The Thirty-Fourth Republic - Time to recharge our batteries and make the best of our festive break

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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

Fuck it.

He's up after cluster feeding since 5. I'm going to work in bed while he's in front of pj masks. Then we will park it and then TV and me work and break the day up like that.

I value 2 weeks of being able to go out on bikes and to the park over one day of quality work.

Ah @NeurotreeWenceslas it's so hard when they are young keeping him home today sounds like a plan. More tv than normal won't do him any harm at all. Prioritise the urgent work. Leave everything else and do bits when he is asleep/occupied. I remember this stage when my son was young. It gets easier, I promise and to get you through.

I am up and waiting for my cup of tea to brew. Was wide awake at 5.30am -stupid body clock however, I will get ready and head to the supermarket early doors for final shopping bits.

Eugh, I have to go shopping today too and MN makes me panic the shelves will be bare and there will be panic queues. I shall report in!

A couple of Lab MPs are started to support teachers on Twitter which is nice at last. Not calling for safety measures mind or anything like rotas.

Rumour has it that the 'cluster' they found in Kent recently of the new variant was a lot of cases in a school. Hence the panic.

I have shopping to do too. Don't know whether to go now as I'm up or will I be further advancing the panic?

A two day Makaton course at the beginning of the holidays seemed like a great plan in September - today not so much, completely forgotten all the signs from the last one at half term and brain is still melted from the last few weeks of term!

I share your pain with visuals fellow SEN people - one of my littlies has decided it is fun to peel the laminating plastic off, on the plus side it does stop them trying to escape/climb so buys me some peace, on the downside can never find a non-destroyed visual for her PECs board which leads to more frustration!

Oh and the bubble in the room next door burst yesterday....we so nearly made it a whole half term clear as well!

I did my food shop on Saturday night (rock and roll lifestyle!!). I always find the week before Christmas is a stressful time to shop, so I go very early or late. The shop closes at 11 this week, so I was there at 9:30, took my time and it was quiet but the shelves had just been refilled. I'll need to do a top up on Wednesday, but I generally need to do that most weeks.

We were supposed to be dog sitting for dh's boss over Christmas. They were going to visit family in London. So now they're not going, obviously, and we're not needed to dog sit. Poor dd2 is devastated because she loves that dog and was so excited to have him for a full 5 days.

@NeurotreeWenceslas

Fuck it.

He's up after cluster feeding since 5. I'm going to work in bed while he's in front of pj masks. Then we will park it and then TV and me work and break the day up like that.

I value 2 weeks of being able to go out on bikes and to the park over one day of quality work.

Sounds like Plan! I feel like you'd just be worrying until 2 days had passed that no one had it and you won't end up isolating !

I'm about to take our DD but as I said - we're Tier 4 anyway so it's not like we can go anywhere anyhow even if she did have to isolate. I'm really struggling with walking at the moment and it's just going to get worse when I go back to work in the new year if I don't rest up now, so I'm not even going to be able to take the kids out for walks!

I've got SO much craft stuff lined up though so I'm easy. If we isolated it not going to be much different to what I'm going to be able to do anyway!

Craft, baking and disney!

Have just had my order confirmation for food order later today and they are sending me 2 turkeys A quick check of my last order update shows that I definitely only pre-ordered 1. I’m going to have to reject the extra one, which I feel bad about as I don’t want to waste their time even though it is their mistake. I suppose they can put it back on the shelves for someone who might be worrying they need a small turkey crown?
Kind of nice to wake up to a totally First World Christmas Problem though I can cope with those!

@SoFranCisco

A two day Makaton course at the beginning of the holidays seemed like a great plan in September - today not so much, completely forgotten all the signs from the last one at half term and brain is still melted from the last few weeks of term!

I share your pain with visuals fellow SEN people - one of my littlies has decided it is fun to peel the laminating plastic off, on the plus side it does stop them trying to escape/climb so buys me some peace, on the downside can never find a non-destroyed visual for her PECs board which leads to more frustration!

Oh and the bubble in the room next door burst yesterday....we so nearly made it a whole half term clear as well!

Oh the symbol/PECs / visual timetable dramas. We can't have a visual timetable at the moment this said as one of my kids has started stimming (inappropriately sadly) with the timetable so it had to go. I'm hoping to be able to get one back again for the new year. If I can't, I've decided to just display one on the whiteboard. Ours isn't interactive as it would just get destroyed , so I'm thinking that I will leave it up whilst working. We can only show now and next so, I'll just make a daily powerpoint with all the now and nexts on and add my chilloht music to the background .

Last week one of my kids decided she was going to walk around all day chewing the symbol for fork. I thought that was quite meta to be honest!

Thanks pumpkin.

Plan not going well.

I've revised a KO I'd already done (complete waste of time anyway as they're pointless for our setting) and toddler has interrupted me 27531 times. Still, I've got my steps in.

