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

@CountDuckulasCranberrySauce same here. Y9 were asking yesterday but we needed to complete the end of topic test to wrap up before Xmas.

I mostly teach KS4/5 and just have too much content to get through to waste lessons so it will be normal lessons until Fri.

Honestly so cross - feels like schools are caught in the cross fire between two bickering government departments - the contradictions between the tone of the press conference and the legal action from the DfE are stark. Matt Hancock says isolate before Xmas mixing, yet schools in high rate areas are being told to open against local council advice....it’s bonkers!! My school currently has 1 pupil isolating....and while I am a bit anxious that one of my family, across 4 schools, might end up ill/isolating over Xmas - I can see there is no justification to close early where we are - but I would feel very differently if I was in a higher rate area. They should trust local councils/heads to make decisions based on keeping their communities safe.

4 more days....I don’t post often but reading the staff room makes me feel much saner - wishing you all a safe week and a happy Xmas!

Thanks @SquashedFlyBiscuitsForSanta

@SquashedFlyBiscuitsForSanta It’s a ‘my kid gets up at 5am so don’t mess with me’ stare. Works a treat.

Parent emails are the worst part of the job. My personal favourite is a woman who regularly messages me all evening on Seesaw to deal with her technical ineptitude. Last night I spent an hour sorting out her ‘issues’ with TTR.

Radio 4 had the schools closing on as I drive to the station, and they're asking teachers etc to contact the today programme. What good it'll do I don't know.
Only one lesson today. I'll be asleep on my marking pile if anyone needs me.

I don't want to go to school today. I've had enough. I will, because there's no reason not to, but I really, really don't want to.

I'm not feeling festive at all. I told year 10 yesterday that we would have 2 lessons of proper work and then 2 lessons of "Christmas maths" IF they could work sensibly for the work lessons. So in that lesson yesterday I had to remove 3 of them because of their behaviour, so no Christmas maths lessons for them. I feel so sad for the (very few) nice kids in that class, as they must miss out all the time because of other pupil's behaviour.

It’s my birthday today, so I’m going into work to have a party with 30 8yr olds whose only game is Miss, MISS! I’m going to guess how OLD you are!
Going to try and put the creeping dread and worry to one side just for one day. I’m one of those people much of MN despises for actually looking forward to and enjoying their birthday as an adult

I love birthdays - have a lovely lovely day

Happy birthday saucery🎉🍾🥂 I love my birthday too. Enjoy it. Do your class come up with ever more ridiculous ages for you? I once told a year 7 class jokingly that I was 762, and instead of laughing they looked awed at my impressive age. I had to stop and explain that I was nowhere near that age and that was an age that no human would reach. I guess I taught them something that lesson, even if it wasn't exactly what I set out to teach them.

When I told a student very recently that I'm 42, he exclaimed "so you were born in the 80s" in a tone of awe. He's in the top set for maths.

🤣

Many happy returns (as no one under 40 says these days) Sauce ! 🥳

Happy birthday @BreadSaucery

Hope you have a good day!

Happy birthday breadsaucery. Hope it’s a day filled with calm children, no parental emails and Covid-free cake.

Happy birthday Breadsauce

The entitlement thing definitely varies from area to area. My first sixth form college teaching was in a college that’s the “nice” one of the two in that city. The kids come from outlying villages and the good parts of town, in a city where there’s a LOT of school snobbery and massive gulfs between good and bad schools. College is in a beautiful shiny new building and oversubscribed. They were very entitled, parents would phone in all the time, everything was scrutinised.

My current place is still the better college in town but kids are from a very mixed background and lot have come from really quite poor schools and have had shocking secondary experiences. Parents are generally very grateful for the high quality teaching and pastoral care we provide and for the way we know students well. They rarely complain in the same way and sometimes I’ve had to encourage them to speak up a bit when something isn’t quite right! There’s a lot of “well, college says...”. Students are still teenagers and do whinge but far less. They’ve experienced disorganised schools, high turnover, overly harsh discipline and under-qualified staff so when they get to college it’s like paradise to them.

There was a discussion on GMB this morning on Tier 3 and what it means (nothing much, it would seem, apart from closing pubs). Someone reiterated the dangers of small spaces, little ventilation, large numbers and no masks and Piers said, "well, everyone's concern there will be........
SHOPS!"

@CallmeAngelGabriel

There was a discussion on GMB this morning on Tier 3 and what it means (nothing much, it would seem, apart from closing pubs). Someone reiterated the dangers of small spaces, little ventilation, large numbers and no masks and Piers said, "well, everyone's concern there will be........ SHOPS!"

Bloody hell!!

I feel like nobody is actually getting this. Really cross today-hoping that Greenwich stay firm and don’t cave.

Morning. Happy birthday saucery!

Salty I hope you get through the day on so little sleep. After a night like that recently I poured a can of coke into my flask and drank it in the afternoon and it saved me. I never drink fizzy drinks (bar alcohol obviously) except when I can feel a migraine coming on usually.

Presumably I don't have to feel guilty about isolating today because it's not a work day for me. Hopefully that message sinks into my catholic raised conscience.

I'm glad Greenwich spoke up. I said the other day that it should be local authorities rather than individual schools taking on the dfe

Happy Birthday Bread.

Leave that Catholic guilt behind and come join me on the SI bench Honey.

I went for a swim this morning - 8 people in a small pool. Aagh. I got out early. Up til now it's been 3 or 4 people, and has been easy to distance. This was all a bit 'breathing directly into my mouth'. Yuck.

Amanda Spielman says that what we need is consistency for children, not last minute decisions.

The bloody irony!

I have just had a little nap So tired today, classes all week want to be doing something "fun" but fun takes energy!

Hopefully we've stashed some gin here.

I've got ds vacuuming the stairs muttering to himself.

Not sure what I'm going to do today. I should get on with marking. I have year 7,8 and 9 assessments to mark and record but I'm going to do it tomorrow on a work day as that'll probably help with the catholic guilt.

I’ve called in sick today. No covid symptoms, but I feel like I had a bottle of wine and no sleep last night (instead of a cup of decaf tea and bed at 10.30). Took a couple of cold and flu tablets which usually perk me up but still feel bleurgh so decided to stay off. Luckily my classes are all doing test practices today so that’s easy to set up. Sent a message on Teams to one class saying I hoped they were all working and one lad sent a Nietzsche quote in response! (Hope is the greatest of all evils as it prolongs the suffering of man.) That about sums them up!