The Thirty-Second Republic - Christmas count down - end of term in sight

[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

Yup where I'm teaching in London has a higher rate than Greenwich and Islington. Close all secondaries now in tier 2 and 3 I say.

That damned chart. Things are a bit better where I teach now.

Still tier 3 but we only have 170 ish cases per 100,000. Don’t remember any calls for us to close when were at 460 per 100,000

God I’m so tired. I feel utterly emotionally drained.

Where did I read/who was it who posted that there are going to be some infection stats released on Thursday about school staff??

It's 192.2 per 100k here - is that higher or lower than London boroughs? I've lost track.

Feeling really quite grotty but not of the one of the 3 main symptoms variety. If we still feel ill tomorrow I think I'm going to fib and order tests. I haven't heard that they're having shortages so don't think it would be unethical?

Ds has been complaining of stomach ache and has been falling asleep early evening recently just wiped out. Now paranoid that it could have been him having child symptoms/asymptomatic who has passed it to my friend. I just feel exhausted and have had a bad headache and brain fog.

How is everyone else doing? Especially those who are ill?

I looked at my groups registers today - I only had two year 8 groups to teach today and both had 25 out of 30 present. Not as bad as I was expecting. I think parents trust us because the head has been letting them know of every case even if it doesn't effect school because the person wasn't in during the infectious period but I still thought more parents would be keeping kids out. Maybe that will start on Wednesday to allow for the 10 day isolation or maybe parents just aren't worried.

If we still feel ill tomorrow I think I'm going to fib and order tests. I haven't heard that they're having shortages so don't think it would be unethical?

I’d get a test if I were you. I’ll bet the test centres will be inundated just before Xmas with people checking to see if they are ok to visit grandma.

Feeling pretty fragile emotionally here. Work is very tough and my usually calm home life has gone to shit. Spent most of yesterday trying not to burst into tears.

I just looked at your chart MrsHP - cheeky buggers - we're much higher than them! If we get sent back as cannon fodder in January whilst they stay home I would be more than a little pissed off!

Oh I'm sorry WhenSheWas! Bless you. Would it help to unload?

I'm reliant on postal tests so yes, that's why I thought hmm better order some tomorrow if we're still not feeling well. Even if we hang onto them for a couple of days so as to not to waste them (ie. not use them too soon before a positive would show up if my friend is positive - not sure how quickly it's detectable in tests?) at least we'd have them.

Thanks honey a massive whinge always helps.

I’m just so fucking drained. My year 9 class continue to be the class from hell. I need to be calmer with them more positive more supportive. Then all this crap happens at home and completing empties my emotional reserves.

School are lovely but all the NQT meetings on how to improve are a little optimistic this week. I think I’ll do well to stagger on towards Friday - they’ll be no big focus on improving teaching practice this week.

It no ones fault all this stuff. But I’m so damn tired. Hoping for a good nights sleep tonight then I can go in tomorrow and do a semi good job.

Advice is to test as soon as symptoms begins so you should be ok Honey.

AngeGabe you're thinking of the extract from the DfE weekly attendance data** I posted. Will post a link and any quotable bits this week. Anyone can go to the website and sign up for the emails (even an Assistant Librarian!)

Take care When. We need to go back to BEDTIME, no one post after a certain time, think rule and I were here at midnight, idiotic!

Yeah I think surviving should be a big enough goal for this week When! Well done for getting through this term - NQT year is tough anyway and you presumably didn't finish all of your training and are dealing with the year from hell so for sure just get through it and give yourself a massive pat on the back. Sorry things are tough at home - hope it is something that can be fixed.

August check your inbox.

Sorry things are tough at home - hope it is something that can be fixed

Home thing should be ok. It was a horrid shock but should be ok. Thanks for letting me offload. Much appreciated

Thankfully we broke up last Friday - I couldn't have done another week unless it was watching relevant video clips and doing quizzes.
Once friend in London borough secondary said year 11 is like a ghost town following on from mock exams and a load of year 7s out.

You lucky thing staff hope you are enjoying the well earned break.

Four more days to go. (Well 3 1/2 really).

Holland closing all schools until 19 January ...
Germany closing its schools ...

Who is next?

Sweden have closed their high schools haven’t they?

Who is next?
Not us - we shall fight in the staff room, we shall fight it in the classroom. We shall never surrender.
(Fight COVID that is, not each other!)

Not sure if I have the strength to fight as I have a syllabus to deliver but I can do that online if needs be. How much I deliver next term etc depends upon the Chief Idiot Williamson and the exam boards.

And given that we don't get help from the DfE only threats I guess we will be one of the few staffrooms left standing.

We're going online for y13 for the week after Christmas to try to protect the mock exams.

A new behaviour from a child with challenging behaviour is compromising our ability to manage ventilation and airflow throughout the whole school. I don’t think that’s acceptable, but we are very much an Inclusion At All Costs school so we have to put up with it. Aaargh.

I don’t have much fight left either. Dodging Covid is bloody hard work!

Not sure what'll happen in London, govt says schools WILL remain open.....

I feel really sorry for Hull if Greenwich etc close. They’ll be left wondering if they should have ignored the govt too.

They are saying that schools will stay open but they have lost control of the situation now. Greenwich and Islington have made the calls to close all of their schools but all over the city LAs are supporting individual schools that have switched or are switching to online learning for the last few days of term. There hasn’t been anything decisive from the government today to force Greenwich to back down, so I think there will be plenty of London schools doing online learning this week.

And they can’t blame the unions. Happy days!

I'm exhausted. Surviving this week seems like a perfectly acceptable goal for all of us, and it's an amazing achievement for all students and nqts.

We're tier 2, but might drop to tier 1 in the next announcement. Does anyone know roughly what numbers might need to be for tier 1? I'm not quite sure what difference tier 1 would make to my life, but it would be nice I think.

I agree that it's time to go online for all secondaries in tiers 2 and 3. And I'd like us to follow the example of the rest of Europe and keep them closed for the first half of January as well.