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

@Achristmaspudsskidu

I believe there’s going to be a story breaking from one of the major London hospitals tonight. Hopefully it might give a few posters on the Covid boards pause for thought. Albeit probably briefly before dismissing it

Yes, I’ve been seeing that brewing.

I want a similar ‘reveal’ to happen in schools.

What's happening?

I believe there’s going to be a story breaking from one of the major London hospitals tonight. Hopefully it might give a few posters on the Covid boards pause for thought. Albeit probably briefly before dismissing it.

There are some posters who could be faced with evidence of every hospital full with Covid patients on the brink of collapse and they would still whine ‘but it’s only a virus, let me do what I waaaaaaant’!

I think our support staff will probably be looking after the key worker/vulnerable children. They definitely shouldn't be doing testing.

That third version of the DfE chart implies my y13 may be in, they have a January exam...

OMG

www.theguardian.com/world/2020/dec/31/covid-outbreak-hits-belgian-care-home-after-santa-visit

My level 2 year 12 will be in from the 5th as they have exams that week and so I’m supposed to do lessons with them - ironically that’s the one lesson that week that I wasn’t going to teach anything, just let them revise. But remote lessons for all other classes, including y12 and BTEC y13 who don’t even do exams...

We've just moved into tier 4 today piggy.

Hmm finally contact from school. Looks like we're all in school. Only kw/vulnerable kids from 7, 8 and 9 expected to be in so far and less than a roomful each so we're sharing covering them. I literally only have one lesson looking after them.

Going to be a bit tedious being in school when I've already recorded and set all remote learning That's beyond presenteeism. I'd actually emailed slt a couple of days ago saying I've set it all and have no exam groups so feel free to use me for kw provision or any pastoral etc so they know I'll be stuck in school with no reason to be there.

Therefore I am definitely having ds in school as a kw kid on the days they want me in there twiddling my thumbs. Is that bad of me? He'll just be in a computer room with other year 9s being babysat and kept on task by a member staff of whilst he gets on with his remote learning. No ps4 or food to distract him - he can just crack on and do it and it will mean way less stress at home.

The London story will probably be tempered slightly by the fact they are going to reopen the London Nightingale. Presume people will think once that reopens then we can just get back to normal.

Chloe I think some people will only get it once it really starts to affect them.

Is it this one?

www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/london-nhs-hospital-disaster-medicine-23245260

I have found the snapshot of people I've seen on some of these boards (not this one!!) beyond depressing.
And to be honest, if they're at all representative of the population generally, then we as a country really are fucked. The selfishness and entitlement is quite staggering.

So, in this article, they refer to stats showing that infection rates are falling slightly in children. Would this be the evidence @noblegiraffe was talking about as proof of school-spread, as schools have now been shut for nearly two weeks?

DS's school only teaching year 11 and 13 online net week. Work set to rest of years.

There are a few parents in rl who I think would fit right in on ‘those’ sorts of thread, but the majority are vocal about their appreciation of the efforts we have made this year.
I do remember a teacher I worked with about 10 years ago, when I mentioned MN, saying “Urgh! That’s the one where they all hate teachers, isn’t it?”. She’d joined as a parent but the teacher bashing was relentless even then.
Covid has just given gobshites a taller soapbox to stand on.

Association of directors of public health in London are calling for schools to be closed.

twitter.com/RichardWatts01/status/1344687044581335041

I simply can't get my head round the number of cases and deaths over the last 48 hours and we're still expected to be back mixing with multiple households with no PPE next week.

That would suggest school closures having an impact, Ange but you’d get people arguing it’s just because parents aren’t bothering to get their kids tested in the holidays as they don’t need to for school.

That’s why we really needed the ONS data that they’re not publishing.

I’m assuming it’s being collected, just not published.

Hi all, just seen some tweets re London. Shits gonna hit the fan over the next few weeks

@CallmeAngelGabriel

I have found the snapshot of people I've seen on some of these boards (not this one!!) beyond depressing. And to be honest, if they're at all representative of the population generally, then we as a country really are fucked. The selfishness and entitlement is quite staggering.

Don't get me started on the shitheads who 'laugh' at coverage of daily deaths on FB. Repulsive specimens.

Did you see on that Mirror page someone linked that Ofsted said remote learning, 'could set pupils back by YEARS'.

Fucking welcome to roll up their sleeves and help if they want to rather than just add to hyperbolic bs.

What would you have to do to set pupils back years in a couple of weeks of remote learning? Are we supposed to be broadcasting subliminal memory wiping programming within our lessons? If so I need to go back and rerecord all of my lessons because I haven't put it into mine.

I can't get my head around it either.

I do not see this testing fiasco as something that is reassuring. I see it as stripping away the only safety blanket of si that we had.

The medical logistics of testing... It's not mandatory it's choice, how many will do it?.
What if they puke with sensitive gag reflexes? Releasing aerosols everywhere?

The tests are not accurate.

What about gdp laws? Consent.. How on this earth can staff do this to young children? What if they accidentally go to far in or scratch a child's tonsil?

What legal come back then?

No contact from school - clearly it is going to be business as usual on Monday, including a full day of in-person training in the hall and no down time to deal with any niggling little extras in the classroom like... ooh, I don’t know, some sort of remote provision for the inevitable self-isolators. I know I could set it up now but I am feeling resentful about spending any more holiday time on work. My class-based teaching is good to go, displays changed and marking is up to date.

It all feels faintly surreal. The world is going to hell in a handbasket and I’ve got to stand there talking about co-ordinating and subordinating conjunctions as though they are of any importance at all.

Then of course the confidence of negative tests, when actually it's wrong and its positive.... But the pupils think they are fine.

The pupils it could set back by years are the ones continually ignored by the DofE et al. Inadequate provision that goes back to before they were even born. Raise up all levels of society and you’ll give those children a chance from the start.

I will back away soon as ds and I are having indian takeaway in lieu of new years eve socialising. It's actually fine as I'm not really a go out on nye person anyway, far too old and grumpy to stand in long queues for the bar.

I'm glad I didn't do all of my marking as that will give me something to do when I'm made to show myself present at school next week despite having done all of my remote provision in my own time at home where I can actually record lessons in the early morning without anyone walking in on me and having to start again. What is the point of that?

I have a set of year 9 essays to mark and a set of year 8 assessments still. Then I'll do an interim mark (possibly feign 2) for every class I teach. After that I guess I could just mn or watch netflix.

co-ordinating and subordinating conjunctions as though they are of any importance at all

This year has been good for convincing our English lead that this stuff is all bollocks for 8 year olds.

@TheHoneyBadger

Did you see on that Mirror page someone linked that Ofsted said remote learning, 'could set pupils back by YEARS'.

Fucking welcome to roll up their sleeves and help if they want to rather than just add to hyperbolic bs.

What would you have to do to set pupils back years in a couple of weeks of remote learning? Are we supposed to be broadcasting subliminal memory wiping programming within our lessons? If so I need to go back and rerecord all of my lessons because I haven't put it into mine.

Apparently David Blunkett said 10 years and Majiid Nazwaz jumped on this. Not sure how either of them work that one out.