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

Heady excitement here because DD's 2 week SI from school has finished and she can leave the house - but because we're in Wales you can't meet with others not from your household either inside or out. So a trip to the supermarket for her to choose some bits for herself was the most exciting it got!

In school I'm trying to stay the 2m away where and how I can. Lots and lots of talk partner and AFL strategies, picking sticks and more peer work and sharing of their ideas (to check they are right, to allow me to give them prompts to get even better and to help those who might be struggling to think of what to do) than ever before. We already do whole class feedback for most lessons, which has lessened the need to handle all their books regularly. It keeps a handle on work-life balance too as much as is possible.

She's been stuck with the home learning last week, half term this week and they aren't having the older year groups back until week after half term finishes, so more home learning next week too. And no mixing with friends even outside in even small numbers. It's no fun for her at all. Last night she was finding it all unfair because some of her friends either don't care about the restrictions (q likely) or had lost track as there were 2 cases in her year and therefore 2 different letters and dates for the SI dates and had gone out.

Thanks everyone  @FrencheFancie I hope the mitigations you'll hear are about today are worthwhile. Please let us know what is happening.

I just can't understand the logic behind keeping schools open as normal when everything else is closing, it's very short sighted.

Interesting news this morning. Pressure growing in Wales, and the attendance stats are fascinating. Anyone know why Kingston Upon Thames is so low??

www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-54723339

Vocal middle class parents not prepared to put their children in school?

I doubt it would be that low though? Vocal middle class parents, as we see on MN , are more likely to have two working parents and have a job where they can WFH (or can't with children around) and also, those areas simply won't have many ill people at present. It makes no sense unless they are calculating figures wrong , or a couple of schools had full closure.

I have no clue what attendance is at my school! About 94% , I reckon.

I keep seeing that Xs aren't reported as absences. Are we sure about that? I don't think that can be true. I think they aren't an absence against a child (so they don't become a persistent absentee) but I do think they count in whole school figures. They must do.

French teacher on data thread thinks Macron used weasel words and that blended learning may still be coming for lycee.

I thought x didn't count against the school attendance figures - otherwise we'd all be getting it in the neck from the LEA.
I'm 99% sure we're still doing daily returns to the dfe about Covid absences.
We're registering those year groups who are out in sims as normal for internal records but recording them as X for the returns.

Kingston has a couple of super selective grammar schools, also lots of the schools (might be borough wide? But know a few) have iPad/chrome book type schemes. I know those that travel to the selective from much further away generally not attending. I don’t know if access to tech therefore means people don’t feel they are would miss out if off school? Within the area there is a lot of affluence (so those who can afford tutors/tech etc) and then pockets of more deprived areas (for my school many of these students are not coming in - always ‘self isolating’) don’t know if that makes a difference?

A little bit of digging shows me Sutton (where K-U-T is) started off the school year with amongst the highest attendance rates....

Yes, that's what I mean though mrsH. The Xs aren't held against us , or the child, because of the coding but they still count as absences from school.

The gov (and some annoying MNers) are going to keep claiming 'instant remote learning'(still very loosely interpreted) is the answer and it's all fine.

I reckon my school is going to change its policy on remote ed.

monkey that sounds incredibly difficult. I hope it’s sorted soon.

Turns out my sister wasn’t “sure” about her account of schools in France 🙄 Fake news. Guess they’re announcing details today.

Sutton isn’t in KUT - it is it’s own borough. I used to teach in Kingston and my borough neighbours it. It has lots of students from other boroughs come in for schools so perhaps that also affects it...

I was looking at the article whynot posted yesterday. I note the TES is eventually waking up in its reporting.

But my main thought : why on earth does a serious Tory politician ahve as his press photo something that looks like a high school year book/ chap C and A model photoshoot photo? By MP standards, Gav is quite good looking - and , oy, does he know it. He is obviously very vain.

What’s the current policy Piggy?

Hello all, had a bit of a break from mn.

What's instant remote learning?

I'm concerned a lot of these parents don't appreciate that if a bubble closes the teacher could be the ill one. I've known as many staff be sick as pupils so far.

Dr Mad, I feel her and your pain. The NE had that for a while and it was v depressing.

Bracknell Forest is a small unitary with only 6 secondaries, so a couple of schools sending year groups home would make a big difference to the percentage for the authority. Kingston upon Thames hasn’t got many more secondaries.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/4063816-GCSE-and-Alevel-exams-in-England?msgid=101264748#101264748

Poll on exams..

At the moment, they are just signposted t some revision sites and exam board booklets , smile. A lot of this is because of our wi fi connection . I do think some is workload, and also, probably, not believing it will be needed much. When I had 15 of my year 11 class SI, only 3 of them did any work. I only know this because I set work. I was under no obligation to do so. But , in theory, we are within govt guidelines because they can instantly find stuff to do.

This is where Gav is everyone! Playing in the leaves at a residential site local to me.

The woman on the end looks like she's got a stick ready to beat him with

I think she wants to beat herself for having to stand near him 😆 The residential is such a lovely size but relies on funding so I bet she had to be all smiles that day. She’s such a lovely lady. In the summer my children wanted an ice cream but I didn’t have cash and they didn’t have a card machine. She gave them the ice creams!

Site not size