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

John Deeks (Prof) on BBC News now slagging off the lateral flow test. Says it caught 2 cases at UoB for 60 missed. Not evaluated properly and not fit for purpose.

'It's using the wrong test' he says.

He is also talking about the logistics : points out uni had science students and postgrads and six straight intensive days to do their 7000 tests, which they then did again as PCR tests.

He is unequivocal that it is 'not the right thing to do'.

He met DfE yesterday. Pray they listened. He says he doesn't think DfE are the decision makers. He has 3 children. He sounds angry.

I liked that interview, too. Praying someone is listening.

The people I want to have heard that are headteachers and Geoff Barton!!

@Piggyinblankets

The people I want to have heard that are headteachers and Geoff Barton!!

Lets all tweet a link to GB.

he doesn't think DfE are the decision makers

Well that’s clear from watching Susan when she was clearly hamstrung by the minister.

Anyone heard from Gav yet?

I am toying with enquiring of DS's head as to whether he is aware .

Heads are to sign letters saying how reliable it is.

Yes, PUAUS put up John Deeks' tweet yesterday about their test of the tests, results sounded abysmal. Was going to post it on here but hadn't time to check who he was etc.

Seems a lot of scientists here and overseas are questioning the idea of the new strain being more infectious, so the idea of its being more about more easily entering children's cells and them being the only sector left without mitigations gaining credence.

Letter from NASUWT (emailed) saying they strongly advise members don’t volunteer to run this mass testing in any way and that no one should be working on it till back at school.

I've got a wondering

If we / students are to be tested regularly... If you've had covid isn't it the fact that it could still show up on tests for months?

So.. if students or teachers have had it asymptomatically, then they could test positive, not know they've had it, and it just be a residual test and they're missing work / school for nothing?

Am I overthinking this / incorrect, or is this a thing?

Ho ho bloody ho.

I'm not doing live lessons by the way though I'll happily record videos for every lesson rather than the every other lesson with a bridging lesson in between that is required of me.

I'd do it if I believe it achieved anything or if even half of my students were likely to attend but I don't believe it does or they will. I'm happy to supplement my videos with being available for phone calls or google meets for kids who need extra help etc so it's not about laziness or being stingy with my time it's about not being willing to waste my time doing something of less benefit to learning and most of my learners in order to please a small number of parents.

I posted it already december. A few bods n Twitter had alerted me to it.

Maybe if they test positive it should be home for 10 days as normal, then exempt from testing for 3 months (or however long the tests pick it up for). Or maybe ignoring test results after a positive till a negative test shows the last lot has cleared.

True about scientist but rent a scientist Linda Bauld (I know her name because DF clearly fancies her) on BBC this morning was asked about mitigations in schools and mentioned what we already have , so 'older pupils putting on masks while moving about' as if they were enough. I wish I could have paused the TV to ask her why it is suddenly safe when they are sat down and still.

I cna always tell whne they are reading from an 'acceptable script'.

@noelgiraffe

Maybe if they test positive it should be home for 10 days as normal, then exempt from testing for 3 months (or however long the tests pick it up for). Or maybe ignoring test results after a positive till a negative test shows the last lot has cleared.

Yeah from now but my point is that surely this could pick up asymptomatic cases from the last few months, which had gone undetected....

Bumped into a local colleague at the vaccine clinic this morning. His school are in the county pilot and they have the army and fire brigade in for the first week to do the testing!

@Piggyinblankets

I don't need to PM this. One of the co leads of U4T is a writer of some kind who now has a beautifully SD, WFH job which she doesn't want disrupted by her children writing columns in the Tory owned Telegraph.

They ahve also had visits with Boris, where BRTUS (and the Unions!) have been refused audiences.

But why though? Is BJ scared she will start writing mean things about him in the Telegraph if he doesn’t do what she says? I don’t get what hold they have over him?

@noelgiraffe

I think they said attendance figures wouldn’t be published today but postponed till Jan.

Ffs, that’s convenient.

@MrsChristmasHamlet

Bumped into a local colleague at the vaccine clinic this morning. His school are in the county pilot and they have the army and fire brigade in for the first week to do the testing!

So they're still piloting? Yet they've dumped it on everyone as if it's ready to go. Unsurprising I guess.

Is BJ scared she will start writing mean things about him in the Telegraph if he doesn’t do what she says?

Maybe she knows where a few more of his kids are hidden.

Ophelia possible, but how can you tell the difference? You have to treat a positive as a positive.

@noelgiraffe

Is BJ scared she will start writing mean things about him in the Telegraph if he doesn’t do what she says?

Maybe she knows where a few more of his kids are hidden.