The Thirty-seventh Republic - Mass testing rolls on - school staff remain expendable

[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

@KatherineOfGaunt

Well, *@SansaSnark* , I'll see how I am, but I would find it very hard to be off. My colleagues would be really under pressure to cover me.

Completely understand the guilt. It’s why I still wfh despite having Covid at one point. It’s never easy is it, despite the good point Sansa makes that we shouldn’t have to for our health

So true MrsHercYulePoirot

@Achristmaspudsskidu

But, to be honest, I think every parent should refuse. The cynic in me is pretty sure that the 'mass testing' on return is really just about getting round the consent issues for close contact testing afterwards.

Do you mean we tick a box saying, ‘I consent to the mass testing’ but they’ll shove the ‘serial testing instead of isolating’ in the small print?

Wouldn’t put that past them.

I won’t be consenting for my DC and have pointed out how shit the plan is to anyone I know with kids-think we should all do the same.

Yes, exactly that.

That way the parent has to actively withdraw consent in order to isolate which means it's less likely they will.

The DfE guidance of 'prioritise remote learning for exam years and provide remote learning for other year groups where resources permit' is basically the government passing the buck isn't it. Schools are essentially being left to make the decision on what remote learning will be provided and then, if/when people start complaining the government can just say 'but we did say where resources permit'

Waiting for detail from our head but in all honesty, I actually hope she says we will stick to providing remote lessons for all with vulnerable/KW accessing them in school. I am already pushed for time with some classes so could do without missing a week or more of lesson time (although, of course, that does not guarantee they will all log in and do the work).

I'd also feel better if my team were in the building even if only part time. I have a couple who really worry about things and one who is quite vulnerable (not clinically) so it would probably be better for them to have some colleague contact.

Stupidly looked at another thread on mn.

People seem to think work will be set online for Monday 4th Jan. most aren’t aware the guidelines have changed.

So when schools don’t set work that week for all years we will get it in the neck for failing to provide homeschooling. Sigh.

What's the betting that it will all change by Monday anyway?

I know we reference the actions of this Government as incompetence quite frequently but I don't think I can believe that anymore. It's deliberate.

Think about everything that has happened with education since March. In nearly every decision that's been taken, there is some way to twist it into the fault of teachers and the schools. They have got away with underfunding, a huge lack of support and, frankly, breaching several aspects of health and safety all as a result of this game they play. And now, when things are at their worst, who does average Joe Public think is to blame?

@GleamingBaubles

What's the betting that it will all change by Monday anyway?

Quite high I’d bet. Higher still that it will have changed by the end of the 1st week.

I suppose my views are coloured by how difficult it is to teach my subject remotely and having at least a week not to fret about that for year 10 and 12. Plus shitty year 9 classes who are only once a fortnight who I didn't want to ahve to worry about. I hate my timetable as is. Grump.

In terms of being in the building , aren't people meant to WFH unless they can't ??

@Iamnotthe1

I know we reference the actions of this Government as incompetence quite frequently but I don't think I can believe that anymore. It's deliberate.

Think about everything that has happened with education since March. In nearly every decision that's been taken, there is some way to twist it into the fault of teachers and the schools. They have got away with underfunding, a huge lack of support and, frankly, breaching several aspects of health and safety all as a result of this game they play. And now, when things are at their worst, who does average Joe Public think is to blame?

I've thought this all along tbh. I think they are trying to provoke the unions into striking so they can busy them - but I've got to the point where I think we need to strike regardless. There's also the way they didn't find the payrise, didn't find all the extra stuff schools needed to do, fudging and hiding data. It's all still part of Gove's battle against "the blob". A true politician - he's using the pandemic to achieve his own aims.

