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

Here we are (from PUAUS Page):

https://schoolsweek.co.uk/dfe-pledges-another-440k-laptops-by-easter/?fbclid=IwAR0aG-DAa-SQXDeFD8ovgg_u4iaGYtfR-WFqm0VWs-GqsIUVJ32bXyfSmQQ

Ofsted won't be inspecting as normal until summer term:
www.gov.uk/guidance/ofsted-coronavirus-covid-19-rolling-update?fbclid=IwAR3ii-wri3HBD7GFYTvHsDd4kYl6Ah3zf2CQ5RW-gleB522Eu9kvrGl8ZnE

Shielders guidance wording changed (altho not much?)
www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-on-shielding-and-protecting-extremely-vulnerable-persons-from-covid-19/guidance-on-shielding-and-protecting-extremely-vulnerable-persons-from-covid-19?fbclid=IwAR1cnbgIkuH-hdRhnpk3dr7tepSTx9FGXnDcgVOuVqZ-wA1FUOBSQxbfOQ0#what-has-changed

South Africa has a new strain which causes more serious illness in young adults.

And apparently one Dr Sarah Jarvis on Jeremy Vine show ITV has now for the first time said schools should close!

@SmileEachDay

I'm so upset. I has a late stillbirth... I'm without a child every year not just this one

it’s such a tough thing.

I've found all the reports during the pandemic so far about how women have had to have pregnancy scans and stuff alone.

I had an older child and was pregnant with twins - I lost one at 32 weeks.

I had to go to the scan when I was told one of them had died alone, I was so unwell I passed out in a coridoor alone ....

Everytime someone says they have to go to a scan alone I want to scream. I understand how horrible it is and I'm not for one second saying it isn't...but many of us have been alone for the most awful of news before and people will sadly continue to be...

This is just a thing I've massively struggled with this year.

Corner I hope you have support - it’s draining taking care of someone who is teetering on the edge.

@DecemberStar yes was listening to that..DH and I were cheering.

Feeling a bit better today. Had a video call with DS and he was jumping around and listening to music, quite clearly didn't want mum and dad to call him. Typical teenager!😊

That sounds very, very hard Ophelia. I’m sorry you went through that.

I get the feeling in the press , government press releases and on SM that “school “ now means secondary .Pretty blatant how primary = childcare .Hoping safety measures in Early Years and Primary are addressed too before we are back unmasked and with no social distancing.

I’m pleased that that video call went well KnowingMeKnowingYule he sounds such a lovely character! I hope you’re okay today-you wonderfully strong woman!

I’m sorry to read that OpheliasCrayon it’s horrible to give through. I lost twins at the first scan whilst alone (it’s hard to get a teacher father, time off work!) and thought it would be fine as my daughter’s was but to hear at the same time that you’re having twins but you’re not, is very hard. I miss them daily.

@ChloeDeckTheHalls

I’m pleased that that video call went well KnowingMeKnowingYule he sounds such a lovely character! I hope you’re okay today-you wonderfully strong woman!

I’m sorry to read that OpheliasCrayon it’s horrible to give through. I lost twins at the first scan whilst alone (it’s hard to get a teacher father, time off work!) and thought it would be fine as my daughter’s was but to hear at the same time that you’re having twins but you’re not, is very hard. I miss them daily.

I was alone my husband had taken my daughter to the park - I rang him screaming and the midwife had to speak to him and tell him what had happened. Was horrendous.

I'm sorry you lost twins two. My surviving one is my 2 year old who's currently at nursery today.

@KnowingMeKnowingYule I missed that post - did you have a video chat yesterday?

I'm very sorry to hear about your losses, @OpheliasCrayon and @ChloeDeckTheHalls . I "only" had an early loss but felt that very keenly, so I can't imagine your sadness.

To answer your question, @OpheliasCrayon , about keeping SEN open, I would say yes, definitely. Most of our kids weren't in during lockdown 1 even though they were entitled to be and trying to help them catch up on missed learning is so hard. They need that continuity and stability. Sadly, though, we are attached to a mainstream primary, so if they close then we will too. I keep my fingers crossed that either we stay open or, if we have to close, we can convince parents to send their children in with the key worker children.

@Halifaxgirl

I get the feeling in the press , government press releases and on SM that “school “ now means secondary .Pretty blatant how primary = childcare .Hoping safety measures in Early Years and Primary are addressed too before we are back unmasked and with no social distancing.

And yet there are still people who don’t think it spreads in schools. “How can you be sure you/they caught in school?”

@OpheliasCrayon yes last night. He doesn't really cope with video calls but he seemed happy (they told me he had been upset earlier in the day a little) and was turning the stereo up and dancing about being quite loud. He definitely wasn't up for sitting down and trying to talk to us. He can have functional repetitive mostly echolalic conversations.

