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

@MRex has managed to spot more changes to the updated Guidance re test results (my bolding):

Schools should not request evidence of negative test results or other medical evidence before admitting children or welcoming them back after a period of self-isolation.

In the majority of cases, schools and parents will be in agreement that a child with symptoms should not attend school, given the potential risk to others. In the event that a parent or guardian insists on a child attending school, schools can take the decision to refuse the child if in their reasonable judgement it is necessary to protect their pupils and staff from possible infection with coronavirus (COVID-19). Any such decision would need to be carefully considered in light of all the circumstances and the current public health advice.

The PHE local health protection team will also contact schools directly if they become aware that someone who has tested positive for coronavirus (COVID-19) attended the school - as identified by NHS Test and Trace.

So, schools may now refuse to keep a child with symptoms!! Wow.

That would actually be worth starting an AIBU thread on but I waste enough time on here already!

"AIBU to think this is a good thing for schools?"

OR

"AIBU to think some Heads are going to get into some pretty big arguments over this, with some parents?"

@Augustbreeze wow!

I swear that was in the previous guidance, August

Respect @noblegiraffe, you're right - although I think the advice has been filled out a bit! In the 28th Aug update (mainly about masks so no wonder many of us missed it!), it said

Where a parent or guardian insists on a child attending school, despite the child displaying mild symptoms of coronavirus, schools can refuse to admit the child if, in their reasonable judgement, the child poses a risk of infection to pupils and staff.

Oh so that's what's used to send a child home with symptoms? I suppose the wording here, straight after the bit about not being able to demand evidence of a negative test result, made me (and others) think more of a situation where a parent is claiming they've tested and you suspect they haven't.

DM apologies

Lockdown slashes the coronavirus R rate in half within a month, study
mol.im/a/8868923

States that closing schools has quite a big impact on R number

Good to know that my brain can’t remember not to leave my packed lunch in my Y7 classroom so I have to skulk back to collect it but can remember the tedious detail of (inadequate) government guidance.

That DM article makes me hollow laugh. I haven't forgotten the 'let teachers be heroes' headline when they were calling for school reopening very early on.

@SaltyAndFresh I saw it as trying to convince people what a big difference closing schools would make to the R number to try and warm up the idea to the public...perhaps I'm reading stuff into it that isn't there.

I think they probably are but they shouted for schools reopening without demanding they do so safely

We are spot on with year groups NEVER crossing bubbles, masks in corridors with almost 100% compliance and evidence of negative tests before kids return. Hasn't stopped the huge number of positive cases. Genuinely no idea whether transmission is in the school or at home.

The scale and nature of disruption is horrendous for all concerned - kids sent home in the middle of the day, parents having to collect if they can't walk home and staff having to scramble together remote learning at a moment's notice. This isn't sustainable for anyone concerned. At least with week in week out there is the opportunity to plan ahead.

@SaltyAndFresh yes true, bastards

Thanks mrsHP and to the posters saying they have tlr whilst part time.

If a tlr has say 5 hours a fortnight assigned to it then upping a part timers hours by 0.1fte is potentially easier and cheaper than having to give someone 5 hrs less teaching and have to allocate those hours to someone else. At least that seems logical to me but I know some schools are just ideologically opposed to part timers.

Last day. Crossing everything that no other year group has a positive case today. I want a calm and stress free half term with lots of trips to the gym and swimming and yoga. So close to just plain overweight and not obese.

@TheHoneyBadger I'm now 29.8BMI - hit it last week (2lbs away from 5 stone lost since the beginning of all this shit.) Well done!!

honey I crossed the barrier from obese to overweight this week. I'm so pleased with that!! Fingers crossed you get there very soon. Anything we can do to reduce our risk of complications is a good thing at the minute.

I've never had time allocated to a tlr, sadly. Just a random day thrown at me if there was something time sensitive required. When I was acting dept I got an extra hour on top of my ppa. And primary = no frees either.

@MsAwesomeDragon @TheHoneyBadger wow well done to all of us! DH has also lost 3 stone or so and gone from obese to overweight

Wow well done that’s brilliant 👏

Well we made it to the last day let’s hope we don’t get any cases today and we can all relax this half term 🤞

I've got a huge headache today, but I'm so glad it's the last day!!
Although 4 pupils I teach had covid tests in the last couple of days so I've got my fingers firmly crossed that they all come back negative. If any of them are positive I suspect I'll have to isolate as I've come closer than 2m to each of them (they're all in my nurture groups, they can't do anything without individual help!)

monkeytennis that’s fantastic!

@Saucery thank you!

Don't know why I added.. fat fingers still lol!

I've shed 1st 11lbs too. I'm now a healthy bmi so I am really pleased. Put on a 1lbs this week self isolating though so I have to watch it.

Good luck to everyone who is on a last day of term today. Hope there are no more positives and that all of you who still have your holiday get to keep it.

It will be such a relief to be able to avoid big groups of people for a while.

@SquashedFlyBiscuits well done on your weight loss too!!

Well done all the losers! I'm down 23lbs.

Ps marking assessments is definitely better early morning than evening for me. Quicker when my brain isn't melting