The Twenty-Seventh Republic - rules or guidelines - Pandemic or Pirates of the Caribbean

[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

Congratulations Marple.

Congratulations @marplemead!

minisoksmakehardwork I think schools are the place where all sorts of parenting is farmed out. I have a 1:1 child to support in my job and other children with EHCPs gravitate to me too. Lots of the things I see - behaviour, social responsibility, nutrition, healthy living, even toilet training issues - are viewed by some of the parents as the school's job. One child I support gets sweets every day after school, and total crud in her packed lunch every day, and is obese and unfit, yet dad is insistent that the child "is ENTITLED" to Fizzy support at school and makes a big fuss if the child doesn't get 3-4 sessions a week.

I hear such a lot about schools having to stay open for children's benefit but what will their parents be doing to support them? Obviously there are many who can't do things, but in my experience there are plenty who just won't because it's easier to a) get school to do it and b) blame school.

Oh I got some stick yesterday for daring to suggest that children from deprived backgrounds are more disruptive. This isn't a problem, it's just a fact in the vast, vast majority of cases. It's why schools in deprived areas are challenging to work in. This isn't rocket science, it's just a fact.

Comparing my old school and current school is chalk and cheese. One isn't better than the other for working in (personally), the kids aren't better or worse to work with... they are just differently 'hard' and challenging.

Anyway.

I considered resigning this morning. I'm away without my partner, so sent him a quick whatsapp about it... 3 hours ago... haha, funnily enough I've not heard any response.

I sent him a list of stuff to do today after seeing the lockdown headlines - we need to get rid of some things to the tip etc, otherwise the house is going to be unlivable crowded with crap we don't need. I'm sure he's loving me right now.

Congratulations marplemead, that's such exciting (and nerve-wracking) news. Keep yourself as safe and healthy as possible, and definitely take time off for morning sickness if you need to. 💐🎉🎊

@marplemead that's lovely lovely news!!

DH is fuming because he will still be trudging to work to do his hours, 'unlike every other fucker' (he'd be hilarious on MN!) but won't be able to play golf : which is outdoors, completely socially distanced and good for mental and physical health.

One bonus of isolation - I don’t have to take DS to football! It is pissing it down and the wind is howling down the chimney. Silver linings!

I think secondary schools will remain open if we have a national lock down (from what I have read anyway).

Does anyone else find the uncertainty utterly draining? Trying to plan for every eventuality is bloody exhausting me!

but won't be able to play golf

I've just joined my swanky gym! The swimming was going to keep my sanity this half term. Typical.

It's very stressful. It's like the responsibility for the entire country's medical, emotional and economic well being has been foisted on us. I am sure none of us answered that as an exciting part of teaching in a PGCE/ job interview!

I've been thinking about this. Saucery posted the other day about a vaccine trial, which it looks like I've been accepted for, pending a medical. Reading the huge amount of info they've sent me, they're not actually giving people COVID; they're testing the vaccine on people with significant exposure and testing for antibodies. And teachers are amongst the groups they're actively recruiting.
It's beyond baffling that they're going to shut everything down again except schools. I know the politics; I get the mental health bit; I know childcare is a problem. But at the heart of it, it really does feel like a "fuck off and die".
My mum and godfather are 72 and 79 respectively. They both live alone. Both are in good health. When I saw them in the summer, I said then that the plan for all the pensioners to die off to save money had failed and I wondered what was coming next. This feels like it.

Oh, and feminism. We need to keep open for the sisterhood.

Oh , and congrats marple. Stay healthy and safe. Feet up.

When should I tell my headteacher?

Congratulations @marplemead I told my head at dead on the deadline for telling him. I was worried about miscarriage, and didn't want it known about until as late as possible. I also only told my parents a few days before. We went to Thailand and Cambodia when I was 16 weeks pregnant, so didn't want parents to worry. Which they would have done.

On the subject of MH , someone started a goady thread about suicide rates the other day. Had immediately assumed the number of suicides in unis since September was high because of Covid and was rapidly told that this was nonsense and the figures, dreadful though they were, were actually lower than average, thus far.

Schools are mainly crucial for MH because every other service has been cut to the bone, and/or closed down during covid.

But in normal times, we are often held responsible (often correctly) for damaging children's mental health

I have an idea.

Do you think we could go to 6 week terms from now until the end of the school year? Fuck Christmas and Easter dates, or bank holidays or whatever, just 6 weeks on, 2 weeks off and repeat, for the rest of the year.

Would that work as 'firebreak' type stuff?

Obviously there are childcare and work implications, but that's going to be the case anyway. It was at 6 weeks that things started going mental I think, in terms of infections?

We had our first closure in September. It’s a good idea but again I think it depends on areas.

Do primary schools still send whole classes home?

Oh @marplemead how amazing, I hope things go well. Would you have an argument for staying off school now if you're in what's previously been a dangerous window? Perhaps a chat with yr GP needed, or is it possible to access midwifery at all?

I think when BJ announces lockdown it'll be "Of course, we are keeping all schools open, MH, blah blah blah". After about a fortnight of numbers in hospital and dying still rising, he'll suddenly, with 24 hrs notice if we're lucky, decide secondary must go onto rota (perhaps just KS4/5?). Two weeks after that, to close, 3 weeks early for Christmas. Primaries/SEN will limp along. @GravityFalls do you think colleges will close at some point?

If schools do stay open some (BRTUS and like-minded) will keep kids st home anyway from fear. At the other end of the spectrum many parents, as a PP said, will continue with play dates, even parental socialising etc because "they're at school anyway, innit?" To a lesser extent this will also happen if many workplaces are still open.

I see the leaders of the four nations are supposed to be meeting to decide on a plan for Christmas guidance, but I actually don't see how they can at this point. Unless what they're really going to be discussing is UK lockdown and a review date.

DS is isolating due to his contact with a pupil from his wraparound bubble. The wraparound bubble and the whole class is isolating.

@ohthegoats well anything would be safer than all in continuously!

@noblegiraffe

Do primary schools still send whole classes home?

That’s the plan here, as there is no attempt to SD within our classrooms so would be impossible to identify who had/hadn’t been near the positive case.

Do primary schools still send whole classes home?

That's the plan for us, but we haven't had to do it yet. No opportunity at all to socially distance in class - I'm moving kids to and from the carpet, moving them for support groups etc. The class is so challenging that there is no other option.

We did last term Noble but our head is now muttering that one case alone isn't enough... she only shut me last time because PHE demanded it.

We have no social distancing and I am in close contact with all my class but the HS policy says it's safe so I must be!

Lovely news, marple!