The Thirty-Fifth Republic - Covid - the gift that keeps on giving even during the Christmas 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

My best guess atm is that they'll decided to go with the plan as is (maybe with an extra week's buffer thrown in?) at tomorrow's meeting, and announce that. But then panic when the figures go haywire nationwide a week after Christmas, and close everything inc schools. With 24 hrs notice if we're lucky.

@TheHoneyBadger

It is very gaslighting for us. The whole it's dangerous, it's bad, don't even think of going for a walk with your mate public messaging and then having to wade through a sea of year 9s up 3 flights of stairs to get to your next lesson.

I think we get used to it when we're in the thick of it but once you've been out of it for a few days it seems insane to think of going back.

It's the uncertainty I'm hating at the minute. Whatever is going to happen I'd like to have some time to get my head around it. I switched my head off for Christmas but now really want to know what's going to be happening.

Yes, me too-I really need to know.

I just don’t believe that Gavlar and his gang are competent enough to make a sensible decision tomorrow and give us all a week’s notice.

I can see them saying tomorrow...

‘Right, we have had our meeting and parents will be pleased to know we have decided schools are VITAL, so it will be back to normal for all primary, all SEN, y11/13 and KW on 4th and all others on 11th. Also, we continue with the plans for wide scale testing with our shit tests in secondaries and scrapping isolation of positive cases so you can still send your kids in and go to work. CEW can stay at home, everyone else will be fined for not coming in and schools will face legal action if they try to do anything else. Masks aren’t allowed unless you’re in a secondary school corridor as they may impact on teaching and learning. As you were, plebs’.

Then we will have a week of total hysteria on social media, 400 new DfE amendments will be released saying heads have to make school safe or else they will be personally held liable, and then with talk of parents just deciding to vote with their feet and keep their children at home, another announcement will be made on the 2nd or 3rd January.

Meaning we all start yet another term, completely stressed before we begin!

Or am I being harsh on Gav?

@DecemberStar

My best guess atm is that they'll decided to go with the plan as is (maybe with an extra week's buffer thrown in?) at tomorrow's meeting, and announce that. But then panic when the figures go haywire nationwide a week after Christmas, and close everything inc schools. With 24 hrs notice if we're lucky.

Great minds-though mine was much less concise!

I do wonder how Gav manages to separate his decision making from the fact he has a DD in year 11.

I can afford to sit back and take a more relaxed view as it doesn't affect me directly. (My Y11 DD's mocks due to start on 5th, however......)

I do feel for all actual teachers!!

I wish I could spend an off the record hour in a ventilatedroom with Chris Whitty. I have a LOT of things I'd like to ask him.

*Meaning we all start yet another term, completely stressed before we begin!

Or am I being harsh on Gav*

Sounds about right to me

Spoke to dh. We won't be consenting to lateral flow tests instead of SI for either the dc or for me.

Meaning we all start yet another term, completely stressed before we begin

Yep. Very stressed. No idea how to teach online (it will mainly be KS3 Science if anyone has some top tips).

Now I’m clueless as to whether or not I’ll be homeschool my primary kids at the same time as doing live lessons for my school.

So glad you lot are here. I heard one of the UsforThem founders on LBC today. Quite interested to find she agrees with teachers that teachers shouldn’t be administering tests to pupils.
I think her plan was pretty much lock away all the shielding and at risk people and let everyone else crack on

I will not spend this week away from family who want to see us. FIL is on hospital and MIL is alone. My personal risk of infecting them is the lowest it has been since August and as of January, it will rocket again.

Late to the party!

Yep, U4T are Great Barrington Declaration advocates.

They don’t object to the lateral flow tests because they’re inaccurate but because they don’t think children should be subjected to testing. Or isolation for that matter.

It’s why they also always agree that ECV kids and teachers shouldn’t be in school. Not to protect them, but to protect their kid from having to worry about infecting them.

(@noblegiraffe you've unChristmassified already?!)

Reported on Data thread: over 4000 new positives in Wales recorded from 9am Christmas Eve to 9am Boxing Day. And that's not allowing for people not testing "Because it's Christmas Day, for goodness sake!"

The indie has just posted the Gav story on FB.

You forgot to add to Frank Spencer's speech about how "our yoong people *deserve" their education."

Every time someone referred to me as Noel I kept picturing this. The name had to go 😂

You mean you don't look like that?!

Quite interested to find she agrees with teachers that teachers shouldn’t be administering tests to pupils

She probably doesn’t want children or teachers being tested at all because then they might test positive and need time off.

Physically identical, Ange but can never forgive him for Mr Blobby.

She probably doesn’t want children or teachers being tested at all

You don’t test perfectly healthy people to see if they’ve got the flu etc etc.

Basically, covid should be treated as every other illness is their line.

See, my theory is that actually numbers might steady over this Christmas break, as however many people might sneak in to someone else's house for a mince pit, it's going to be nowhere near the amount of bubble-mixing and cross-infection that happens when schools are open.

So, Gavelar and his mates might look at the numbers, decide they've peaked and are subsiding, and crack on with the new term beginning as usual (with shit/no mitigations in place) and pretend that all's fine and dandy.

That's exactly what I thought @CallmeAngelGabriel

Omg I just read pages of comments on a telegraph article. Couldn't find one that believes Covid is real and many irate at the idea of depriving youngsters of their education.

Lots of talk of how this is all part of the 'Great Reset'. I need to google it but could be a very deep rabbit hole.