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

Here's the rest of it.

Thanks Neuro, smile and all of you.

Wish you can all have a lovely Christmas Eve as much as is possible.

Go for it, Smile. The meeting between Boris and Gav has been postponed till after Christmas so there's a bit of time to get the message in that tests instead of isolation is bonkers.

Dreaming thank you for posting that article.

So its a wait and see like we thought.

Just popping on to wish you all the happiest of Christmases. I’m about to disappear into the kitchen for a few hours and lose myself in cooking and Carols from Kings. I need to cling to the last remaining shreds of normality!

Merry Christmas everyone, I'm guessing we'll hopefully be busy with non-school stuff.

Posting a festive carol, one of my favourites. Saw a local school choir performing it a few years ago, one little boy in a choir full of girls, dancing his heart out in the other direction from the rest of them . Makes me smile to remember it.

There's an obvious riposte to Jen's words, though : they wouldn't be doing the lion's share of that mingling in full lockdown!! Sixth formers wouldn't be going six to a car to McDonalds at lunch for a start.

Not sure if this is the right thread, but just wanted to say a Merry Christmas to all. I've been "lurking" on MN for a while, and been meaning to post.

Personally, I'm not a huge fan of this time of year - I have to spend it with awful siblings (long story) who I really don't get on with. We're in a support bubble with my parents (again long story). I know I ought to be grateful to have my family around, especially given events of this year. It's just... difficult.

Hoping for better times for you all.

Happy Christmas Eve to all.

and to Riga and family, Gleaming, KnowingMe and everyone who needs them.

Absolutely dozens of positive cases or SI notifications amongst my teaching/LSA friends and/or friends' secondary school aged children in this last week. It's gone proper crazy.

Re testing close contacts: just in the nearest five schools to me, including mine - in the last week of term - one closed entirely as too many positive cases, two had their entire sixth form closed (200 & 550 kids respectively), plus one/two other year groups, the other two each had two or three whole year groups closed and multiple classes in other year groups. By my rough sums, that's getting on for 4,500 kids needing daily tests. Multiply by 3 (there are 15 secondary schools in the city), that makes 13,500 kids needing daily tests. With no outside help, funding, and whilst still teaching them. Oh, and half of them coming into school by buses and mixing with the general population... What could go wrong?

Happy Christmas, everybody! Withdrew my last message because it contained an offensive autocorrect - must proofread more carefully, must proofread more carefully, must proofread more carefully...

www.theguardian.com/education/2020/dec/24/covid-ads-to-prepare-students-for-university-return-delayed-amid-rapid-test-concerns

So, they might rethink return to Uni because LFTs are unreliable... The ones they still want schools to use... And that Uni students DID use before returning home all around the country. Good job we know the rates had gone right down in Uni students anyway.

Brie I just cried at that video. A church full of people that close and singing together seems like a lifetime away. Trying so hard to focus on the better times to come, they just seem so far away.

I'm adulting in style today. I've emptied the dishwasher, put a wash on ... and got back into bed with a cuppa and a bag of doughnuts!

So... I'm confused (probably because I'm poorly - arthritis not covid ) ... Jennie Harris I'd saying yes to schools opening or no?

Guess LFTs are better than nothing but the accuracy is what? 45%?

I have had chocolate for breakfast 😁

Is*

They're better than nothing for random testing to find some of the asymptomatic cases, they're not better than isolation for close contacts, surely?

@Hercwasonasnowball

Brie I just cried at that video. A church full of people that close and singing together seems like a lifetime away. Trying so hard to focus on the better times to come, they just seem so far away.

I know.

My local orchestra posted a video of their children's choir singing a carol from their own homes, all together. Ordinarily they'd be in the recital hall with the orchestra at a full-on concert. I've watched it so many times, it's beautiful but it makes me sad too.

schoolsweek.co.uk/mass-testing-plan-may-do-more-harm-than-good-council-tells-schools/?fbclid=IwAR3bCulirsS7fSUAdOLquo07juSzYFEVOs_gWOff3iaAE6a5gu7Y185CtOk

I hope you all manage a good Christmas
We don't celebrate other than the kids having santa so they don't feel left out at school (and there's no harm in a little magic :) )
But I hope you manage to enjoy !

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/the_staffroom/4115078-For-the-sharing-of-cocktails-tea-tears-or-joy

Soloist Christmas thread for anyone who needs it ❤️

I'm at the end of Christmas Eve here in Melbourne. Dark now, and a bit chilly so I've got the log burner going and it feels well Christmassy with the deckers up, all food good to go.

Have the best of Christmases all you good eggs of the Republic.

More or less signing out now for Christmas I think. Will spend the next few days fuelled by chocolate, dinner leftovers (cauli cheese anyone?) and mulled wine.

Merry Christmas!

@MrsChristmasHamlet

I'm adulting in style today. I've emptied the dishwasher, put a wash on ... and got back into bed with a cuppa and a bag of doughnuts!

I have put a load of washing on, taken the rubbish out and the dog for a wee walk and gotten back into bed with a can of beer. I think I win.

Off to empty (and refill) the dishwasher now you've reminded me and to hang out the washing.

It will give me a break from tearing my hair out over how utterly selfish some people are that they would rather people actually died than have any changes to schools.