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

[SantaAssociationRepresentitve]

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

I delved into the hell-pit that is the comments section underneath that article earlier, expecting to see a deluge of toxic teacher-bashing, but actually, it wasn't that bad. Quite a lot of people were telling her she was being precious.

First story on the DM. Days to test 10,000 lorry drivers?

Just get them to pop to their nearest school, surely. Am assured it’s an easy test that takes mere seconds and then they can be on their way back to the classroom back to France.

Last night I ventured to the UsForThem FB page for the first time and to advertise their “Call to Arms” that includes a fundraising page they have used a picture of children and adults who went missing and were murdered during the Pinochet regime in Chile, with their grieving families holding their images. Hardly a parallel and extremely painful for many. UsForThem are refusing to remove it despite many pleas from their members.
Just shows exactly the type of person a UFT type is

I have Aldi Pringles. Now I want a fish finger sandwich!

How is it almost time for a new thread? I think throat not fanjo should be the new strapline....

Promised myself no more work but somehow I'm making office forms quizzes. It'll save me time marking though so its probably worth it.

No more after today though

WTF Chloe?

What point exactly are they trying to make there? I don’t get it.

There's thread on Scotsnet about U4T.

From Twitter-I’m sure 1/2 or 3 testers could sort that easily .

Not sure if secondary schools have changed a lot since I went, but they were normally housing mocks in the hall for most of January!!?

www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak/guidance-for-full-opening-schools

Just updated.

Still no masks in classrooms!

Thanks Yule. Just looked at Wraparound Care, which it lists under 'Main changes'. No change that I can see apart from reference to the tiers system. Wow (not).

Well, thank goodness my Head hasn’t’discouraged’ us from the use of masks. Most teachers wear visors in the classroom, most support staff wear masks because there aren’t any barriers to communication that can’t be worked round in most cases. We are all asked to wear masks and/or visors when moving around school. School are providing these as a matter of course, although most mask wearers provide their own.

@KnowingMeKnowingYule

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak/guidance-for-full-opening-schools

Just updated.

Still no masks in classrooms!

Are there any changes at all?!

This article implies that symptomatic children will get lateral flow tests in school: metro.co.uk/2020/12/23/schools-to-reopen-in-january-with-teachers-doing-covid-tests-on-pupils-13797744/

Rather than having access to the more accurate PCR tests.

I cannot see the reasoning behind this- last time I got a PCR test, I had results in less than 24hrs.

This is going to make schools even more unsafe, but will have the advantage of masking the problem in the short term.

The updated guidance is so weak and vague. It's so clear they see schools as childcare and nothing else.

Definite tone changes, but no material changes flagged in the Introduction (have underlined esp intersecting bits, but I know that sometimes doesn't work on here):

The risk to children themselves of becoming severely ill from coronavirus (COVID-19) is very low and there are negative health impacts of being out of school. We know that school is a vital point of contact for public health and safeguarding services that are critical to the wellbeing of children and families.

Lower academic achievement also translates into long-term economic costs due to having a less qualified workforce. This affects the standard of living that today’s pupils will have over the course of their entire lives. For many households school closures have also affected their ability to work. As the economy begins to recover, we need to remove this barrier so parents and carers can return to work.

In relation to working in schools, while it is not possible to ensure a totally risk-free environment, there is no evidence that children transmit the disease any more than adults, and no evidence that staff in education settings are at any greater risk of fatal outcomes than many other occupations.

For as long as coronavirus (COVID-19) remains in the community, judgments will need to be made at a school level about how to balance minimising risks from coronavirus (COVID-19), by maximising control measures, with^ providing a full educational experience for children and young people. There are no plans at present to reimburse additional costs incurred as part of that process^.

(Last sentence in fact wrong, seeing as they have said they'll reimburse supply costs - OK in certain limited circs!)

I'm not looking at updated guidance until the weekend before we go back. Wasted too much time previously reading up on everything only for it to change again.

I'm in the doghouse .... Was helping the kids do gingerbread houses when I dropped something on the youngest's one and it just shattered! . Tears, wailing, the lot. ..

Actually, the combination of "no evidence that children transmit any more than adults" with "still no classroom masks" is admitting that they're putting us and the students in an extremely high risk situation, surely?

Nowhere would 30+ unmasked, unscreened, adults be allowed to sit in a small room together for an hour or more.

Meet the new boss guidance. Same as the old boss guidance.
Don’t get fooled again.

Nothing on there about not sending home contacts and testing.

So it seems they are going to just send everyone back and keep fingers crossed. How brilliant is that. NOT. I am not surprised of course.

@SansaSnark

This article implies that symptomatic children will get lateral flow tests in school: metro.co.uk/2020/12/23/schools-to-reopen-in-january-with-teachers-doing-covid-tests-on-pupils-13797744/

Rather than having access to the more accurate PCR tests.

I cannot see the reasoning behind this- last time I got a PCR test, I had results in less than 24hrs.

This is going to make schools even more unsafe, but will have the advantage of masking the problem in the short term.

The updated guidance is so weak and vague. It's so clear they see schools as childcare and nothing else.

What?!! That’s even more bonkers than using them instead of SI for close contacts?!

Oh I didn't get what you meant when you first posted, sorry - SYMPTOMATIC children.

Shit.

Actually, reading the article, I think it's just a journalist not understanding what's already been announced about testing in schools.

How depressing is it to read that sorry excuse for guidance?!

Oh no GleamingBaubles what a disaster! Anything salvageable?

Not really, but I did point out it meant they could eat it now - which helped.
My guilty conscience is now letting them have screen time

What even is the point of that guidance??