The Thirty-Third Republic - End of term and DfE threats- cheers all!

[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.

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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

then we will still have to educate those year groups at home.

And the ones who are in school because they are keyworker or vulnerable.

Yeah, just thought - this is another daft aspect isn't it?

Say 1/6-1/8 of your year 7s are KW children. They'll all get put in one group/bubble - and then the week after, put back in their regular forms/classes - so will have been mixing with DIFFERENT children for one week. Pop pop pop.

To be fair smile, uni staff were asked to 'volunteer' to man the uni testing sites.

To be fair smile, uni staff were asked to 'volunteer' to man the uni testing sites

They’re manned by nhs staff at both my local unis. Maybe it’s different regionally?

Not the point though really. The government are arseholes.

I'm guessing I could do kw/vulnerable supervision because I don't have exam groups this year and simultaneously do online provision for my classes. However I won't be recording or doing live lessons whilst in rooms with the former but if I don't have a marking load then I can be recording lessons outside of school without it really being 'additional' hours - though it would be directed I guess.

Anyway! This is the wasting of energy I need to avoid because we don't know anything for sure and could exhaust ourselves trying to think through and plan a million variables that are all frankly way above my, and I'm guessing most of our, pay grade.

An academic on MN always reports that they were asked to do this . She said no. Maybe some areas had more NHS staff free perhaps.

But yes. Arseholes.

See but then where are the 'testing' people coming from?

It says the military on the DfE stuff released about an hour ago

For the one off return to school testing, I presume, not the ongoing "close contacts tests.

It says the military will support with the planning, not the implementation.

Still, it flagged to me that they realise they've fucked up.

Williamson's interview on BBC... he's really, really, really dim, isn't he?

@Danglingmod

Williamson's interview on BBC... he's really, really, really dim, isn't he?

I love James O Briens impression of him.

' I wish coronavirus would shut up and go away'

@noelgiraffe

It says the military will support with the planning, not the implementation.

My cousin flies helicopters in the Navy. He was involved in the recovery after the Boxing Day tsunami, and flew the last flight out of Basra during the second gulf war. He maintains that my job is scarier than his. He won't be putting his hand up for this!

@noelgiraffe

It says the military will support with the planning, not the implementation.

Yes, I clocked that! Helpful.

British military with swabs v our kids? Not sure who'd come off worst tbh.

We did our covid tests today and I'm even more convinced your chances of getting through swabbing 13 teenagers an hour are slim to none.

@RigaBalsam I agree. Love JO'B. Even went to see him and Steve Allen at Fairfield Halls years agostalker Super fan!

I was talking about with ds and he said, I swear if Mr X came at me with this swab I couldn't be held responsible for my actions! He jumped out of his skin after accidentally poking himself too far up the nose with the swab, if someone else did it I can well imagine him instinctively lashing out and ending up excluded.

[quote KnowingMeKnowingYule]@RigaBalsam I agree. Love JO'B. Even went to see him and Steve Allen at Fairfield Halls years agostalker Super fan![/quote]
Me too! I have asked for his book at Christmas. Love to meet him.

I tell you what, this is just a shower of shit isn't it?

I saw one of our deputy heads not long after the announcement was made- he's been acting head for part of the term as our head had to have an operation, and is still on a phased return.

Deputy head is a genuinely lovely man, always optimistic and upbeat, but he was honestly about to lose it- I think "What the fuck do they expect us to do?" was the politest thing he said.

I don't know if the DfE don't care about the impact they are having on SLT, or if they want to induce them to quit!

I've decided that testing symptomatic/close contact kids is my line in the sand. I won't do it and I'm happy to take whatever disciplinary action comes our way.

RE the first week back, there's already a split in the department between those who want to do live lessons and those who don't. I would actually happily do live lessons, but I'm very comfortable with the technology and others aren't. Maybe I can swap live lessons for their share of testing?

I do think it's an issue that we haven't realllyyy had a chance to train most of the kids on teams- we've only had one big group out, so only one set of live lessons this term and lots of students didn't use it in the summer.

I guess if “Liam” in Y9 had struggled somewhat with his behaviour and basic manners you could book him in for a test when you were staffing it.

I wonder how far up the swabs go, if you push hard enough?*

*CLEARLY I am using hyperbole for effect. Just in case any lurkers think I’m actually advocating swabbing Liam’s brain.

It is indeed an unending shower of shit.

I've got, "Only me!" sounding in my head with a visual of gav.

As someone on R4 pointed out this evening - first they grandly bequeath a whole non f2f day (moved from elsewhere in the year) so that SLT don't have to contact trace over Christmas. Then they threaten schools wanting to go online with legal action. Then they announce a ridiculous testing scheme which schools are supposed to magically staff. Then they use that as an excuse for going online the first week back - announced just as any schools that have availed themselves of the wonderful Extra Day are bidding children goodbye.... without the extra laptops/paper copies/ reminders about how to log on they would have given them if they'd had one or two days' more notice.

It does seem to be a mission to do everything in the worst possible way imaginable. You couldn't fuck it up this badly if you tried.

I vote not to let a bunch of private schoolboys run things when we next have an international crisis.

You couldn’t make this up, could you? It’s appalling. Utterly, utterly shambolic.

One more day. Feels like I’m wading through treacle to get there. and to everyone.