The Thirty-First Republic - oh the joy of on-line parents evenings

[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

Agree with everyone else @starry don’t go back too soon if you’re still not right. Hope you start to feel better soon for you!

@chloe hope the rash goes soon and it isn’t too itchy!

@starrynight19 another saying stay away if your not feeling good. We have teachers still out 5 weeks later.

Definitely stay off until you are fully recovered starry

We’ve had staff members off for weeks with it.

Ive just marked the worst set of PIRA tests I've seen in lots of years. So many year 4s with reading ages in the low 7s and SS in the 80s. Cry!

SLT mtg tonight very subdued, everyone broken. 'Just do what you can to get by' is the message, and if we need to close due to staffing, then we will. We've now got 4 off with anxiety. Yay.

Many , virtual hugs and 👍 for all of you in the UK.

Morning everyone

@starrynight19 definitely don't go back too soon! Take the time to recover.

I'm so glad it's Friday! Two parents evening's in one week is bloody tiring

There's no let up either at the moment -I have so much content to get through with all year groups that I'll be teaching up to the last Friday.

This weekend's job is to get the Christmas tree up

@starrynight19 stay off until you are better. Think our staff are averaging about 3-4 weeks until they are well enough to return to school.

@PumpkinPie2016
I am glad KS1 SATs have been cancelled -my DS is Y2 so would have been doing them.

The thing is, though, it won't really make much of a difference. The papers have never decided anything anyway as it's all teacher assessment in KS1. The expectations and assessment standards for the kids will still be exactly the same and staff will have the same workload in preparation for moderation. They just won't have an exam paper as part of their evidence base so most schools will still do a past paper to provide evidence.

At KS2, cutting the grammar paper makes no difference to what ground needs to be caught up on or what areas need to be taught as they have to have all of the grammar, punctuation and spelling knowledge visible within their writing anyway. It's tokenistic really.

to all who are poorly. Don't rush back. It's counterproductive ime. When I've rushed back to work after something serious I've ended up having to go off again.

Did anyone see Lewis Goodall's piece on Newsnight yesterday? I thought it was pretty comprehensive but then they had the dreaded Wilshaw on, with his broken record of 'not good enough', 'weekend and holiday teaching'.
Get fully 100% well (and then some) before stepping back in to the fray. It will pay off long term.

Wilshaw can bog off if he's expecting weekend and holiday teaching from me.
This is my JOB. Nothing more - I haven't sworn an oath to dedicate my life to education. I have a contract, I fulfill it, I get paid.

Wilshaw will lead the charge will he, with weekend and holiday teaching? He’ll be off to the most deprived school in the land and battling through? Thought not.

Recruitment and retention crisis hasn’t gone away and more people are considering quitting then I’ve known before - we can’t make teaching worse. There won’t be anyone left.

Have just seen this on my SM Monday 7th Dec at 6pm parliamentary debate about schools and Covid.

Tbf to Wilshaw he has been teaching history in schools that have been short of teachers due to covid.
Or at least he was, don’t know if he still is.

Thank you everyone and I will take all of your advice on board. Hope your feeling better soon as well Chloe.

The last debate was only 10 people who all just agreed kids should be in school.

Dropping this here:

assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/940859/Weekly_COVID-19_and_Influenza_Surveillance_Graphs_W49.pdf

So secondary and y6 are now slightly higher than uni

I'm confused. Is that showing massive drop in cases for secondary school age? Doesn't reflect what we're seeing on the ground here.

Love Ds's Headteacher's updates. He puts the amorphous, unhelpful official bollocks from the govt in inverted commas so parents are under no illusions as to who is being incompetent. 😂

Hope everyone bearing up OK. . Tempers fraying at work. But a lot of leeway being given and a real crisis spirit

@TheHoneyBadger

I'm confused. Is that showing massive drop in cases for secondary school age? Doesn't reflect what we're seeing on the ground here.

If we look at the effects of lockdown (from 5th to 28th Nov)

The % drop in infection rates for the ages groups are
Up to Y6 31.3%
Y7-12 4%
Y12-age 25 25.1%
25-34 31.5%
35-49 40.8%
50-69 28.7%
70+ 45%

Fixed fat fingers groups

The % drop in infection rates for the ages groups are
Up to Y6 31.3%
Y7-Y11 4%
Y12-age 24 25.1%
25-34 31.5%
35-49 40.8%
50-69 28.7%
70+ 45%

Ok that makes a lot more sense thanks noble. I wasn't seeing that at all from the graphs. Clearly not a maths teacher!

It means infection rates have dropped in secondary schools from what was an insanely high level, which you would expect in a national lockdown that saw a drop of 30% in cases, but the impact of lockdown on secondary kids has been much less than other age groups. This demonstrates (again) that school is a major method of transmission for that age group.

Get well soon starry. Don't rush back.

Third spell of isolation for 3yo here. Horrendous news about a member of staff (non coronavirus related) and another signed off until after Christmas. Feel so despondent right now.