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

The school librarian in the school I work in trawls charity shops for books for school.
The library my kids go to is stocked by the PTA and parents on the whole.
I bet most parents are not aware of the straits schools are in.

Urgh the us for ourselves lot are going all guns blazing on Twitter for Ferguson suggesting closing school for some older year groups. Urgh.

I lost you all for a while. I've been a bit busy (understatement). Hope you're all having a bit of a break.

Does your head inform you if a colleague is off for testing? Or if they're isolating due to a family member being ill/testing positive? I constantly feel I'm one person away from isolation/infection. I'm in Primary so am talking close colleagues that I spend time with in the same room, or with whom I share bubbles (PPA cover). It makes me feel I can't see people out of work and I am missing social contact.

This could be interesting
www.theguardian.com/education/2020/oct/24/uk-academics-opening-of-universities-was

Someone got locked in the broom cupboard (created inbetween threads 25 and 26)!

[quote WhyNotMe40]This could be interesting
www.theguardian.com/education/2020/oct/24/uk-academics-opening-of-universities-was[/quote]
Oh that is interesting @WhyNotMe40! HE unions braver than teaching unions??

Can see why they're particularly worried about January. (Us non-HE population need to worry about December when they all come home.... I know they're supposed to be putting a plan in place but can't see how they can force students to isolate at that point.)

Maybe it will give our unions a bit of courage to look after our welfare.

@WhyNotMe40 We can hope

August some students will willingly isolate. My dd is pretty much isolating all the time anyway (she's living online uni, because she doesn't much like many people 🤣).

I'm up and posting at silly o'clock because I've just had to rescue dd2 from a sleepover. We're still tier 1 and I felt this would be the last chance for her to stay at a friend's house (the same friend that she sits right next to at school, and who we share childcare with). She got scared and lonely, and couldn't sleep, so texted me to come and get her, and managed to wake her friend's mum up and ask to come home. This is a huge positive step for her (it doesn't seem like it in the middle of the night, but it is) as she has selective mutism and rarely manages to even speak to her friends parents.

your DD was scared, MsAwesomeDragon, but👍👍👍 she got the massage through.

Hello everyone. Not been as active the last month due to various reasons - exhaustion, time, protecting my MH.

Was so looking forward to this week and then yesterday got a text from DS’s head to say a child in his wraparound bubble has tested positive so he needs to isolate for 14 days. All my half term plans zapped like that.
Also means back to teaching live on Teams. I managed just about Dudu g lockdown as Yr 11 and 13 had left. Next Mon and Tues I have 5 lessons each day and a parents evening. How can I ignore DS all that time?

I think this could be what breaks me.

*during

I managed just about Dudu g lockdown as Yr 11 and 13 had left. Next Mon and Tues I have 5 lessons each day and a parents evening.

Yeah, I only managed live learning because we cut down to 3 lessons a day with a longer lunch (which imo was very sensible). No talk of this this time round. (mind you, no planning of anything at my school, as per!)

No discussion at all of teachers' occupational health, or children's screen time. A generation of eye, back and neck problems to come. All caused by a bunch of lobbying parents desperate to see teachers earn their 'wages' and a desire from some to create a simulacra of real school at home. Parental anxiety driving educational decisions is not good. I am all for live learning in doses but , from an educational and health point of view, 5 hours plus of screen time does no one nay good.

We've been told there is no expectation for us to do full live lessons if we have to shut. Pre-recorded short example videos are apparently going to be enough. But those are buggers to do as well. Trying to do 5 of them each day, AND monitor what's coming back in will be awful.

I’ve submitted a form to request parental leave but I also did this during lockdown when things became too much and it was denied.

I've been teaching secondary English remotely on Teams since March and it is knackering. The bit that is lost in remotely taught lessons is that setting up time, small chats/checks with students, writing up lesson notes on the board, the end-of lesson checks, seeing the room is tidy, ready to go for the next lesson. Also the time spent walking to the next lessons change of pace, time to turn off a bit.

Instead straight into the next class.

It's full on, the whole time occupied, significantly more teaching and learning time than in face-to-face. Though it must be said, less ability to read the room and check understanding. I say teaching and learning, but neither is as effective as face-to-face.

Lesson notes, which have to be intelligible to parents ,have to be written both before the lesson and updated after - way more work for the teacher. The unrelenting screen time does no-one any good.

Surveys showed the students really struggled with this. In the end it was decided that in a five-period per week subject such as English, one lesson would be untaught, free time to catch up. This has worked well and no complaints from parents.

I should say there was no expectation that all lessons would be live, but preparing them is as much work as going live, and then dealing with the work, the stuff you could check walking round the classroom has to be marked online.

Speaking of teachers' health problems we had to sign off on a form that said our homes were fit working space, so we are covered by WorkSafe regulations.

Remote teaching is bad for the back and the waistline I can tell you.

What the, ahem, anxious parents don't get is they have to be in the room while the lesson is going on: it can't happen in a private space.

Mary B is on LBC now one of us for ourselves is on now.

How's it going?

Just listening to Dr B on LBC. morning all

Just the usual really. The us woman had a 4 year old. Her argument was for the France sweden model and focused on mental health rising.

Mary put her point over for blended really well.

Andrew Castle asked us that people will call her a granny killer etc. Then she mentioned the mental health and Andrew Castle said he couldn't agree more.

It does seem its the same points just over and over.

I don't feel Andrew challenged the Us woman well at all.

The Us brigade very rarely have children older than about 9.

I know a couple of Us mums IRL. They are the ones that always smooth things over for their kids - find it difficult to ever let their child experience a "negative" emotion. Their child can do no wrong sort.
Anecdata I know, but...

motherrunner

My dd not coping well having to isolate in half term either.