The Twenty-fifth Republic - circuit breaker before/during/after half term

[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 and you will receive a detention

“The restrictions would be similar to the initial lockdown in March, although it's thought that schools will be kept open”

Schools open isn’t a full national lockdown!

It does feel like March with everyone else taking action and England dithering.

@Saucery

Visors are inexplicably popular at my place. I applaud the optimism of the wearers but..... I don’t know how a staff base with at least one degree each can’t work out the efficiency of different types of PPE. And if you are standing over a child working at a desk visors are a brilliant way of funnelling any Covid germs straight down into their airspace. False sense of security, particularly when you see 2 people picking up a visor from a work surface and attempting to guess whose it is before putting it on without even wiping it down.

I’m not convinced the people I work with have a braincell between them let alone degree. Non-patient offices/work areas can be designated covid secure and have a number on the door to give the maximum number of people that can be in a room without a mask. (It isn’t 31). Imagine my surprise when I went last Monday to find 3 people sharing the same workbench, shoulder to shoulder, chatting away with no masks.

I’d point out that they should probably have a mask on, but I’d be wasting my breath because the answer I’d get is ‘it’s fewer than the number on the door’. Hopefully the virus can count.

Do any of you look at the U4T fb page in disbelief? I know MH is no laughing matter but they honestly think teenagers will be scarred by a teacher in a mask.

Do none of these teens ever go to the dentist or a hospital?

We have loads of cases, but still all apparently not linked... I'm unconvinced, but on we go. I really hope I don't get covid over half term, I'd rather get to miss some school if I'm infected by it!

Gonna jinx my school here: no cases so far.

In fact no cover for a week either.

Think we have a forcefield?!!!

We haven't had any cases since the very first day (obviously took a few days for results to come in but the pupil had only been in school for 2 hours before she felt ill and went home). 10 close contacts sent home to SI, but none of them developed symptoms. Since then, we've had loads off waiting for tests, and a few isolating due to being a close contact with a case outside of school, but no cases in school (touch wood).

I've had 100% attendance in every class I've taught today, and Friday. That never happens in a normal year, let alone this year!!!

My dc school hasnt but it seems very unlikely to be the reality. All the local secondaries have now had a few.
My concern is with half term will people be flying abroad. If they do a circuit break that could actually make it worse

@monkeytennis97

Matt Hancock in HoC "..... keep education as open as effectively possible" (speaking about getting TTI to improve).

Isn't that admitting that it's not exactly working at the moment?

@RafaIsTheKingOfClay

Do none of these teens ever go to the dentist or a hospital?

Dunno, but all children over the age of 2 are required to wear masks if they're lucky enough to get a GP appointment at our surgery. Would love to know how come GPs are at risk from small children (one at a time), when we teachers are not (with 30 at one go).

@MrsHamlet so close....

2/3 of my a-level class wore masks for me today. I think because I’m CV and it nearly made my cry - also because I was so relieved we’re wearing them at school now.

So glad I worked all day yesterday - I’m going to relax and read my book. Only two more days of teaching for me....

Honestly hats off to you full timers. Our staff are exhausted - people can barely stand up today...

There’s a lag in T&T you can’t erase, even if it was working perfectly.
Prof Sir John Bell was on R4 on Sat a.m. talking about the saliva test for virtually immediate diagnosis. That sort of testing is the only way you can stop Covid getting a hold in a classroom.

I have a colleague who came in with a sore throat last week, then a persistent cough the next day. Not days I work, thank fuck, but days that others work and I am so cross that people still don’t get the point. She’s waiting for test results.

It does feel like March with everyone else taking action and England dithering.

Four stages of government (in)action:
1 Dither
2 Delay
2 Panic
4 Hide away
🤦🏻‍♀️

No cases in my primary school. However in DHs secondary school just down the round 15 staff positive and 12 students so far. The whole school had to close for a week as all of SLT went down.

We've officially had 4 cases (2 staff, 2 student) but I think there must be loads we are not being informed about. Every class I teach apart from one has multiple X codes, plus others "ill". Staff are also off ill.
My smallest child is snotty today - just in time for half term.of course!

The catchment area around the school shows as dark blue as well, with other areas nearby as white or green!

@Augustbreeze that's what I thought.

Saucery, i remember the blissful, naïve August days, when we were told we'd be getting on the spot saliva tests for schools to help make them Covid safe....

So in dd2 school they have been having multiple cases linked to the school bus.
They have in the last two weeks tried to send home just certain rows of the bus.
Today we have had a message saying this has been unsuccessful as they have now had 5 students from different year groups all test positive on the same bus.
Surely that is transmission between children ?
They have now now asked the whole group who use that bus to self isolate.

I am on day 4.5 of waiting for test results. Fortunately wasn’t in school the 2 days before symptoms. The system is a disaster.

*Matt Hancock in HoC "..... keep education as open as effectively possible" (speaking about getting TTI to improve).

Isn't that admitting that it's not exactly working at the moment?*

Interesting local article (I didn't look at last weeks phe data so missed it, but it's getting so complicated that it's hard to see the woods for the trees)

*Eight times as many people were infected in educational settings than in pubs, bars and restaurants in England, NHS Test and Trace data showed.

And nearly seven times as many people became infected in workplaces, despite the government's campaign for people to work from home if possible*.

Is a school classed as a workplace or an educational setting if a teacher catches it??

Fairly plain talking article!

www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/coronavirus-infections-homes-not-pubs-19127837

If track and trace and the testing were working better, I wonder what the true figure would be??

Tis all a load of bollocks.

Inexplicably feeling like there are things I need (I don't) just because I now can't leave the house for days but hey...I still get to work. What joy!

@starrynight19 won’t be student to student transmission just a BIG coincidence they all got it from somewhere else... 🙄

No cases in my school yet either..... we are in tier 1. Various children and staff have been off with symptoms but tested negative. Lots of cases in nearby primaries though, and many secondary bubbles, including all the sixth form at my DD's school - year 13 one week, year 12 the next. Multiple cases in each, so whole year group home.
Can't wait for Friday...