Temporary broom closet in lieu of staff creating a staffroom

[TheHoneyBadger]

Just in case she got lucky and is in the one school that still goes to the pub.

@BustopherPonsonbyJones

I work in an independent school and we are usually about ten years behind. We use target grades but how does the ‘flight path’ work? And another question, are keyworker and vulnerable children being Covid tested if they are in school?

None tested at mine yet bust.

Flight paths are ime colour coded 'bands' that kids are assessed as being that makes it easier to pretend work has been differentiated on a teach by powerpoint drill.

I don't miss APP grids, however I do miss levels

@MrsHamlet

Flight paths scare me. Boy in year 11 with EHCP which took years for him to get. Based on fft he "should" get a 3 in English. But now he has support, I have evidence of 6 (and that's based on real grade boundaries, not the made up ones the dept use which are stupidly generous) I'm already afraid that I won't be allowed to CAG him at 6. Girl in year 10; FFT says 8. She's done not a stroke of work all year. I expect a grade 2 at best. Hod didn't like it when I put that in her data because it's "adrift"

Exactly this.

I actually wish they'd kept maths.

Definitely an argument to be made there, Herc.

Maths teachers are going to be awarding CAGs based on mock exams that have been taken in even less ideal conditions than any exams in June would be.

I was fine with them binning NC levels until I realised that it meant they were just going to pull GCSE grades down to Y7.

Apart from my weird 2 year detour teaching Science (feels weird all the time especially when disillusioning kids who go wow you're a science teacher and a humanities teacher lol) I've always taught in mixed ability groups so differentiation was always integral but was subtler and could be done lots of ways at the turn of the century.

That subtlety and variety of approach relied upon trusting the 'art' of teaching and teachers own skills and knowledge and experience. That would not do at all and we needed a uniform mickey mouse approach that could be ticked on an observation form even if it was utterly useless. Et voila! Flightpaths and colour coded tasks and kids who think nothing of being reminded on a daily basis of what someone has deemed their limits to be.

I've gotten used to it but I guess I'm not a fan.

Same actuallynoble. At the time it seemed like a good idea. We now do EDSM for 7&8 which is crap in maths but for subjects with core skills like 'describe' and 'analyse' it works well.

I'd replace maths EDSM with a percentage and context info like median. We can't possibly assess every skill every time in maths, nor can we report granular strengths/weaknesses without a return to APP style grids.

You know you guys filled up a staffroom in three days? MN might start charging us for cloud space.

Totally agree re differentiation. It doesn't actually need to be explicit and obvious to an observer. You telling Jane to do Q3 on the sly is enough. You saying 'if you've done 1 and found it easy, skip to 4' is enough. Giving Bob a question you know he will be able to answer in front of the class and be successful is enough. Opening the next textbook and pointing to a Q for Ken is enough.
Different starting points hold kids back I find.

@noblegiraffe

I actually wish they'd kept maths.

Definitely an argument to be made there, Herc.

Maths teachers are going to be awarding CAGs based on mock exams that have been taken in even less ideal conditions than any exams in June would be.

I'm dreading doing CAG - I didn't have an exam class last year so this will be my first time doing it and I'm paranoid I'll do it all wrong stupid anxiety

www.gov.uk/government/organisations/cabinet-office/about/complaints-procedure?fbclid=IwAR1PyKB0RsNHn2GeJmTJXQB2NX48Xw3agffPNf_5EdYhwYKUiKD1FZvrUCo

People on Facebook using this to complain about Gav the inept.

Thanks for keeping me informed. I’ll look forward to doing them in about five years time then. I teach English and humanities too and definitely still at the turn of the century stage.

Just been looking st other threads, wondering how they might tighten restrictions, specifically around school places.

Obviously any NHS frontline should get a place - no, they can't survive without time to eat and sleep because they have to homeschool when they're off shift!!

But then after that it gets harder to decide who's critical. Obvs pharmacists, refuse, anything hands on. As many of you are experiencing, the question of whether a critical job which is "remote-doable" can be done with DC alongside comes down to individual circumstances, including personalities involved.

As a poster on one of those threads said, any amount of regulations won't duplicate either the individual fear nor the idea that it's 'only for a few weeks' from Lockdown 1.0.

We need to look at the reasons why people who didn’t send their kids in during March lockdown are sending them in now.

