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

That's lovely :) Poor woman probably had to go home and bath in bleach to get the ineptitude off.

@MrsHamlet

That's lovely :) Poor woman probably had to go home and bath in bleach to get the ineptitude off.

😆 😆 😆

Can you imagine the horror?

Ring ring, ring ring.
Hello?
Hello. It's Gav the utter muppet here. I'd like to come to visit your very worthy charity to boost my credibility lend my support
Fuck off to the far side of fuck That would be lovely.

I imagine I’d have to bleach my tongue and my eyeballs too.

@motherrunner

I imagine I’d have to bleach my tongue and my eyeballs too.

😂😂😂

That poll one exams is interesting : isn't it funny how these days on MN, AIBU attracts the more reasonable poster!

Am I entitled to additional non-contact time to undertake my additional responsibilities?
Yes. All teachers awarded TLR payments are also entitled to additional non-contact time to undertake their additional responsibilities in accordance with the STPCD’s provisions on leadership or management time

Going back to an earlier discussion this is what the NEU says and what I was basing my understanding on. Seems like it is still a rule but it isn't being enforced uniformly. I have email from head saying no tlr wouldn't come with additional time and the above published by unions re: stpcd.

I'm off out for yoga and gym today and then seeing the parents. I haven't seen them since we went back to school because I'm worried about the risk for them but they are determined they want to see us so I figure nearly a week into half term (where hopefully we'd have symptoms or have heard of others in our mega bubbles testing positive) is the safest time.

Help! Completely stuck on my conclusion this morning so I've put essay to one side for now and trying to plan maths again.

I have this heading 'assessment for learning' (what evidence will you collect to show progress). Isn't that just their work and whether or not they could give for example a common factor of 2 number?

What kind of questions do you ask to check understanding? To see if they know what they've learnt? What kind of questions do you ask your TA to ask (as a TA i was never told this in a lesson plan, so new to me!). I'm sooo confused I've opened the biscuits because it's too early for gin

Just claimed my tax rebate!

Can I ask opinions on here please?
I feel like I've been a very crappy parent this week.
Cases have doubled in the past week in my area although we are tier 1 and still a relatively low incidence (dark blue on the gov map). I've not felt comfortable taking my kids to indoor activities - we have a lot of contact with their grandparents.
It has rained pretty much constantly, and so they have had huge amounts of time on their kindles playing games (Minecraft and similar) or watching CBBC iPlayer. We've also done baking, splashing in puddles, Lego, visited the library, painting, - but still hours of screen time. Normally we would have been out to museums, soft play, bowling, swimming etc.
I'm feeling very guilty, anxious, tired. They are 4, 6 and 9. To be fair the 9yo mainly reads and the 6yo does craft - it's the 4 year old I'm feeling most guilty about...
Opinions?

@WhyNotMe40 I think you've done brilliantly! October half term is usually a washout, there's always next year!🤞

Thanks. Plan is to make carrot cake today with them, more puddle splashing, and test the 4yo on his phonics (he's a summer baby but doing brilliantly - I get him to.sound out the odd word during bedtime stories and he can do words like map flat bed)

What age are you planning for name? And what resources do you have easily to hand?
As afl I might do a few questions at the end on mini whiteboards (all pupils at my school have their own, on their desks in all my lessons), or an exit ticket with a few questions on that they have a few minutes to do independently and hand in at the end of the lesson. Or some diagnostic questions (the website is called i-eedi, it's fabulous multiple choice questions with each answer coming from a different misconception) with answers on mini whiteboards or ABCD cards. It's something I can see in the lesson, without having to collect books, to check that the pupils have understood what we've been doing. Sometimes they have, and that's great! Other times they haven't, so I need to go back and do another lesson on it, which is fine, and I think carefully about the misconceptions I've uncovered and how to rectify them.
Is that helpful

He's currently watching the Messy goes to okido episode about how electricity works.

Children age six to wear masks in class in France
Schoolchildren aged six and over in France will be required to wear face masks in class, the French prime minister, Jean Castex, has said.
Castex told lawmakers in the national assembly that the new measure was needed “to protect all our children, teachers and parents.” Face masks were already mandatory for children aged 11 and over.

