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

The no one understands stats thread is being derailed. Shame, as I was enjoying it.

@noblegiraffe

Right, are my threads hyperbolic and shut down conversation because I bloody feel like I've been trying to get a conversation going and it's not an exaggeration to say secondary schools are fucked.

Annoyed by someone's comment on a thread I really can't derail.

I'd view it as a compliment, in a weird way, if I were you. Someone spouts some nonsense. You shoot it down in a few well-chosen words, with undeniable facts backed up with common sense, and they are stymied. Therefore, end of debate. They have no more to offer, so the easiest thing is to slate you as being .... insert word of your choice.

It's my mums birthday today. I rang her at 7 and woke her up. I was not popular 😂

Second case in our school today. Well actually Friday but no-one contacted anyone until mid morning today....only those sat nearby went home...

@CallmeAngelina it was written into our risk assessment that ‘masks must not be worn on classrooms’

We had 3 more confirmed cases today. 2 of those were already isolating so we don't need to send any more kids home, but the third one caused a load of my sixth form class to isolate, which is a pita.

Noble I don't think your threads are hyperbolic and they always seem to be inviting a conversation rather than sitting one down. I don't post on them very often because my "dealing with idiots" tolerance is usually used up by the kids at school way before I get home and can get onto MN.

A getaway in Egypt with cheese sounds ideal. I'll get my passport renewed for when we can do that. I haven't been abroad for 15 years, so it would do me a lot of good.

I haven't been abroad for nearly 20 yrs and need to get a new passport £££....

We're ahead of the game here. A few scientists and most of the unions are now saying what we were saying back in May/June. The government will probably catch up next April.

I do, in a sense, get that people can't cope with the idea of their kids being off for months again, esp if they're trying to WFH. But I 's not on to dress that up in "concern for the children", etc. Anyone else read the BBC report on the Scottish union moves, there were several mentions of the parents' pressure group which must not be named here?

I thought it was weird that a thread with facts and some (correctly directed) anger, is hyperbolic. One with loads of fear, tears and just feelings, is a good conversation starter.

A friend who works in SEN has had the whole school close. So far she's the only adult not to have tested positive.

I have two passports and the rage that I can't use either.

[quote Medra]@CallmeAngelina it was written into our risk assessment that ‘masks must not be worn on classrooms’[/quote]
Thanks.
Anyone else?

We've had more student positives today, and lots more off due to parental positives. It's really accelerating in my school's area, rather than decreasing due to "lockdown".

Noble your threads are not hyperbolic, but I suppose the title was a bit dramatic (although I agree with its summation of the situation). People may think they are hyperbolic because they have no insight into the true situation in schools. Don't want to know. It's their normalcy bias.

Teachers are allowed to 'feel'. We are expected to be feminineemotional and kind hearted and self sacrificing.

One comment that really got to me recently was an agree poster who kept banging on about teachers not hugging a child who had cut her knee. I don't believe hugging are in the professional standards. e were supposed to rise above covid concerns to randomly smatter hugs and cuddles.

angry not agree!

No masks in classrooms is also in our risk assessment. In fact we've been reminded that we should be telling students to remove them.
I'm not.
Have had several SLT drive bys stepping into my lessons telling kids to remove coats and masks. I'm letting them wear coats because I'm insisting on open windows (a lot of teachers are not) and I am NOT going to start telling them to remove masks.

.... I may get in trouble for this.

I am really curious to know what would happen if this was legally challenged. How can you be forbidden to wear a mask? How would a teacher be disciplined if they refused to comply?

HSE trumps all. If they say masks then it's masks.

The coats thing is annoying me though. I don't think it's cold so I tell them to take coats off.

It annoys me that they have all decided to put hoodies and jackets on but have no proper school jumper. We even have an official school hoodie they can wear. I am not popular because of this!

There are some rooms where I'm allowing coats and others where they're not needed. Tomorrow's classroom is a freezer. I might take my hot water bottle!!

Several more positives at my place - all kids who were already isolating so no action taken.

I’m really suspicious about this whole only looking at the 48 hours before symptoms thing.

@CallmeAngelina we currently have masks should be worn in communal areas. The implication is that we shouldn’t wear them to teach and have been offered clear visors. However after a quick back track a few days into September students may choose to wear them in the classroom. More and more do I would say. I wore mine before we went into tier 2. I wear mine all the time unless directly teaching/speaking. I have seen more and more staff wearing them in classrooms recently. I took the view that they probably wouldn’t challenge me if and bring it on if they did!

So our school I would say masks not encouraged in classrooms but if we choose to wear them I think it would be ok.

I suppose the title was a bit dramatic

Deliberately so! If you don't clickbait your title, you never get much interest.

At least on the thread about feelings they're not being told to suck it up as supermarket workers have it worse. Things seem to be changing.

I have way more sympathy for cold kids after being a PGCE mentor and sitting at the back of the class taking notes. My legs are bloody cold a lot of the time, even in trousers.

On HSE I was doing a practical where I couldn't allow them to share equipment due to transmission risk, and told off a pair of girls because they were about to do so.
20 minutes later they were sharing lip balm...

@noblegiraffe

I have way more sympathy for cold kids after being a PGCE mentor and sitting at the back of the class taking notes. My legs are bloody cold a lot of the time, even in trousers.

Yeah, me too! I get way colder sat still observing than I do pacing around teaching, so I have sympathy for them on it. I hate being cold though and feel the cold easily despite wearing vests, blouse, cardi, scarf etc!

One comment that really got to me recently was an agree poster who kept banging on about teachers not hugging a child who had cut her knee. I don't believe hugging are in the professional standards. e were supposed to rise above covid concerns to randomly smatter hugs and cuddles

I was at that one too. I managed to get through my entire schooling without a teacher touching me at all. Never did me any harm :o

I only found that thread today, thank you Nobel.

Definitely not hyperbolic!
I think as people are starting to experience bubble closures and also as more suddenly actually know infected people, they're taking it more seriously.

As we all predicted, the whole thing will grind to a halt due to cases in pupils and staff,, ill staff, closed bubbles, staff SI, staff liking after children.

We are also in a race to see who will
Close the classes. Some are already being sent home part time (as we have a lot if part time staff.)

I'm adding the it as both children are Si about 5 days apart 😭

Juggling planning for lessons I'm not going to be teaching, home school and a pre schooler has been fun today.

Small got a test too today as had borderline temp.