If it’s down to employers being less flexible then government pressure and support needs to be put in. But with Gav saying ‘anyone without a laptop should rock up at school’ doesn’t fill me with confidence that they’d put any money or political will into reducing the number of kids in schools.

@JanuaryChill

This is wonderful! Although I now suspect I am the oldest here (déjâ vu feeling descends). I think I mentioned,,when we were accusing life of feeling Orwellian a few threads back, that I did 1984 for O level in ... ahem... yup .... the year it was set! So one of the exam questions was very predictable.

And I did S level, can't quite remember why, it could have been because if teachers were preparing you for Oxbridge entrance (waves to @cornercupboard!) it seemed a waste not to use the material learnt (and I use that term loosely) to bag another qualification. Which didn't work in my case, yes I got a 2 E offer about 3 days before Christmas, but then couldn't quite be arsed to do extra exams in the summer - dropped one S level straight away (can't remember whether my actually amazing Eng teacher (now a relatively well known poet and theologian) actually minded or not... and failed the S level in my intended degree subject, oops.

Happy days.

I went to a fab large comp, ex-secondary modern, so quite an unusual transformation I guess, which always sent a few to Oxbridge. I was definitely not one of the middle class shoe ins either.

Definitely not the oldest. I was in university by 1983...

Discussion detour... I've just had an email from the copyright licensing agency (nothing suspicious going on) and on their website, they mention the educational recording agency website which apparently has a "curated collection of TV and radio programmes which link to educational curricula and courses". They also mention the Education platform which schools apparently have access to.
Might be worth looking into.

@BustopherPonsonbyJones

I work in an independent school and we are usually about ten years behind. We use target grades but how does the ‘flight path’ work? And another question, are keyworker and vulnerable children being Covid tested if they are in school?

Ours are in a haphazard sort of way (secondary). I think all of them had one test last week, but it was fairly random who got tested on what day.

We have more coming in from Monday so I assume they will be tested at some point too.

I'm not sure there is much value in it personally, as the tests are so innacurate and I doubt the kids swab themselves properly anyway!

@noblegiraffe

We need to look at the reasons why people who didn’t send their kids in during March lockdown are sending them in now.

If it’s down to employers being less flexible then government pressure and support needs to be put in. But with Gav saying ‘anyone without a laptop should rock up at school’ doesn’t fill me with confidence that they’d put any money or political will into reducing the number of kids in schools.

I think you're looking at it slightly backwards, maybe. The government are putting pressure on employers not to furlough, so more kids are being sent into school.

@HercwasanEnemyofEducation

Totally agree re differentiation. It doesn't actually need to be explicit and obvious to an observer. You telling Jane to do Q3 on the sly is enough. You saying 'if you've done 1 and found it easy, skip to 4' is enough. Giving Bob a question you know he will be able to answer in front of the class and be successful is enough. Opening the next textbook and pointing to a Q for Ken is enough. Different starting points hold kids back I find.

That's exactly how I do it.

Yes furlough is definitely a big factor. Are govt pressuring employers not to use it - stricter terms than last time?

I get the feeling the right wing press are gearing up to push for Gav to go.

The government are putting pressure on employers not to furlough

Are they? This is something I have zero experience of so all I’ve seen is headlines like ‘furlough extended to April’ and that you can be furloughed for childcare reasons. Have the schemes changed?

I hope that all you English teachers will be tuning in to learn from Ginger Spice how to teach English.

I might be turning up to PE with Marcus Rashford. With or without DD.

I liked levels in maths too. And I marked the year 9 SATs so that paid off my university debts for me. I kind of miss that income stream but have never got into GCSE or A Level marking.

And I didn't have any year 11 classes last year, so I'm a bit concerned about how to do CAGs, but we do have reliable mock grades at least, which puts us in a much better position than a lot of schools. My year 13 class are a different matter. We've done one test this year which puts quite a few of them MILES lower than their UCAS grades, which were wildly ambitious.

My sister is furloughed, but there wasn't really any choice as she works in hospitality so they are closed. Of course, she's on a zero hours contract so she's getting incredibly little furlough pay. It's a good job she was already relying on UC as it is adjusted on a month by month basis rather than having to wait 5-6 weeks for a new claim.

I don't know many people who are furloughed this time round. My neighbours are, I think, but it's possible she lost her job earlier in the year. They are now breeding incredibly expensive puppies, and doing lots of DIY projects as well as having shed parties. All of which is incredibly loud in a terraced house.