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

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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

Happy New Year everyone. Hopefully this time next year it’ll all be firmly in the past.

I am going to see my parents today, haven’t seen them properly all year. I’m really looking forward to it!

Happy New Year you lovely lot.

2021 starts as 2020 ended with parents moaning about why we can't lose our 'long' holidays so the kids can catch up and that C19 is just the flu and schools are safe.

Marvellous!

Happy New Year!

Thanks for all the support in 2020. I still lurk far more than I post but I really appreciate this thread.

Fingers crossed that this online staffroom is still open next New Year and that we all make it through the next few crazy months.

Sorry to be grumpy but on the 6th Oct our case rate was almost 1000/ 100k. I'm in the north.

Did we get schools closed? No. Extra testing? No. Except hardly any were not affected by closed bubbles or absent staff.

Whilst it's obviously of concern, especially with the new variant, I'm seeing people panicking and considering keeping kids off on the cv board with rates of 600.

It's clearly not a competition but I am cross the north has been ignored.

Agree Neuro! It's so unfair.

@NeurotreeWenceslas I'm cross for you all too. This bloody government.

Happy New Year All!
@NeurotreeWenceslas
Completely agree with you. They only ever do anything if it affects London!

And, this is definitely not the correct attitude (!) but I'm tempted to say, ah that's nowt luv. We weathered much higher rates than that with no special treatment. And ffs, areas of Manchester and liverpool and hull were so much worse than us.

With rates well under 200 now (creeping up though) and tier 4 I feel pretty laid back most of the time tbh.

Again, not the right attitude! And I'm suspicious of the new variant. I think it will hit the NE by half term very badly.

I completely agree @NeurotreeWenceslas, the Autumn spike in the north was completely ignored/overlooked. Must have been horrendous, and children in exam years put at a huge disadvantage.

Wishing everyone a new year that improves rapidly!

I have a knot in my stomach. I thought after my online teaching last year, and my experience with my new class when their bubble popped in December, that I'd be all set for the next few weeks. But head has emailed to say that there will be 'new expectations' for remote learning this time. Ugh. That is NOT good news.

Where did you see that R rate @GravityFalls?

Just read this, BMJ saying that all testing should be brought under clinical direction and that truly asymptomatic (as opposed to eg presymptomatic) cases are less than 20%:

www.bmj.com/content/371/bmj.m4851

No that's not good news One I really feel for you.

I don't begrudge anyone in the south with rising rates of 600-700 as its very likely the shit will hit the fan in the next few weeks.

But has really highlighted the north south divide for me.

From the BMJ paper:

The absence of strong evidence that asymptomatic people are a driver of transmission is another good reason for pausing the roll out of mass testing in schools, universities, and communities.

Note another !

Interesting.

I think it's about testing people who have any type of cold symptoms. Next door's bubble all had more like cold / flu ish symptoms. Just aches. Not the main 3.

Notes published yesterday assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/948607/s0995-mitigations-to-reduce-transmission-of-the-new-variant.pdf

All this information but no changes at all to the way we are working in schools :(

Yes, agreed.

It's going to be even more dangerous on the next few months if they don't publicise a change of criteria to be able to get tested. If kids are now more likely to get the new variant, and they still don't generally get the three main symptoms, it is literally going to spread unmitigated even more than ever.

Also this paper on children and transmission

www.gov.uk/government/publications/tfc-children-and-transmission-update-paper-17-december-2020

Sorry if you have already seen / read them just thought they were interesting reading

4 (adult) members of my family had Covid the week before Christmas. All 4 of them suffered gastric symptoms initially.
Why is this STILL not on the list?

Yes.

I believe almost every single one of our positive students started the same way. Then parents got tested, then they did. So, they'd been in school for days longer than they should have.

Gastric symptoms and dizziness were the two main symptoms when I had it.

So many people out there still thinking we'll be using testing to randomly find cases and send them home. We really need to get the message out there about it replacing isolation, it's the only way people will realise and kick up a fuss!

I have been thinking about what might happen when the testing is done if we find that actually lots of our students and staff are positive. I doubt the government have thought about what will happen in terms of staffing and remote learning if we suddenly have many staff off with covid.
I have also just been an idiot and was involved on a thread where a supposed ex-teacher was suggesting we break up now for our summer holidays and work through the summer. Oh and some of us could volunteer to look after key worker kids as well.

Well I've just done Joe Wicks' New Year's Day workout and I'm ready to smash 2021.

Looking forward to more dangerous spreading of misinformation with my trusty acolytes and sticking it 🖕to the DfE.

Here's to Trump fucking off, vaccines kicking in and the light at the end of the tunnel :)

Exactly Neurotree my dd missed so much exam time last term when our rates were sky high. If this new variant spreads up the country it will be interesting to see if they do a lockdown across all secondaries again. That’s if they actually get back into school.

Loads of threads popping up all over the place, thinly disguised as "debate" but actually inviting teacher bashers along.
Some of our old are friends dutifully doing the honours.

Still, it has made me decide I'd rather be doing my exercise tape than read all that shit. See you later...

I honestly think they will delay all secondary schools going back for ages - think the general feeling is that they should be closed now which is different from before. Primaries I think they’ll wait and see what happens with the ones that are open...