@RigaBalsam

Children age six to wear masks in class in France Schoolchildren aged six and over in France will be required to wear face masks in class, the French prime minister, Jean Castex, has said. Castex told lawmakers in the national assembly that the new measure was needed “to protect all our children, teachers and parents.” Face masks were already mandatory for children aged 11 and over.

The Us4Ourselves group over here won’t like the sound of that!

@namechangedyetagain I'd do a bit of input, I do, we do etc. Lots of whiteboards AFLing as I go. Then give then a totally independent question to answer on mini whiteboards for a show me AFL. Often I give multi choice options for this (e.g. a an obviously wrong answer, b wrong but a common misconception, c the right answer, d I don't know) I'd then set off those that are sorted independently. Keep the wobbly ones with me for some more examples and release them to go independent as and when I could. Would have the HAs doing some reasoning and problem solving independently and then, depending on time, do some reasoning and problem solving with the whole class with scaffolding and the HAs helping to model and explain as an extension for them or start the next lesson with this if pressed for time.

@namechangedyetagain

Help! Completely stuck on my conclusion this morning so I've put essay to one side for now and trying to plan maths again.

I have this heading 'assessment for learning' (what evidence will you collect to show progress). Isn't that just their work and whether or not they could give for example a common factor of 2 number?

What kind of questions do you ask to check understanding? To see if they know what they've learnt? What kind of questions do you ask your TA to ask (as a TA i was never told this in a lesson plan, so new to me!). I'm sooo confused I've opened the biscuits because it's too early for gin

Exit tickets? I used to hand them out then collect them at the door. Could perhaps be in the form of a Kahoot or an MS Quiz to minimise paper transfer.

For me, if I set a Dr Frost Maths homework, I generate the report of "worst questions" and address the top 3 or 4 in the next lesson, whilst asking the pupils to make their own notes.

And yes, I would have thought my markbooks were the evidence to show progress? I did just scrape passes on all of my essays though .

I've just opened my PGCE Essay 2 "The Nature and Purpose of Assessment". Can't believe I even wrote it.... but then I look at my technical reports from my previous career in engineering, and I can't believe that once I wrote in such a beautiful and detailed fashion!

@RigaBalsam thank you, is there anything else for the lycees?

@WhyNotMe40 I'm pretty sure I can trump you on the parenting front. I've barely seen mine this half term. I feel sad for them. I feel sad for me. Sounds like yours have been having fun despite October is always rubbish.
I've decided (i think) that I'm giving my PGCE to placement 2. See how i get on with planning next term, see how my essay comes back, see how evidence file goes at Christmas and see if a change of school makes me feel better (or worse).
I'll kick myself if I give up now.

[quote monkeytennis97]@RigaBalsam thank you, is there anything else for the lycees?[/quote]
I only saw that bit posted. So not sure.

Can't imagine it here at all. Y11 can't even wear them properly in the corridors.

Name - don't feel bad - you are showing your kids a good work ethic! I am showing my kids that it's ok to slump around the house pratting around on my phone on MN

@WhyNotMe40

Can I ask opinions on here please? I feel like I've been a very crappy parent this week. Cases have doubled in the past week in my area although we are tier 1 and still a relatively low incidence (dark blue on the gov map). I've not felt comfortable taking my kids to indoor activities - we have a lot of contact with their grandparents. It has rained pretty much constantly, and so they have had huge amounts of time on their kindles playing games (Minecraft and similar) or watching CBBC iPlayer. We've also done baking, splashing in puddles, Lego, visited the library, painting, - but still hours of screen time. Normally we would have been out to museums, soft play, bowling, swimming etc. I'm feeling very guilty, anxious, tired. They are 4, 6 and 9. To be fair the 9yo mainly reads and the 6yo does craft - it's the 4 year old I'm feeling most guilty about... Opinions?

It doesn't sound as if you've been a crappy parent. My dc, who are older than yours, have spent a lot of time doing what they want this week, which involves a lot of television and a lot of time under the duvet on the sofa. They are exhausted from the half term and need the downtime.

We've been out a few times on Pokemon Go walks, to eat and for fresh air. Otherwise very little.

Don't feel guilty. You need a rest too.

english.elpais.com/society/2020-10-28/a-room-a-bar-and-a-class-how-the-coronavirus-is-spread-through-the-air.html

Has anyone seen this? It came up on my Facebook, posted by a friend (or possibly sometime in a group I'm in). Near the bottom of the article is information about spread in a classroom.