The Thirty-eight republic - Covid Carnage - Schools still waiting for test kits

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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

news.sky.com/story/teaching-unions-tell-pm-do-your-duty-and-close-all-schools-in-england-to-limit-covid-threat-12177145

Someone on my fb just shared this from sky news

It will need Directors of Public Health to step up and back the science and the unions.

[quote MrsHerculePoirot]Link for tomorrow registration for NEU ZOOM. Here neu-org-uk.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_nRWPzYt4RGCt6UoBgFNKYA?link_id=0&can_id=ce49dc421e54195d5368bf9802aa6994&source=email-january-return-of-schools-2&email_referrer=email_1033918&email_subject=fyi-form_value-default-emergency-zoom-on-sunday-at-11am[/quote]
Thank you I will join

I don't know really what will be very relevant to me being sen and I do want us to stay open. But then I have kids in school and I don't know, yeah this isn't just the individual at this point. I would imagine most of you sen or not would likely agree with SEN being open... But then I see what the rest of you have to do and I don't agree with all of that etc... I will join the meeting

Thanks for posting the NEU link. I just received an email about it - not sure why, unless it was because I attending the local branch one.

I'm very conflicted.
I really want schools to go remote and it's bloody stupid not to in the circumstances (extra transmission =extra mutations = increasing risk of vaccine escape) regardless of NHS capacity in the local area.
However, trying to do remote teaching plus home educate 3 primary aged kids (one of which is a live wire precocious wrecking ball of a 4yi) will be a nightmare and impossible. Although my year 10s have met the 4yo and said he was "funny"

How would it work if you "embraced" your 4 year old into your lessons, as you would a more challenging class-member? Give him some colouring to do. Might inspire some of your lower set Yr 9s???

Can I be self indulgent and ask if any of the primary / EYFS bods on here can advise me re the 4yo?
He's a summer born 4yo and absolutely cannot sit down for more than 3 seconds. Doesn't sleep more than 10 hours and never has done.
He has zero impulse control and often annoys his siblings by "bumping" into them. One of his favourite things to do is to literally bounce off the walls. Repeatedly. I have wondered if this was a sensory thing.

He gets into trouble regularly at school for constant low level stuff, and he's incredibly annoying at home for the same sort of things (pushing, snatching, breaking stuff).

He's obsessed with numbers and can do simple subtraction, addition etc in his head, and his sister has taught him his 2, 5 and 10 times tables. He can take apart mechanical toys and put them back together. He has his own screwdriver set FFS. Real ones
He is an ace at logic puzzles, has whizzed through and got bored with dot to dots, mazes, complete the pattern type books
He's fine if kept occupied in something that interests him...

But how?!!

Basically he is exhausting... I know it's all the range of normal but the low level of social skills combined with the speed of his brain at figuring stuff out is quite hard.

@CallmeAngelina

How would it work if you "embraced" your 4 year old into your lessons, as you would a more challenging class-member? Give him some colouring to do. Might inspire some of your lower set Yr 9s???

Lol, I think he's about the same literacy level of 2 of them! 🤣 I could do I suppose. He doesn't do colouring in though. Apparently doesn't see the point....

However, trying to do remote teaching plus home educate 3 primary aged kids (one of which is a live wire precocious wrecking ball of a 4yi) will be a nightmare and impossible

Yes I’m not relishing live lessons with primary aged kids in the house. Desperately hoping the headteacher gives up the live lessons idea and lets us prerecord instead.

I don't think there should be blanket closure of schools. I think it should be regionalised based on local community levels. Over maybe 500/100,000 + local hospital issues, then schools close.(picked number a bit from the air) And it needs to be more localised than the tier system. Bubbles closing is a pain, but manageable - that's going to be happening al, the time and is hard to legislate for however a high community level will mean it needs containing. I don't want my child's school to be closed because the city schools are surrounded by high community levels and have staffing issues.

Doesnt take away the fact that school staff are at risk though.

My child was my French partner in all my online language lessons during lockdown 1 - she also sat on my lap during story time. She liked it, it made my life easier, and the kids on the other end liked it too.

I hope the meeting goes well and you get some action.
I need to buy a laptop, really struggling to work out what I need. Ds has one which is pretty much a web device, you can't download much and it couldn't cope with running PowerPoint and teams at the same time so no use for me!

See I think there should be. We do not have the same infrastructure in the North and the vaccine Is just around the corner.

But rule, if schools in areas with currently lower numbers open as usual, how long before you're in the same mess as the rest of us?

My (Tier 4) school catchment is split in half between a "closed" area and a "fine, stay open" one. Numbers similar in both boroughs, and we all use the same hospital.

They are fucking the vaccine up too. Truly a shocking gov.

@ItsIgginningtolookalotlikeXmas

I hope the meeting goes well and you get some action. I need to buy a laptop, really struggling to work out what I need. Ds has one which is pretty much a web device, you can't download much and it couldn't cope with running PowerPoint and teams at the same time so no use for me!

I have a pretty bog standard Lenovo one and it's ace. It cost £500 though. The kids have the cheaper ones and they're slower.

Yeah, you should be closed.

In can be pre-emptive, but that would require an honest and effective gov. It also can't be decided by heads I guess because some toxic bastards.

It would be useful if they actually gave us data, or collected data.

@ItsIgginningtolookalotlikeXmas

I hope the meeting goes well and you get some action. I need to buy a laptop, really struggling to work out what I need. Ds has one which is pretty much a web device, you can't download much and it couldn't cope with running PowerPoint and teams at the same time so no use for me!

I’ve just got a fairly basic HP on. It’s not the smallest one but the second one up (13 inches maybe?). Only annoying thing is it doesn’t have a number pad but I’ve had it over a year and it’s still really fast and I’ve had no problems with it...

I bought a cheapo 150 quid laptop for my child in case of more lockdowns. It's tiny in terms of keyboard size etc, and I can barely use it - great for small hands, but be aware of keyboard size if you're going to be working on it full time. Ideally get a mouse and a separate keyboard. Defeats the object of laptops, but there you go

Thanks for laptop tips. I don't understand the memory thing - the one dh has he can download anything to, ds' basically nothing - they are both Acers.
Might ask in school when they open. (Not that I should have to buy my own one for work, but hey ho)

Lenovo ones are good, and tough, ours may have been dropped and it survived:)

What about screen time, enemyofeducation? Puzzle solving games like Cut the Rope?

Sounds like you have a future engineer on your hands!

I've just switched to NEU but too late for the Zoom invitation.

www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jan/02/government-faces-major-revolt-on-schools-reopening-in-england-over-covid-fears

The Plague Dogs should come with a content warning and 6 mandatory sessions of counselling afterwards 😪😪😪😪