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

@Piggywaspushed

Neil Ferguson is calling for action on older teens...

Yeah but Prof Lockdown is vilified by the right since his momentary lapse...

Marr is really going form Starmer on schools.

That 92% who don't rely on schools for childcare may well not like what they are hearing about longer lockdowns in order to keep teenagers in schools.

Keir is just doing Mr Hindsight.

I honestly think the Ferguson thing was a conspiracy. I read a lot of Owen Jones.

If schools close early for Xmas, we'll lose summer holiday. I'm keeping resignation options in my back pocket.

Marr just did a great job on Gove when he said we follow the science.

I had a really bad evening eventually , should not have had more gin than I usually do, whilst listening to the press conference.

The gotcha! posters who say we should have our wages slashed, I've been thinking - I would be so unbelievably happy to go to 80% wages if it meant that I was mandated not to do my job, even if it was for just 4 weeks. Had thoughts about tendering resignation last night, but less so this morning. Reading the horrible horrible threads on MN last night didn't help at all. We're financially comfortable and my job is usually much more positive than negative, but this feels awful at the moment. I have to think back to the many lovely and appreciative things that parents and students have said to me in the past 6 months or so.

My school faced pressure under lockdown, to furlough non-teaching staff and refund the fees to parents. They topped up the wages to 100% (good for them). There were polite notices in end of year reports about members of staff having been furloughed and therefore being unable to submit reports for dc.

I could write lots more but won't because it will just turn into a pity party! Solidarity to everyone here .

Oh I'd totally have preferred furlough. I'd have done a load of cpd, I'd have parented my child properly, done more exercise.

@SmileEachDay and @Hercwasonaroll glad it's not just me finding it hard to monitor work for those isolating as well as delivering the normal lessons. Ultimately, I suppose all we can do is provide the work and hope parents are supportive enough to ensure their dc have a go at it.

I'm generally very positive and love my job but I will admit to feeling slightly anxious about the coming half term managing the whole covid thing while simultaneously trying to maintain some sort of normality and continue to develop the faculty isn't easy.

@ohthegoats

Oh I'd totally have preferred furlough. I'd have done a load of cpd, I'd have parented my child properly, done more exercise.

Yes, I still feel guilty about my own dc during lockdown. Two were happy to get on with their work, but one suffered during lockdown with the isolation and the other has really struggled going back to school.

My primary dc and I fought a lot over his school work during lockdown. I wish I'd had more time to devote to them all instead of prepping, teaching, marking, chasing pupils and parents etc.

@ohthegoats

Oh I'd totally have preferred furlough. I'd have done a load of cpd, I'd have parented my child properly, done more exercise.

100% yes to this. But of course, the children of teachers are expendable in all this and don’t ‘count’

I really should be exam marking. But arguing on MN is making me feel weirdly a bit better. Think I just need a good fight somewhere as I'm so angry.

@Piggywaspushed

I am noticing more and more scientist now saying ' we know that transmission in schools is high' and that politician are no longer denying this.

Why are so many on MNHQ still peddling the opposite myth? Are they so bored of the whole thing they don't watch the TV any more?

Or do they only read the Try press which always hunts down contrary evidence, always from other countries.

Chair of The Wellcome Trust on Marr. Very even handed; talks sense. He seems to think secondaries might have to change within 4 weeks.

That's interesting Piggy.

All of the scientists I have heard this moyare saying schools need to be open the children have had enough damage to their education but nevertheless the drop will be slower and its still a risk.

Ugh I also read this.

The PM was told dead bodies would be stored on ice rinks in second wave and NHS chief warned of 4,000 deaths a day - as aides say 'I could have wept, it was so awful'

And they want us in packed corridors? I feel panicky.
And I have to go in a crowded corridor

If schools close early for Xmas, we'll lose summer holiday

I'd be surprised if they do this because it really would be a Burgundy Book issue and liable for industrial action.

