The Twenty-Sixth Republic -Half Term Horror?

[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

Short kids at the front? Stilts?

Headstands? You? Them??

I'm already worrying about next week. With the death numbers already 7x higher than where they were last time we locked down I don't see how I can ask MIL to do any childcare at all. We have a childminder twice a week but can't afford more.

I wonder if that's part of the reason primary kids appear to spread it less - heads are below ours.

But then I remember that I sit on the carpet with mine most of the time.

When I asked Occ Health the other week they defined close contact as:

2m without a mask for 15mins
1m with a mask for 15 mins
Any time at all less than 1m.

Which is impossible in schools and difficult in most work places I’d imagine. It’s certainly going to be a surprise to my manager when the first person in our section gets Covid.

I’ll take the children’s section if no one else has bagged it yet. Might have to keep the cats out of there though.

2m without a mask for 15mins
1m with a mask for 15 mins
Any time at all less than 1m

PHE didn’t care about the mask/visor mitigation when they decided about shutting a year group down - just proximity.

Of course, now it’s the DfE I think as long as you’re wearing clothes they’ll assume you’re fine to just carry on.

Occ Health aren't correct. Masks are not considered. For schools , it is.

I don't know what my last sentence was meant to say!

I’ve been invited to take part in a clinical trial for Covid treatments. Tempted, but I’m horrendous with blood tests, so I don’t want to mess them about by applying then backing out, as I’m sure blood tests will feature in there at some point.

Wow, Saucery - how has that come to pass, if you don't mind me asking. The trial, not the blood test passing out...

Letter via my GP, MrsHamlet. DH got one too, so not sure if it’s a full patient list mail drop (with age and sex parameters).
I’m not a Frequent Flier at my GP by any means, but I was chosen for the Imperial sampling test via them too.
The website asks for volunteers - I can Pm you a link if you want to have a look? NW based, Covid tests regularly, they provide transport to clinics if needed etc so looks like they want a broad range of people to take part.

Yes please. I'm in the north west so that would be interesting.
Year 9 now all out till the 9th, according to a parent friend. Staff not yrt told.

The mask bit might be different then in healthcare since everyone is wearing a medical mask. But if you are under 1m the mask and the time don’t make a difference.

Educating people on what 1m actually looks like is a different issue...

Blood tests might depend on what treatment you are given.

I think the government's not so subtle messaging "if you catch it, it's your own fault" is really working. Local FB page descended into chaos yesterday with cases rising locally (spread in school) and people blaming teachers for getting it. How are teachers supposed to distance in early primary? Even at secondary it's almost impossible.

This is the bit that makes me really angry. It's not our fault if we can't stay more than 2m away from the pupils. In my smallest classroom, even if I press my back to the whiteboard I'm 1.5m max from the front row and there's only 1 spare desk in the room (A-level class).

I try staying at the front but it has an impact on behaviour and also the learning, when pupils need help. I always put a mask on if I need to go to a student - I'd feel such a sense of injustice if I was blamed if I caught it from a student.

Feeling a bit ranty today. Sorting out next term's resources and just feeling very worn down by it all.

Rafals - you need an old skool science meter rule! I spent the lunch break of the first inset of term measuring the teacher desk seat from the front desk seats..

I'm secondary and I must admit it is hard to stay 2m away at all times. I have low ability Y10 and Y11 classes so they often need a lot of support. I do wear my visor and minimise the time spent near (I attempt to help from a distance as much as I can).

I'm finding not being able to check thoroughly what they are writing is difficult - I know they are doing the work but their wording of answers may not be accurate. If I put model answer up, they will check but sometimes mark something correct even when it isn't.

pumpkin I have the same issue. I have bottom set year 10 and bottom set year 11, so they need a lot of help. They can't cope with me speaking to them from the front of the room, they need me to be close to them, preferably working in their books although I'm currently taking a mini whiteboard everywhere I go, and model answers with that. Even that they find confusing though, they want to be right next to me, showing me what they've done, which is understandable tbh.

Yep. I have a very bottom set Y11 who need so much support. I’m doing a lot of cloze activities that I model then they use to essentially copy out but with a different idea.

Equally, a very top set Y10 who really, really want to fly but need very precise help that really needs to be done individually.

It’s affecting the quality of their education- I worry that this isn’t taken into account when a decision is made re exams next summer.

Gosh, so some of those students (bottom sets) are not only disadvantaged if we go online, but even disadvantaged by the current in-school setup?

I think so Autumn

My bottom set is 75% PP also..

Evening all. Spent the day recording audios in case I have to log off during my live lessons next week if DS has a meltdown. Shattered. DS’s 4th day of isolation and by proxy, DD’s too. Both are absolutely climbing the walls!

Funnily enough it was a bottom set pupil who has triggered my isolation. When I go back and I’m going to be extra vigilant to remain 2m apart.

Hope everyone is having a better half term than me 😬

I'm not allowed out of my tape demarcated box once I'm in it. I have the students with the greatest needs on the front row and the ones who have support by the window into the corridor where their TA lurks.
It's painful.

I can't teach from the front either. I have ability ranging from year 2 level to year 8 in my year 6 class. I literally have to work sat at a desk with my lowest 5 for them to do anything. I get them going with cloze or forced order word banks while the others do a short post start task, then do a main input, get them.going, then sit with my uppers and extend them. Back to the lowers, then spend all lesson doing short table inputs and table hopping. Wherever I am sat I have a seat I carry and I can call over any student to work alongside me.

I've ended up with lots of mini horseshoes so I can work in groups with them all a sufficient distance apart from each other but apart from my main inputs I am basically facing head height with all my year 6. I am only 5ft tall with heels on.

I can't teach from the front though. For one, they would not cope and behaviour would be worse, and secondly our head told us it was "safe" so not necessary.

My secondary friends tell me it's impossible. I know at my kids secondary they have ramped up detentions and parent calling to keep a lid on things. I think back to when I was an NQT in an East London comp in 95/96 and I know i'd have been dead meat without using my body to dominate the room. Poor Nqt and Rqt this year. And poor kids too. I know my ds (bottom.set maths) has really struggled going back as has my dd (top set) just because their experience of inputs isn't working for them. No fault of the teacher - they just need that 5minutes explanation / push side by side.

No fault of the teacher - they just need that 5minutes explanation / push side by side

Yep. So many of mine just need me to write 2 or 3 words in their books to move them on - but my worry is that looking at the book, determining what they need and writing the prompt could well be over a minute. 🤷🏻‍♀️