The Thirtieth Republic ( 30! who would have thought) - Is it too soon to book a staff Xmas party?

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

I've become a proper secret eater - if I can sneak it behind my mask, it doesn't count as real food because nobody can see me eat it

I shove loads in my mouth on the way down the stairs, then mask on chewing for the first minute of break time.

Yes, I'm revolting. I then eat fruit in front of the children.

The 'going to take my kids out of school so we can have Christmas' crowd are really annoying me now. All the 'key worker' folk fucked over, while yet again the WFH contingent get to have all the treats.

I think we'll just keep ourselves to ourselves for the Christmas holidays, doing proper distance stuff, then see my parents nearer the end. We risked it at half term and did the last weekend.

That's my plan rule. We're going to isolate as much as possible over the 2 weeks holiday and then see my parents on the final weekend, which helpfully is my dad's birthday 😁. So we'll be able to see him for his birthday even if we can't see them say Christmas. I'm not sure if/how we'll see mil this Christmas though, but she's dh's mum so he can do the worrying about how that's going to happen. She lives in Scotland so different rules, even though we actually live closer to her than we do to my parents.
I'd like to see my sister and nieces too, but they are too risky a proposition I think, and I won't have time to see them after isolating for 2 weeks AND seeing my parents, she's an extra 2 hours away in the opposite direction as well.

That’s what we’re thinking, Msawesome so I’m a bit worried about this suggestion of 5 days lowered restrictions over Xmas, then a much stricter lockdown.

If I can’t see my parents because it’s not safe to see them over Xmas and then not allowed once it is safe, I’m not sure what I’ll do.

I know noble it's a big worry. I want to see them safely, so would likely still see them at the end of the holiday even if it's technically not allowed. I really don't break rules, so this would be a big thing for me, but if it's the only way to see them safely then that's what I'll do 🤷

Morning all

I'm also fed up of the people saying they will take kids put before Christmas to isolate. More so because my little boy won't have that option and so we will still have to be careful over Christmas. Not sure what we are doing yet -think it will be just us but we will have a nice time anyway.

I may actually put the tree up early this year for DS. Normally do it mid Dec but might do it first week.

Feeling tired today! Feels like it should be the end of the week!

@PumpkinPie2016 tbh I would love it if loads took them out two weeks before Christmas... less kids, less risk as far as I see it.

Hope everyone gets through today ok... DH has a hybrid live lesson today and he HATES technology! Had a Nokia 90s phone until it conked out recently. He is dreading it!

We’re back in class today after two weeks closure. Staff member who was positive is well now. I’ve worked so many hours at home - without the mental break/ change of actually working with children. Mostly very difficult safeguarding stuff. Feel very alone. Hoping my TAs are on form as they have actually had two weeks off and not ill - just stuck indoors.
Hoping the class makes it through 4 more weeks without more closures. Then I have a new school and its procedures to navigate as I leave this one at the end of term.

Hope everyone gets through today ok... DH has a hybrid live lesson today and he HATES technology! Had a Nokia 90s phone until it conked out recently. He is dreading it!

Tell him at least he’ll get through it even if the tech goes wrong! Sound keeps cutting out on my MS Teams but the lesson does eventually come to an end, ha ha!

Feel very alone.
You have us! You can rely on support in this Staffroom

Not in lessons, but meetings, I’ve found ‘accidentally’ turning my camera/ mic off while I swear and rant to have become a very valuable feature of virtual sessions. Then a minute to calm down bed or sweetly claiming ‘rural tech issues’. Perhaps monkey’s DH will do the same. (You just need to check they’re really off first)

Morning. If we closed one week earlier we could all isolate before Christmas. Hoping government are decent enough to see that but not confident.

@TheHoneyBadger

Morning. If we closed one week earlier we could all isolate before Christmas. Hoping government are decent enough to see that but not confident.

This is what I'm hoping for🤞

Think the only reason they'll close a week early is if hospitals start to be overwhelmed.

It would be an obvious preventative measure though. People will go to see family over Christmas regardless of the rules and shutting schools a week early will create at least some reduction of risk.

For sure though logic and forward thinking have not been the hallmarks of government policy.

It's a non work day but I find myself emailing with parents of isolating students and planning. In fairness there is bugger all else to do other than cleaning.

Don't forget if we close a week early we will

a) be slagged off for being cowards/ not providing childcare
b) be criticised for our (lack of / quality of) remote learning
c) be criticised for stealing childhoods by providing remote learning when they should be having fun
d)render all homeless children homeless and starve the vulnerable
e)be responsible for increased spread because there will be parties

And we will be responsible for children being beaten, raped and otherwise abused because abusers only operate between 8.30 and 3.30.

It so utterly saddens me that people think the answer to child abuse is school.

The 'going to take my kids out of school so we can have Christmas' crowd are really annoying me now.

Me too. During the first lockdown it was all "schools must open and stay open at any cost", "no, blended learning and rotas are not acceptable, my child needs to be in full time", "my child needs to be in school for their mental health" etc but how quickly parents' jump back to taking school for granted!

I couldn't give a flying fuck about anyone else's Christmas given that I won't have time to quarantine to protect my family, therefore I don't want five days' relaxation of the rules followed by a month of lockdown. I have lost my compassion this year.

On the other side of the workload coin, my DC's school aren't providing any work at all for them while we're waiting on test results for the third time. The first day was reasonable but they could have set something last night. Why an I having to bust a gut to make sure all self-isolaters receive a comparable experience when my kids get nothing? And yes, I have raised it with the school. This is the same school that wouldn't let them in with their peers when Welsh schools 'reopened'. I hate to seem like a teacher bashing hypocrite but there's a happy medium, surely?

Don't worry salty I'm having to do a bit of teacher bashing myself due to a problem with ds's education. It is all rather awkward given I'm both a parent and a member of staff. Have had to ask that we please observe the fact that when I'm in school I have my teacher hat on.

What I want to be able to say as a parent is rather different than what I feel safe to say to his teacher when that teacher is a senior colleague who has the power to give me the most miserable time table ever next year iyswim and has cornered me at work unexpectedly to talk about my son.

It has always been awkward for me to walk the parent and teacher line. He had utterly shit teaching for maths through ks3 and I just had to suck it up and accept that the reality was they couldn't recruit proper maths teachers who were competent in the classroom in a way that a non teacher parent wouldn't have iyswim.

This time though he is desperate to change groups in a subject and I totally understand why and agree it needs to happen so I'm having to take a very uncomfortable stand.

They're legally obliged salty as you know so an email to the head with the governors cc'd in should suffice. Luckily you don't have to work with them or rely on them deciding whether you pass threshold or not

@SaltyAF I emailed my child’s school yesterday to ask for work.

The rule at my school is that work must be on teams 24 hours within when you would have taught the lesson. I'm putting mine up the night before. Ive just lost another class for 2 weeks. That's the 4th class I've had out because of a positive case since September.

I'm also horrified at the thought of 5 days relaxation of rules for Christmas. I'd rather things stayed in place so we have a chance to control the virus long term. We will only end up with cases rising , with us back in school exposed to the virus but never being sent home ourselves to isolate. ( see my above post).

Wet play here. I worked on the assumption that (as in previous weeks) we would go out as usual, and spent 10 minutes organising everyone with coats and wellingtons, only to discover that the decision had been taken to stay in!! Would be nice to have been told.
I am now sitting in my car, eating my lunch and marking books, turning the engine on every now and again to get the heaters going.

Welcome to the teaching profession.