I wonder if it's more likely they declare the days be declared pupil-free to allow staff to prep, etc. so not on holiday. I'm thinking of what happened here in Victoria, which has a Labor premier, but socialist-lite (raving Commie to the Murdoch press). They went nowhere near staff holidays. Not a peep.

sigh. They're all wankers.

www.tes.com/news/schools-need-stay-open-because-pm-wants-2021-exams

Ultimately, I suppose all we can do is provide the work and hope parents are supportive enough to ensure their dc have a go at it.

Oh I already know that not all parents checked this-I had so many pupils come back after 14 days (including some who told the school they were ‘ill’ and not SI funnily enough) having done absolutely none of the work I had painstakingly put together, to allow them to work with little effort on their part. This includes those in exam classes too. But of course, it’s up to us to put in even more extra time to catch them up, whilst also teaching ‘as normal’.
The Mumsnet bubble always seems to brush past this issue in favour of just blindly repeating ‘keep the schools’s OPEN!’!

[quote Piggywaspushed]sigh. They're all wankers.

www.tes.com/news/schools-need-stay-open-because-pm-wants-2021-exams[/quote]
Yeah read that last night piggy as have signed up for update emails from DfE. Pile of wank.

That update is a joke though. Schools aren’t open, some are, mine hasn’t been. Yr 12 and 13 have been isolating at home longer than they have been in school!

Full of rage also at everything. I’ve started reporting threads and posts that seem to be inciting people to break the rules - I honestly feel MNHQ have a moral responsibility here.

I’m actually going to shower and do some work. Going to see my mum outside later for last time in ages following her cancer diagnosis last week. I’m too big a risk 😢

The line about breaking lockdown rules if online is offered is ludicrous. Why can they never be clear?

Yeah, I set half term revision tasks for my 'terribly anxious and so behind' year 11s. 3 of them have done it.

And my other class had a coursework deadline. Awaiting work form half the class.

My year 12 haven't submitted (actually quite enjoyable!) work.

It's like they feel indignant now to do any work outside of lesson time : and I do lay the responsibility for that partly at parents' feet. This idea that being in a school, in a classroom si the only thing that is needed.

Update on DS. Just spoke to him on the phone (as we normally pick him up now and despite severe LD he knows the time of day and is acutely aware of clocks) and I said "Love you. We'll see you soon" and he said "Excellent" in a cheery manner. Made me smile 😊

Can someone post me a link to the latest ons data about infections by year group in secondary. I can't find it. DH is in a stress freefall and is going to email his head

Christ, what a shitshow.

I feel utterly defeated today. I have absolutely zero enthusiasm for work tomorrow knowing it's the same shit, different day. And that the Government doesn't deem us worthy of any protection whatsoever. Nothing has changed apart from a grudging admittance that transmission is happening in schools. Yeah, like we told you it would....🤦‍♀️

I really don't think that the unions are helping. I don't want schools to shut. I want them to be safer. Blended learning, rotas, funding....all the things we've suggested countless times.

On a slightly different note, what will be very interesting over the coming weeks in my KS1 class is finding out which children have been to parties / family gatherings etc. as they always tell us.

Or even better, they also tell us if they felt a bit poorly that morning so were given Calpol to lower their temperature so they could still come to school. FFS.

I'm going for a long walk today to clear my head I think....

@monkeytennis97

Update on DS. Just spoke to him on the phone (as we normally pick him up now and despite severe LD he knows the time of day and is acutely aware of clocks) and I said "Love you. We'll see you soon" and he said "Excellent" in a cheery manner. Made me smile 😊

Lovely to read monkey

@monkeytennis97

Update on DS. Just spoke to him on the phone (as we normally pick him up now and despite severe LD he knows the time of day and is acutely aware of clocks) and I said "Love you. We'll see you soon" and he said "Excellent" in a cheery manner. Made me smile 😊

That's good to hear, monkeytennis.