The Twenty-ninth Republic - lockdown light continues & good news for Welsh students

[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 staffroom password just in case it attracts the wrong sort

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 booze is stashed - Thirsty Tuesdays, Fizz Fridays now in operation.

If you come with a stick to goad us then that is not allowed in the staffroom and you will receive a detention

And the wasted at least two post moaning about it

I am more of the 'Good moaning' vintage.

I can hold my hand up to my primary aged children seemingly not able to use cutlery.
They can. They just don't want to and have to be nagged. I really don't understand why it is such an issue for them. Some evenings I let it slide as it makes dinner time too stressful. The 7yo is the worst!

My 14 yo doesn’t always use his cutlery properly - but then neither do I, I’ve even been known to use my fingers

@DollyMixtureLulus that reminds me of a parent's comment on an exam question once "how is little Johnny meant to find the length of x when the diagram is not accurately drawn?"
Little Johnny had more brain cells than his parent, he used Pythagoras' theorem. I took a photo of it and it cheers me up every time it pops up on my Google photos memories 😁

Here's my day. Got in at 7 to prep for meeting with SS and family worker. Dealt with 3 parents before registration over rude behaviour, anxiety and violence respectively. Saw SENCO to sort a meeting to push for an ehcp (in year 6! They should have one by now but they only got tous in year 5).

Morning was ok with English, maths, grammar and arithmetic but break duty was a pain with rowing girls and now I have to deal with them.

Lunchtime I was on duty with our "can't go outs". I am quite good at Lego.

Afternoon was a pain because I have to try to do interventions while the others work independently which is not possible. Plus I dealt with boys fighting from lunch, swearing, general madness. The attention span is so low that by pm they have lost it so we have to do short tasks - little bits of topic, x tables, pshe, bit of this and bit of that, story. I feel like a cbeebies presenter crossed with a wrestling referee.

All of them are so low in attainment that my targets (which are impossible)will never be met. Ever. I spend so much time explaining things so many ways.

But then one of them gave me a drawing of me today and it was great. It was me by the board ripping my hair out saying "let me explain it another way" and it made me laugh so much it was like a huge release. I love them again!

I've eventually got rid of a piece of work that keeps coming back for fixing. And then I acquired another one that seems destined to do the same thing. At least the mistakes aren't mine yet this time and they've been spotted before sending to the customer for approving. I'm not going to be popular if I have to send out a 3rd e-mail in a fortnight apologising for the thing they've signed off needing to be changed because of errors in it.
Two days in nobody has spotted the issue with the new rota yet. I'm wondering how long it will take and who will complain about me first.

9/11 made me laugh. Hope they were suitably sheepish after you'd pointed it out.

I like Tuesday.
Double year 12 literature. Edward II in the coldest classroom I teach in. Left my coat in my office. Not okay with being that cold.
Double free in which I finished marking mocks then did data then sorted out parents evening stuff with a colleague.
Lunch time meeting with broken but tricky year 10.
Form time (not my form) doing literacy stuff. Colleague cried... luckily not on them.
NQT obs. Good lesson. Tricky year 10 in there, along with some characters.
Write up obs.
I'm now prepping some literacy stuff for January form times because I have no mental capacity for anything more tricky then editing PowerPoints. And I'm drinking bucks fizz because why not.
And I bought cake for my crying colleague.

Oh I do miss teaching secondary when I hear "double free!" I had one amazing year with a double free on the end of Friday! That is my whole PPA now. 2 hours. Yes I know it's not 10%. Academy trust (rolls eyez).

What fresh hell is this notifications thing? Let's hope there's a way of turning it off.

That's shit phlebas
I do have more than I should this year because COVID (they apparently couldn't timetable my classes in the emergency version because I have so many exam classes) so I'm trying to lighten the load for as many people I like as I can.

I thought it was just me. I hate the sodding thing: something else no-one ever asked for.

You can't turn them off.

I love you all, but I don't really need a notification every time somebody posts on these threads.

“56 people have posted on [this] thread.......”
Yes, I know, I’m bloody reading it!

Just coming on to say what is the notification thing as well

It’s irritating me too!

(And now I’ve just added a notification for all of you 😆)

It's irritating me too. I thought I had 20+ pms, and wondered why I'd got so popular so suddenly. Then I clicked it was notifications, which I neither need nor want. They'd better fix it so we can turn them off soon!! I already get irritated by an email every time I vote on an aibu, telling me to check out the results of the poll. If I wanted to do that I could have gone back to the thread!!

They are annoying. Luckily I don't get them on the app in the same way I can't get pms. On chrome I can now read the site but I can't post.

Ate my bland rubbery noodles courtesy of ds in gratitude for not having to cook. Animals are fed and I'm ready to watch some outlander in bed. I have to stay awake till 9 to ensure ds gets off the PlayStation and tries to sleep.

I'm too young for Dixon so yes it must be a later rehash that's playing in my head.

Today was ill support staff and tech failures plus children crawling on the floor but there were some good bits in between and pizza for tea

twitter.com/lit_liverbird/status/1326251425484197889?s=21

:( if this is accurate, it’s awful.

How awful...

Today was better than yesterday behaviour wise for kids but cover is beginning to be an issue. Were still waiting for test to be delivered, should arrive tomorrow.

Today better for me w behaviour too. No wonder we all dread Mondays!

Colleague who is still off weeks later was picking up her son in the car this afternoon. She got to go in for an echocardiogram tomorrow. She was healthy before COVID.

Not a bad day here, just madly busy
Tutor meeting ( on teams)
Tutor time
Bottom set y9, not too bad, with 2 kids simultaneously on teams
Bottom y10s, great hoy really helpful, supposedly 3 on teams but one no show
Break
Top set y10s, 2 on teams
Y13 all on teams
Lunch, inc meeting 4 of my tutees 1:1 for 10 mins each
Y11 tops, 2 on teams, one no show
Y7, This year is my first experience of totally mixed ability groups as we still are teaching them in tutor groups. Adds a bit of challenge, fortunately no teams joinees
Department meeting after work on fucking teams again
( plus another 5 10 mins 1:1s with my tutees when i got home)
When all this is over I would like to burn the internet.

Is no one else worried about excessive teacher help in wales.
It’s one of the reasons England dropped ca for gcse science, there was widespread excessive teacher “help”

@MrsHamlet
Same with one of our teachers too. Runner, Sub50 y, enviable bmi, non smoker/drinker. Now at home with heart issues and long covid