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

@RafaIsTheKingOfClay

IME kids are pretty good at sticking things up their own noses. They probably don’t need help.

🤣

@noblegiraffe

Schools will be given the equipment and materials to deliver the testing.

I.e. not the manpower.

reasonable admin costs - liars! Those cheapskates have wriggled out of everything this pandemic.

I am not testing my tutees. Need to social distance

There is no fucking way I'm swabbing other people's children. It was traumatic enough doing my own kids!

Again in stark comparison to other countries - how many of those who have mass tested in schools have basically just handed over the kits and said "here you go"?
Using existing meetings for training teachers to swab?! Jog on.

I'm feeling really rotten this evening. Tearful, exhausted, sore throat. DH has just made me a cup of tea. I don't know if it's just end of term exhaustion or whether I've got fucking covid. Need an early night I think and sod the marking pile.

My year 7s lost the plot today - they started coming up to my desk for help - I'm looking at them going "wtf?" And saying "2 metres people!", Just for them to do the same 10 minutes later. I thought one of them was going to tug my sleeve at one point.
And there was absolutely no reason for them to come over - they were supposed to be collecting / returning sheets and glue/scissors!

@AllDoneIn

I'm feeling really rotten this evening. Tearful, exhausted, sore throat. DH has just made me a cup of tea. I don't know if it's just end of term exhaustion or whether I've got fucking covid. Need an early night I think and sod the marking pile.

Hope it's not Covid, and you feel better soon!

Have just ordered tests for ds and I. Up to 2 days to arrive. Feel like school must hate me

Mine's turning up this evening at some point. It's not quite a mobile testing road trip, but it's probably the closest we're going to get.

Hope you feel better soon AllDoneIn

Not a chance in hell that I’m swabbing anyone, I’m not wild about the thought of swabbing myself. This has to be the line in the sand for the unions, surely?

I hope all poorly people feel better very soon Don't feel guilty about isolating, you are following the rules so you don't pass on a contagious disease. I was brought up Catholic too, so I really do understand feeling guilty for things that aren't your fault.

2 of my year 10 behaviour problems won't be in for the rest of the week, which I'm thrilled about . I'm not thrilled about the reason though, as they've been excluded for the rest of the week because they beat up a younger pupil today That sort of thing doesn't happen very often at my school, so it has really shocked a lot of the pupils and they all wanted to talk about it this afternoon. We drew snowflakes instead. Well, we attempted to, it's quite tricky to do if you can't draw a straight line with a ruler and following the lines on isometric paper. Some of them managed something beautiful though. I had a really lovely and festive afternoon today. It's almost given me some Christmas cheer.

I have noticed nothing that the DfE links to from heads whose schools have done it explains the process and staffing. One head says staff time is counterbalanced by less loss of staff time due to Covid. Rather sounds like teachers are doing it...

There is a picture of a school gym with about 10 desks and testing kit...

I've done it on myself twice. It hurts. I'd like to hurt several people but not like that!!

Get well wishes to everyone feeling under the weather

Not the best day today - children pushing a few boundaries at the moment. I want to do some fun things with them this week but they seem to turn feral as soon as I loosen the reins a bit. I’m just exhausted now, and don’t have any patience with their rude, entitled behaviour.

Three more days...

I emailed a parent today about a child who was moved into my class recently. He's got a reputation as a bad lad and rap sheet as long as yer arm... but he's working really hard for me, so I thought it would be nice news for her.
Mistimed that because we've had to exclude him this afternoon for beating up another student.
This keeps happening to me - I get a naughty, they behave, I praise them, they lose their mind and get excluded.

Nothing’s ever easy Mrs H!

Today has been so manic for me-are the Greenwich schools open are the year not? Cue email this afternoon that school is open as normally tomorrow. It’s doing my head in having to plan all these things last minute, juggle work and just keep my head above water. I’ve had enough!

Well, our bubble has burst again! Thankfully only my class (one form entry village primary in Sussex). Been back one week and one day from our last isolation, now locked up again until next Monday. Thankfully not over Christmas but I’m annoyed that I’d booked and paid for activities this weekend!

Fingers crossed no more in the school go down....

I'm just going to move this poster over here so I can repeatedly smash my head against the wall and chant "it's not my job to swab your kid"

I genuinely don't understand how any school staff could facilitate this alongside their normal jobs. So say we get a positive case and identify sixty close contacts - do they then come in every morning and wait in the main hall whilst we swab them all and wait for the results? There is literally nobody who would have the time to oversee this!

Swabbing is a medical procedure; wouldn't teachers be comprehensively fucked if a PFB was somehow traumatised by this?

If I have to swab I won't be asked twice. I am not gentle and will ram the thing up a nose. Kids will run in fear 😈

Gosh, talking tp a scientist (nice one) on local news about schools!!

'We know there is much spread in schools'

'We know 3/4 of people are asymptomatic, especially children'..

I think this is one point on which we will actually agree with the UFT eejits - we don't want to swab their kids and they would plan to sue us in a flash if we tried to

Where is it, btw. that we now 'know' this from? ONS , React? Liverpool?

We need someone who works in one of the pilot schools on here!