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.

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

So Heads have to spend their holidays planning this impossible thing which will then likely get at the very least postponed for a month of lockdown.

I'm assuming this lockdown will include schools closing. I could be wrong, let's see.

And breathe! Finished for the holidays at 12pm

Head emailed to say 1st week back is Y11/13 in school, teaching everyone else on teams from our usual classrooms (because we have vulnerable/EHCP pupils in). She isn't rushing into any plans re testing yet as no doubt the guidance will change before then.

Had a lovely morning with my form which was great

Now determined to spend some time focussing on my family and having some time to myself (although I will still be on here)

Our end of term email from the head very much suggested that they wouldn't be spending their holidays setting up a covid testing site.

Will be interesting to see what happens. Gibb says that there will be more guidance next week, so even less time to implement it.

Maybe the elves could be redeployed after they wave Santa off on his sleigh on Christmas Eve?

Thank.
The.
Heavens.
For.
That.

Is it too early for gin?

Well done on making it all

I am quite determinedly NOT going to be spending my holiday doing a pile of work, though I do have marking to do. Tonight I am going to live it large by lighting a fire and having a Baileys and a mince pie with family.

Ffs, was typing a comment then lost it.

We have an inset on the 4th, so potentially 4 days to test 100s of kids. It's not going to happen.

In his end of term comments, our head says he has nothing concrete on testing yet.

A couple of colleagues and me have already said we won't test students. We will test ourselves but we are not exposing ourselves to the risk. I know Nick Gibb has said we wouldn't be anyway, but I am nervous to take anything he says as gospel.

We now have inset on the 4th. I nearly wept because INSET is one of my jobs... but it's been dumped there to give us time to work out what to do.
We had told y13 to stay off that week for online teaching to try to protect the mocks. They're now in instead.
I'm marking NEAs and making revision videos for y11. When that's done, I'm logging off until the 4th.

Geoff B just been on BBC. He did seem to confirm that the pilot schools had the army and clinical staff provided to them.

This (propaganda-esque) blog from a sixth form college principal who took part in the trial says they had MOD assistance. www.sixthformcolleges.org/1412/blog-6/post/30/experiencing-mass-testing-at-newcastle-sixth-form-college

We have inset on the 4th too - was already in the diary for something proper, but now is just 'leave all your shit until the 4th, please don't work in the holidays' So that's what I'm going to do - not work in the holidays.

All my displays are up, my planning is done, even the printing. I'm going to watch a Christmas film with my child and drink mulled wine until I fall asleep at 6pm.

Happy holidays all!

I’m going through decorations deciding what to put up and what to throw away. May well have a small winterberry gin later. Would usually be on the way to a remote cottage right now but meh, I think it will be almost as nice at home . Can’t be helped at any rate, so will be making the best of it and planning a wishlist for when this shitshow is on the wane, whenever that might be.

Raising a glass to all the Staffroom regulars and lurkers alike. You’ve all been brilliant over the last few months so thank you so much

So many of those things will not work in a non sixth form setting!

Note the 8am testing. So kids need to get in early? How does that work?? And staff give up time to get themselves tested in the precious quiet time before the schol day starts?

I note he says they are training up staff now.

I guess when asked if teachers would be administering tests , Gibb really meant to say ' No - not yet'.

Unison’s statement on testing.

         *We support mass testing in schools to try stop the spread of the virus (on a sensible timetable)

• Any testing site in a school must be fully planned and risk assessed with union engagement
• Staff should only undertake the testing duty if they volunteer, and if they are comfortable with their competence after appropriate training - in line with Department for Education guidance ‘Supporting pupils at school with medical conditions’.
• Staff involved in the testing programme should have correct PPE, appropriate clinical oversight and clear guarantees around any potential liabilities
• The work of staff volunteering to participate should not be passed to other current staff, who are already overworked.
• Any additional staff time must be fully paid at the appropriate rate
• Due to reported high percentage of false negatives generated by the ‘lateral flow test’ being proposed it should only be used an additional measure. Bubbles and self-isolation, alongside all additional other safety measures, should be retained for the foreseeable future.
• Staff asked to take a test themselves as part of a mass lateral flow testing programme where cases have not been identified, may do so voluntarily, but it should not be compulsory. UNISON encourages staff to participate fully in the testing programme*

Even in a sixth form...we start at 9 and lots of our students come on the bus. I get in around 8.30 and there are hardly any students in so starting from 8 wouldn’t be that effective at our place.

We also certainly do not have a “spare IT room” to use. The only suitable place I can think of is the sports hall (we don’t have an assembly hall), which is used for sports, surprisingly enough!

Where are you looking/listening piggy?

Here's UNISON's Statement. Staff should only work voluntarily (if at all) and "with appropriate clinic oversight". Absolutely.

Well, good thing @BreadSaucery had already posted UNISON's statement as I forgot to!

I suppose that in a sixth form setting, to do random, asymptomatic, testing would be also helped by students having free/study periods in which to go and get tested.

In a standard secondary school, no free rooms and no free time on students' timetables (and no way to get to school early or taken home if positive).

That is a positive, but knowing my students they would HAVE to be given a fixed, timetabled slot or they wouldn’t go. Which would mean someone organising and disseminating that information, and chasing up anyone who decided not to bother.

Just been sent this from NEU seems to be signed by all unions neu.org.uk/media/13741/view

Get that!

Fantastic. Joint union effort is really what’s needed here. The government have finally got all teachers to agree!

Two unconnected cases at DS's sixth form announced today. Merry Christmas to them and all those isolating, eh??

[quote MrsHercYulePoirot]Just been sent this from NEU seems to be signed by all unions neu.org.uk/media/13741/view[/quote]
That is great!