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

Nearly 58k cases today.

Must be way harder as a ta saucery. Would you consider becoming a teacher?

@Piggywaspushed

OMG!

THIS is a Tweet form Alasdair Munro, the paediatrician poster boy of U4T

*It’s [ debates abou tclosing schools] been done in numerous other places

The concern is the new variant has increased risk of school transmission to an extent it is no longer feasible

Difficult to tease out, but I think we can all agree things aren’t going well*

I’ve found his tweet. It was in response to this Dr suggesting that schools open in the summer holidays.

Oh can I get your advice saucery? A ta who is constantly based in year 8 this year (god bless her it's our lord of the flies zone) supports in a couple of my lessons.

It's a tough year and she deals with the same kids all the time and is understandably frustrated but she's started to do things like quite aggressively shouting at a pupil across the room when I'm in the middle of teaching. It'll be low key behaviour that I'm fully aware of but am at the eye contact and pregnant pauses stage rather than interrupting my teaching and giving them the negative attention that IMO they're actually seeking.

I have no idea how to deal with it diplomatically. It's counterproductive IMO and disrupts learning unnecessarily. What to do?

Apud we inconveniently still have contracts eh? Race to the bottom onslaught soon to come I'm guessing.

I would have done at 40, Honey but not at 50. What I do now fits in with my previous career and my interest in mainstream inclusion, particularly as regards autism, so I tend to let being patronised wash over me. DH did hear a SLT speaking to us over WhatsApp recently and said “My God, how do you STAND being spoken to like that? Like you’re a complete idiot?”
Might be time for a change in Sept, when DS goes off to Uni. I’m all for portmanteau careers and keeping things fresh. Then again, I might just rescue Labradors and avoid People altogether 🤷‍♀️

I really hope they don't take away the summer break. I'm leaving my TA school at the end of the school year to do school direct in the autumn and could really use the break to prep as I'll be in the classroom very early on.

@Saucery Hi from a fellow TA!!

I want the Facebook cuddle heart emoji for that post appu. Especially the rescue labs. I'd love to do the blind dog first home early training/socialisation thing. Also to breed goats amongst a million other random things. I definitely have a portmanteau cv.

One of our TAs was told by my HOD that he wouldn't share his planning with her because she wouldn't understand it.
Is it any wonder that I hate him with a fiery passion?

I can't give up summer. I'm going to lose my place in Egypt if I can't get there to deal with legal shenanigans soon.

@TheHoneyBadger

Oh can I get your advice saucery? A ta who is constantly based in year 8 this year (god bless her it's our lord of the flies zone) supports in a couple of my lessons.

It's a tough year and she deals with the same kids all the time and is understandably frustrated but she's started to do things like quite aggressively shouting at a pupil across the room when I'm in the middle of teaching. It'll be low key behaviour that I'm fully aware of but am at the eye contact and pregnant pauses stage rather than interrupting my teaching and giving them the negative attention that IMO they're actually seeking.

I have no idea how to deal with it diplomatically. It's counterproductive IMO and disrupts learning unnecessarily. What to do?

Nightmare. Can’t abide shouty TAs myself. You’re there to work with the teacher, not be their attack dog. I would structure a proper ‘collaborative meeting’ about managing that behaviour. Clearly state how you want to manage it and ask her to follow that plan. You could give her an observation role, maybe, so she’s got something to focus on rather than bellowing across the room.

We sometimes get general memos about “Do not raise your voice with X, it makes their behaviour worse” and that’s annoying, because we all know that’s directed at one or two TAs and the rest of us are managing it properly. Best to address it with the TA who is doing the shouting imo. We all get things wrong sometimes, there’s no shame in being asked to adjust our approach.

[quote Beachhuts90]@Saucery Hi from a fellow TA!![/quote]
Hi! It’s not all glue sticks and wet paper towels, is it? Can be quite fulfilling sometimes

Can she not just use "the look" @TheHoneyBadger.. I'm probably not the best person to ask as I don't tend to shout.

But if not, as a TA I'd like to know what I can do to make it easier for you to teach.

Thanks. She's great and I appreciate her I just think it's gotten a bit intense in that zone. The kids stay, the teachers move so the kids are liable to think it's their space but I'm on it personally. I think her being there all the time has given her a feeling of territorial warfare or something

You're right. Think I'll just go with this is how I'd like to deal with x going forward. I've successfully intervened with her over supporting my deaf student to the point of blocking him being able to see me. I've found lots of eye contact and body language cues work wonders with him along with muttering asides into his speaker kit thing round my neck and he is far more able than he lets on if a ta is over helping.

Think I am going doolally. David Lammy called Big Gav hapless on LBC and I burst
out laughing.

He also used the word u turn.

She should be receptive to a new approach then. I know how irritating it is when another member of staff leaps in and disturbs the flow of your lesson. Hard to address without ruffling feathers, but feathers gotta be ruffled sometimes.

Neuro any news on your little one?

Has Keir made any comments on this? I can't find anything.

@Saucery - working with 32 kids in a pandemic, shit. Working with 32 labradors, utter joy. My lab cross is my secret favourite child. What am I saying? It's not even a secret. If you set up a rescue centre count me in!

No, thanks for asking Dh started to try 111 but it was really busy. He's so bright and happy and eating and playing I'm stumped. We are trying some aveeno and will try again tomorrow. It's more incase nursery don't accept him. Or scabies

teachers were busy'hot housing' their own dc

I’m ashamed to say that my then 16mo toddler fell off the decking steps while I was frantically trying to mark work on Seesaw during lockdown 1. Boy was I relieved when childcare bubbles became a thing!

He'd be past any infectious stage if cv, plus we've all had neg tests over the last two weeks. Dh yesterday for his man flu

Surprising how much better you feel after a negative result!

Oh what a beauty, phlebas ! ❤️
We are sadly ‘between Labs’ at the moment but are on the waiting list for a couple of rescues and I’m not ruling out a puppy later this year.

Keir has disgusted me personally. He's quiet presumably because he doesn't want to be seen as a unionist in his bid for a Blair esque chance of electability.

He's going to end up more the option for defecting tories than the working class but maybe that's the right tack if you're being pragmatic about getting into power 🤷‍♀️

I just feel betrayed personally.