Eldest up which helps a bit as he can toddler entertain. I'll trade him in mario game play episodes on Amazon prime.

@NeurotreeWenceslas

Thanks pumpkin.

Plan not going well.

I've revised a KO I'd already done (complete waste of time anyway as they're pointless for our setting) and toddler has interrupted me 27531 times. Still, I've got my steps in.

Eldest up which helps a bit as he can toddler entertain. I'll trade him in mario game play episodes on Amazon prime.

Oh dear !

I've got up and have realised my joints are even worse than yesterday. I'm very miserable

Anyone else suffering from Peri menopausal mood swings? Having trouble distinguishing between whether it's work related stress or hrt not working. Crying all the time over ridiculous things like I was before I went on hormones but also know I am ridiculously stressed over the Jan return.
What I do know is that after decades of going above and beyond I'm reevaluating and starting to say no. The after school club I've run forever will not be restarting after covid and there is no way I'm doing revision after or before school this year or any other. My goodwill is nowhere to be found.

@CountDuckulasCranberrySauce

Anyone else suffering from Peri menopausal mood swings? Having trouble distinguishing between whether it's work related stress or hrt not working. Crying all the time over ridiculous things like I was before I went on hormones but also know I am ridiculously stressed over the Jan return. What I do know is that after decades of going above and beyond I'm reevaluating and starting to say no. The after school club I've run forever will not be restarting after covid and there is no way I'm doing revision after or before school this year or any other. My goodwill is nowhere to be found.

I couldn't comment on peri menopausal but I think it's positive you're saying what you want / don't want.

We don't say no to stuff enough I don't think in our line of work and then its us who suffers.

to everyone SI or awaiting a test.

Bizarrely, we've still had no staff cases despite a lot of student cases and annoying things like them being front row seats, or having been in schools for days with symptoms/awaiting results etc. Obviously, they've spread it to other kids but no staff, it seems. But several staff have been poorly with other things (and had negative tests to confirm). Fingers crossed for all you, too.

I'm peri, too, and sometimes feel bad that maybe my current rage is not all about the situation but also my hormones. Sod it, though, it's still important to look after yourself, physically and mentally, and your own families and not to give more of yourself than is sensible.

I feel bad because new year 7 have been asking for two clubs they know/heard I ran last year and I'm using Covid regs as an excuse (though one would be fine; the other not so much) but it's more that I'm done with smiling and pretending by 3.30pm and don't think I could keep it plastered on until 4.30pm.

I'm starting to say no to things as well. I'm not doing revision after school this year, and probably won't do it next year either. And having cancelled my residential trip (purely fun, year 9 trip to London at Easter, to see the sights and go to some musicals) last year, and not planned it for this year, I think I'll quietly not bother planning it for next year either. Then, if it hasn't run for a few years the expectation isn't there from the younger yeargroups.

Morning!
Sage nods to those who’s former goodwill is waning and re-evaluating doing extras in the future

I pre-ordered a Hello Fresh food Christmas box ages ago and that’s due tomorrow. I have done these boxes for past three years and I find more reliable than a supermarket delivery as no danger of subs. I get my cheeseboard, crackers and pudding this way too. I recommend it for anyone next year!

Soooooo anyone want to lay bets on:

Whether there’ll be a lockdown in Jan
Whether “education” will remain open but second schools will move entirely online for Jan+
When Blojo will announce all this

Aaaaand

Where Gav is.

Gavs in the bahamas

Announcement 1st Jan to detract from the brexit no deal. All change again by 4th Jan when his minions realise the plan won't work.

Lockdown looming in Jan and I do think secondary will shut. I think we'll see staff in schools to teach online as opposed to from home.

Primaries and special schools open as needed for the childcare. Theres been talk of vaccinating teenagers to slow the spread I read on brutus page (cant remember new name)

I've done a small amount of tidying, not sure how much more I'll achieve and still feel tired from end of term (when do I panic and get a test?)

Something’s going to happen with secondaries in Jan, because the govt’s pinning its hopes on mass testing which isn’t going to happen. Now that they’ve closed them for a week it will be easy to extend that (like Scotland).

I’m also not convinced they can leave primaries alone - rates shot up there in the last week.

Bit baffled by the vaccinating teens suggestion - that’ll be a long way off and we need fairly prompt solutions.

Is Gav genuinely in the Bahamas?

... And in other news I feel shit. Feel like there's a ton of phlegm in my lungs and chest feels really tight. No temperature but exhausted...

I think online learning will be exempted for an extra 1 possibly 2 weeks. Secondary only first, then primary will follow.

to everyone struggling or isolating.

Vaccinating teens idea strikes me as one of those late night after several bottles of wine ideas that seem genius at the time, but in the cold (sober) light of day, you realise is totally impractical, but it's now too late as you posted it up on FB so you have to brazen it out....