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

Jesus. Having taught remotely since March I can say it's bad for the back and the waistline. Annoyingly, the back problems blocked exercise for a long time.

Like HoneyBadger I'm an early marker. Neutral mode, on the ball.

Exam marking always starts at 5am for me. Easy in the summer but it'll be a killer on November :(

My bubble burst this morning. Child in my class tested positive. All sent home until 3rd November. Happy half term eh?

See this thread, sounds like some London schools are starting to tell parents the detail of their blended learning plans:

‘Education tiers’ for schools - London www.mumsnet.com/Talk/coronavirus/4058487--Education-tiers-for-schools-London

Also, reading some posts on the BRTUS page makes you wonder how many children are actually not being educated properly at the moment, or soon won't be:
some of the parents sound very ill-suited to home educating, for a variety of reasons, but they're determined to do it/ feel bullied into doing it by (possibly) unsympathetic schools/LAs.

The DfE, who may well be reading those posts just as we are, will have to address this problem at some point soon.

@oddsbodkins that's really rubbish

All of half term gone. Rubbish, rubbish, rubbish.

Sorry to hear that oddbodkins.
Scotland's 5 tier system is announced, keeping schools open throughout every single one.

So sorry bodkins, I'll keep you company. I'm in self isolation till the end of next week and missing our holiday. It's rubbish.

@Mistressiggi

Sorry to hear that oddbodkins. Scotland's 5 tier system is announced, keeping schools open throughout every single one.

I still think that when they’ve all tried every tier possible and rates are still shit, they will finally get to the point where they will have to stop putting their fingers in their ears and realise that actually schools are a problem. Then they will have to consider doing something to make them safer.

I agree @Appuskidu, perhaps sooner given the evidence that's starting to come out now.

Also, staff will all be isolating/ill, which makes a leetle bit of a problem when you try to run a school.

It's like every single political ideology wants the 'we kept schools open' badge of honour.

Our response to 'schools should not ask to see a negative test result' is 'you don't have to show us, you can stay home instead'.

No negative, no return during the isolation period. End of.

Like your school's style @Frlrlrubert!

Piggy, 😆. Even though every other country isn't, or not without massive mitigations.

We need a new thread. I need lots of space to do my end of term happy dance!

Are you all in the pub without me?

Oh for a pub meet

Today's challenge: deal with a student having a meltdown which students upstairs gawp over the edge and drop mystery liquids on us. Nice!

That's grim

Oh dear mini.

I made a student cry again today I don't know why I'm laughing, lurking parents will think I'm proof that teachers are evil sadists. I had to confiscate her phone and someone pointed out she might not be able to get it back till after half term at which point she became hysterical.

The other child I made cry this term is in the same class. A boy who got a warning and it wasn't fair (he gets removed from half of his lessons but is utterly convinced he's never done anything wrong in his life).

Think I managed to make a few kids happy this term too to offset the crying

I'm literally so fucking happy that it is half term. It's always wonderful to make it to the end of a autumn half term but this is the most epic autumn half term ever I believe. And we didn't even go to the pub!

When they look back and try to work out the leading cause of falling teacher recruitment and retention they will realise it was due to the lack of trips to the pub that crept into schools insidiously somewhere around 2005.

It used to be the rule in my first school that anyone teaching at the sixth formers site on Friday got to the pub before the kids and bagged the big tables. You could dismiss the class at 3.30 and be in the pub at 3.33. Those were the days!

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/4058860-To-offer-to-go-to-the-bar-and-buy-every-teacher-a-drink?watched=1

I started a thread. Bashers be damned we can give ourselves some credit if no one else will.

We need @StaffAssociationRepresentative to start a new thread! I can't start one, people are counting

Don't know about the pub but I am drinking all the alcohol tonight. Bloody hell.

We used to go to the pub on a Friday lunchtime but then they shortened the lunch break and killed that off.

@MrsHamlet

It used to be the rule in my first school that anyone teaching at the sixth formers site on Friday got to the pub before the kids and bagged the big tables. You could dismiss the class at 3.30 and be in the pub at 3.33. Those were the days!

Indeed. I think if a pub visits and number of sicknotes for stress were plotted on a graph there would be a very clear relationship apparent.

Nightmare timetable with a department who goes for a pint on a Friday v nightmare timetable with no crying/consoling/gallows humour in the pub would be telling for example.

I miss a bit of fun and comradery. Sticking a box of celebrations in the staffroom just doesn't cut it.

Friday lunchtime used to be taken down at the pub, without fail. We'd phone through our food orders at break to speed things up, and race down there within 3 minutes of the bell going. Returned about 2 minutes before the afternoon session began.

Those were the days.

In my first school we used to go to the pub on Thursday AND Friday after school. It was a tough school, and also quite rural, so we were all at the pub drinking soft drinks so we could drive home. It was the fact we could go and sit together to moan about the kids.

I don't drink anyway, but I could do with something tonight. I have a headache and I'm exhausted. I might go for a nap actually.