When I was secondary and we had the money (SO long ago in around 2000) the best visitors we had were Melvin Burgess, who held year 8 spellbound, and a beatbox poet called Skorpio the Nemesis, a 6ft 5 Asian bloke dressed head to toe in leather. He was amazing and had all of year 9 performing a poetry slamm. He also enjoyed himself so much in his old stamping ground (Kings Cross) that he ended up refusing payment and just asked me to take him for a Spud- U- Like afterwards.

I can’t believe that primaries will be open for all that long tbh. We’ll go back. Rates will soar. The government will panic and shut us all down again. Three weeks max.

*bust them

P*umpkin
*
Exactly, I'd actually rather just crack on with remote learning than push everything back a week.

It's not like SLT will be listening to my input in testing (although I'm not keeping quiet if I see something wrong given I used to work in a lab!), and my back isn't up to rearranging the deckchairs on the titanic tables in the hall.

@Achristmaspudsskidu

*Instead, it's here:www.gov.uk/guidance/asymptomatic-testing-in-schools-and-colleges*

This says consent is needed from parents/pupils if over 16 but parents ONLY if under 16.

What if the child cries and refuses to have it done but the parent won’t let them self isolate?!

I thought the children were testing themselves? If so they can easily refuse by just not putting the swab in their mouth or nose. There is no way I am swabbing children, I'm not a healthcare professional and I don't want to be accused of assault. I guess if a child refused their parents could be asked to come in and carry out the test on them?

@Flowerblue

I can’t believe that primaries will be open for all that long tbh. We’ll go back. Rates will soar. The government will panic and shut us all down again. Three weeks max.

Primaries will go back and bubbles will start to pop. At which point, the Government will push the timetable to primary testing to as soon as possible in order to force schools to remain open as "no-one needs to isolate unless they test positive".

I think it’s virtually impossible to strike now-since the Tories snuck in their bastarding changes a while back.

I think you need a 50% turnout from members and then 40% in favour of strike action. I can’t see it ever happening, sadly. I say that as someone who is pro industrial action and has been out on strike several times since I started teaching.

@Achristmaspudsskidu

I think it’s virtually impossible to strike now-since the Tories snuck in their bastarding changes a while back.

I think you need a 50% turnout from members and then 40% in favour of strike action. I can’t see it ever happening, sadly. I say that as someone who is pro industrial action and has been out on strike several times since I started teaching.

Yeah, there's two criteria: At least 50% turnout of eligible voters must vote. At least 40% of eligible voters must vote in favour of striking.

It's made it nearly impossible and, interestingly, made the threshold for industrial action higher than the percentage of votes most governments get.

Reading the testing training booklet thingy - there are lots of bits I don't understand!

But it definitely says that you (student or staff) can resume normal activities if you test negative in the LFDtest. So it's going to lead to more spread both within and outside school.

There's a bit about the 7 days of tests and a scenario where you don't complete 7 tests and that's fine... don't understand at all.

Even on the union fb pages there are feeble minded teachers on there saying they don't want a ballot. Fat lot of good they'd have been in the 80's.

I'd strike. And march. I make excellent placards.

remote education should be provided to other years as resources permit

Another way to play schools off against each other. There needs to be a nationwide agreement here because schools that can't provide online stuff for all years will be slated.

I honestly want to cry. I have seen DM twice since March and today is her birthday and I couldnt see her as its not safe but I can be less than 2m away from children for 6 hours a day with no PPE. I'm having to isolate after going to the supermarket for a quick shop during which I had used sanitizer and wore a mask but not when a child or adult in my bubble does.

Wtf? Children under 16 can consent to or refuse medical treatment against the wishes of their parents if they are deemed competent to understand the implications. The govt can’t just ride roughshod over that. It’s been established law since the 1980s (see the Gillick case). Forcing a medical test on a refusing child is asking for major legal trouble.

I will not be consenting to tests for my DDs.

I’ve never been on strike. I haven’t been teaching long enough to have been balloted for strike action (midlife crisis career changer!). If balloted I would vote to strike over safety in the workplace, and I would go out.