly different then (hard to see the demographics behind it as that wasn’t collected/acknowledged). Of course, it didn’t take long for us all to blend into one cluster of high rates once schools came back.

But also someone got called out on their own guesswork, who hasn't set foot inside a school for probably over 40 years...

Quite a lot of travel to schools in the area, I might add, due to faith elements and type of school (including those seen as less good than other schools). So any boundaries there might have been went pffft when schools returned.

Finally...

news.stv.tv/politics/rising-covid-cases-among-pupils-could-put-teachers-at-risk

The Scottish government's response is interesting. They don't completely rule out blended learning and mention funding. Our DfE would be unable to say those two things!!

Now, Patrick Roach : talk to Gav!!

Very interesting re Scottish govt's reply to NASUWT.