Sorry to read of people's losses. Prior to my son I had a missed miscarriage and found out at a scheduled scan that the heartbeat had stopped. For me I had a week waiting for waiting for my body to respond but miscarriage didn't start so had to go back to hospital and have the procedure surgically. Alone also. Like others.

I didn't tell my family till after my midway scan with ds and didn't feel safe till he I could feel him moving. He was a very active baby and would wake me up moving around in there at 5am everyday which I was grateful for Was less grateful for his early waking once he was outside of my body but he's totally reset my body clock and I'm an early bird ever since.

I'm not sure what I'd lay bets on to be honest. Think it depends on how much, if the new strain really is more dangerous and or infectious, manages to get leaked to and published in, the press. Very cynical I know but I feel like they only do anything responsible if their hand is forced.

Sorry for your news Harriet! Got our results early this morning and thankfully we're negative

Last time we had tas in every day with vulnerable kids and kw and teachers one shift a week each with them plus their online provision from home.

Don't know if we'll go with presentee-ism this time. Purely epidemiologically it makes more sense to work from home as much as possible but we'll see

The guidance as it stands:

www.gov.uk/government/publications/schools-and-childcare-settings-return-in-january-2021/schools-and-childcare-settings-return-in-january-2021

It does suggest that return is expected on 4 Jan and those in non exam years are supposed to magic themselves in during that week for a test.

The INSET day is still clear as mud. If schools 'wish' they can take an 'extra Inset' on 4 Jan. No clarification on what happens if this is already INSET or , as in my case, ispart of the holiday. It ONLY works if schools are returning to teaching on 4 Jan. How many schools is that??

What a fuck up.

Shielding reintroduced in Tier 4 which is going to make the clinically very but not extremely vulnerable very jittery.

We're going to have a fire with marshmallows and mulled stuff tonight to celebrate the solstice. More important to me than Xmas. We'll burn the lists of shit from this year (hahahaaaaaa.. ), so will be burning lists until next Thursday!

I did an extensive amount of doom scrolling last night, but am now calm about all the shit going on in the world. Selfishly, due to my crazy prepping, my family will be fine. Had a weekend of eating crap food and sitting on the sofa, as per every first weekend of a holiday, but today it's back to things with nutritional value... apart from marshmallows, obv.

I want primary schools to open if it is considered safe to do so. But I'm lucky in my school set up - small class, own entrance, miles away from the rest of the school physically, own class and staff toilet just opposite our door etc. I don't mind doing remote stuff, but I've drilled my children on using the tech, so I have vague confidence that they'd turn up and do the lessons. It's not ideal though, they are too young to access stuff independently.

Oh fuck.. shielding again? We've got our head back in Jan, but that's still other SLT at home. Aagh. Makes it all feel unsafe.

We already have an inset on 4th Jan - I guess it will end up being repurposed for testing planning and remote learning and so on!

www.tes.com/news/new-covid-variant-may-infect-pupils-more-effectively

It may infect everyone more effectively but secondary pupils are the ones with the least protection against it so it looks like they are being targeted.

[quote Piggyinblankets]www.tes.com/news/new-covid-variant-may-infect-pupils-more-effectively[/quote]
Interesting. Though sure the usual naysayers will belittle it due to it being Ferguson. 🙄

Ophelia and all

It will be considered safe in primary because of child care . I want primary schools to be open too but with the sort of safety measures other countries have employed eg filtration ventilation systems , masks for teachers and older primary , lower class sizes and more space for Reception / EYFS .We have a staff member still unwell from covid caught in September.It isn’t safe .

@noelgiraffe

It may infect everyone more effectively but secondary pupils are the ones with the least protection against it so it looks like they are being targeted.

Masks still aren’t recommended in schools though, except for staff and Y7+ and only in corridors.

I saw some photos on twitter of Boris with U4T which explains a lot.

@noelgiraffe

I saw some photos on twitter of Boris with U4T which explains a lot.

Indeed

@opheliasCrayon sounds tough at the moment. I can appreciate how hard it is for you. I have a history of 3 miscarriages and the loss of dd2s twin so when I had to have a recent scan it was difficult going there after all the bad memories there.
Hope they sort something for your hip. I had to have an arthroscopy a few years ago as the leg and hip joint were not the right shape and were locking and dislocating. I had an xray where the gp spotted spondylitis on my spine but missed the hip problem!
It took 3 years of me moaning and lots of pointless physio before I was finally referred to an orthopedic surgeon who was less than impressed that it had gone un noticed for so long. The op helped a lot.