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

@SonyaCisco

Just watching Matt Hancock on Breakfast and he seemed to say that if you are in the same room for 45 minutes, but distanced, you still have to isolate?! Seems to be a different rule to the one we are all working from....he did seem to stumble around the issue tho so I expect a ‘correction’ if he gets pushed on it later.

They've clearly just made that up, otherwise nearly all secondary schools would need to send classes home.

I suppose if you have 50 minute lessons you can say they're just about under 45 minutes in reality, but ours are 75 minutes, and obviously some pupils share multiple classes but aren't sat within 2m of each other.

@Saucery

Easier said than done, Sansa but try not to worry too much. Statistics very much in your favour

Thank you- I know chances are I don't have it, but cases have been shooting up in the local area recently!

sansa fingers crossed for you.

A teacher I know tested positive yesterday and found the whole experience extremely emotional and shocking. She's in pieces, teacher guilt and also very understandably, fear. This whole thing is extremely stressful, especially when you're routinely gaslit by the media and government, and unable to control your contacts.

The amount of stuff on the bbc recently about ventilation is very upsetting.

Im constantly going into stuffy classrooms (I am ppa.)

I know chances are I will be negative, but it is a worry. I know it sounds stupid but I don't want to be the first positive teacher case!

It's so shocking to read of parents sending their kids in when they must know they should be at home (e.g. family member isolating, already showing symptoms). This must be part of the reason it is spreading around some schools.

The ventilation in my teaching room is crap- there are 4 windows which open about 10cm each, and it never feels like there is proper airflow through the room.

Yep. It's undeniable that even if safety measures in schools were good enough, they're not imo, we are completely at the mercy of parents and there are zero sanctions for sending in a child that should be isolating.

You can theoretically be fined for sharing a meal with consenting adults from another household but there is zero sanctions for sending a child into a crowded school full of children who are forced to be there when eg. you know you are infected.

Our safety measures, paltry as they are, aren't protected in any way.

Morning btw. Day off thankfully

Morning everyone, day off here too. Going to look at some books and planning on making a lovely meal for the family, which will no bought be rejected .

Off to placemark on the other thread.

Hope your test goes smoothly Sansa, and good luck for a negative result.

Ah Brie. Ds has agreed to try pepper steak for my birthday dinner. The fact he agreed to even try would have blown me away until recently. I made chicken with a spiced crust and katsu sauce recently and he declared it his new favourite

He was intensely picky for years and all of my family would complain and imply it was my fault for not forcing him. However I was same as a child and he seemed similar to me in terms of sensory issues with food and serious horror at something that felt wrong in the mouth or other hard to explain strong reactions. Thankfully my approach has worked and now at 13 he's genuinely curious about trying new things and enjoying new flavours. I still have the odd thing I wouldn't be able to make myself eat for a much needed million pounds but just a very few.

Sorry for the detour but someone mentioned a child with eating issues on here recently and suspected spectrum issues and I meant to reply then. It's possible to have really significant sensory issues around texture, sounds, light etc particularly as a child without being autistic ime. Unless I'm autistic and not aware of it.

I made chicken with a spiced crust and katsu sauce recently and he declared it his new favourite.

Just wanted to say that sounds delicious!

I suppose mine are quite good with food, as they have been brought up across two cultures, and I like cooking too, but they still have their foibles, which do my head in. Youngest ds has to have ketchup with everything, for example! I have a stockpile in my cupboard in case of disaster.

Colleagues trying my patience today. Mouthing off about how the proposed vaccines are all unsafe and untested, coming in before self isolation period up to “do a few bits”, mithering about inconsequential paperwork......grrrr. Give me pupil behaviour issues any day, I can cope with patience and humour with those. Stupid people, not so much.
Masks brilliant for hiding true feelings though

Goodness - what a day. Pop pop pop pop pop go those bubbles.
How many more days can we continue to blame this on community spread?

Hope you get a quick and negative result, Sansa

My kids are picky eaters but in different ways. My DS doesn’t like chocolate and isn’t fussed about sweets. I’m not entirely sure he’s mine.

Pissed off again today-my niece’s (private) school are going to close on Friday 11th December. They’re all well chuffed they can isolate for a couple of week before seeing the grandparents. Lovely!

We can’t!!

Just popping on to fill up the thread celebrate that dinner was eaten by all, even though it contained at least one dish the dc had never seen before. Youngest ds had his ketchup at the ready though ... on a dish which contained soy sauce...