The Thirty-ninth Republic - Covid Carnage continues and spring term is just about to start

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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

I actually think I might have a cry in the bath tonight.

All our plans are fine but we have to be in teaching live (50%) 'in school, with school tech'. Because GDPR or something equally bollocks.

It is so cold. My room was 11.9 this morning. After all day with the heating on it was 14.5.

I've layered up, thermal tights, thermal socks, and DMs, and my feet are like ice blocks. Head has said to wrap up warm (but business dress from tomorrow as KW kids in), I can't physically wear any more clothes!

I've got maybe half of what I could have done if I were warm completed, so I'm going to be doing it later ready for the KW kids to have something to do tomorrow.

Our tests have arrived, but I don't think they actually got around to testing anyone today.

Oh, and we're over pay budget, so we're doing redundancies.

Do you know that you can schedule the work on Teams so kids can't see it early ? I do this so they can't do it all on Monday badly as they haven't seen the lesson. It goes live as my lesson starts.
Can help if anyone interested.

Oh No Mrs Hamlet

Sounds like a previous Headteacher I had! - cared more about community perception than his Staff.

Oh @Frlrlrubert that sounds absolutely horrible. Those temps are surely not allowed??

@JanuaryChill

UNISON finally emailed and they're more in line with NEU although say to follow their wording as we're obvs not teachers (altho didn't actually read the letter as am not primary/SEN.

So it looks like primaries will close tonight after one glorious day of mixing and a massive amount of stress for heads/staff.....

Most have been on an inset day today - which is now a completely wasted day! as it was all about making plans for the students coming back tomorrow!

@JanuaryChill

Oh *@Frlrlrubert* that sounds absolutely horrible. Those temps are surely not allowed??

My NASUWT rep is convinced the legal mom is 15, she's on it. It'll probably get better as the week goes on, two weeks of zero heating is probably the cause, but 15 is still pretty bloody miserable, especially when you've got Reynauds!

Pinched from the thread on 8pm announcement tonight:

It will be absolutely despicable if schools are announced to be closing and children have gone back for 1 day. The impact of this on their emotion wellbeing will have once again been a joke to the PM and his government.

Not to worry though, Joe Wicks has had the heads up and is poised and ready to resume PE on Monday so his recently deleted tweet said.

Good points! Must admit I hadn't thought about how primary children would handle one day in and then closed. Apologies to primary colleagues.

Well, I went in (Inset) so a couple of mates and I could sit at a social distance looking at the IWB whilst another mate took us carefully through Google Classroom (as original training was beyond shite).
Feel much-better prepared now.
But I had an unpleasant episode when I overheard someone from the canteen swearing about me because they thought I'd not acknowledged them in passing. "That fucking teacher is fucking rude blah-di-blah." I WAS WEARING A MASK, so she didn't see me smile hello!!
I was so furious, I followed her into the kitchen and called her out on it (politely). then reported her to the Head.

@Frlrlrubert

I actually think I might have a cry in the bath tonight.

All our plans are fine but we have to be in teaching live (50%) 'in school, with school tech'. Because GDPR or something equally bollocks.

It is so cold. My room was 11.9 this morning. After all day with the heating on it was 14.5.

I've layered up, thermal tights, thermal socks, and DMs, and my feet are like ice blocks. Head has said to wrap up warm (but business dress from tomorrow as KW kids in), I can't physically wear any more clothes!

I've got maybe half of what I could have done if I were warm completed, so I'm going to be doing it later ready for the KW kids to have something to do tomorrow.

Our tests have arrived, but I don't think they actually got around to testing anyone today.

Oh, and we're over pay budget, so we're doing redundancies.

Hi Frlrirubert,

We had a privacy notice and consent form created for us with regards to teaching from home and live lessons via the firm we use for GDPR.

If its of any help and could change the Heads mind I can get you a copy if you want?

Oh I love a bit of Teams scheduling! In the first lockdown I could sometimes set a full day in advance and then just work at my leisure which was nice. Won’t work this time as more live teaching needed.

@Saucery I feel the cognitive dissonance of a “normal” day interrupted by lockdown news. We just looked at each other like WTF are we doing here listening to David Didau talk about interleaving and short term memory?

Primary LSA here - in today as normal (no Inset). I have to say I was impressed by the changes made by SLT to almost eliminate any staff crossing bubbles. But if bloody BJ announces tonight that all schools are closing, after putting us all through all that stress, and all those staff putting themselves at risk today ....... I will not be responsible for my actions

@mumsneedwine

Do you know that you can schedule the work on Teams so kids can't see it early ? I do this so they can't do it all on Monday badly as they haven't seen the lesson. It goes live as my lesson starts. Can help if anyone interested.

Thanks, mumsneed.

Our remote learning doesn't work like that though - live lessons are Teams but pre-recorded tasks/videos/worksheets are on our school intranet. We don't use Teams for anything non-live (if that makes sense). We are doing mix of live and pre-recorded/worksheets for non-exam years.

@RandomGrammarPun are we allowed to know yr "true identity" or do we have to guess? 😉

@Frlrlrubert

I actually think I might have a cry in the bath tonight.

All our plans are fine but we have to be in teaching live (50%) 'in school, with school tech'. Because GDPR or something equally bollocks.

It is so cold. My room was 11.9 this morning. After all day with the heating on it was 14.5.

I've layered up, thermal tights, thermal socks, and DMs, and my feet are like ice blocks. Head has said to wrap up warm (but business dress from tomorrow as KW kids in), I can't physically wear any more clothes!

I've got maybe half of what I could have done if I were warm completed, so I'm going to be doing it later ready for the KW kids to have something to do tomorrow.

Our tests have arrived, but I don't think they actually got around to testing anyone today.

Oh, and we're over pay budget, so we're doing redundancies.

My classroom has not been above 11-14 since October half term - and I'm not even in the cold north.

At least we can have windows closed over the next few weeks. Some comfort.

[quote JanuaryChill]@RandomGrammarPun are we allowed to know yr "true identity" or do we have to guess? 😉 [/quote]
My usual and longstanding name (not the temp Christmas bell one) was a grammar pun

@KathyHop that would be lovely of you, I could at least try to change his mind.

@Evvyjb, so sorry to hear about your colleague. I hope that you and your colleagues are given support from the school, to come to terms with your loss.

@OnehorseopenBobsleigh re. KS2 starters, Numeracy Ninjas is great, you can download the Powerpoint and the booklets from the website. I've been doing this electronically with my Y7 class at least once a week.

Does your school have a Mathsbox subscription? It's really good value, £72 per year for a school or £42 for an individual subscription. I like the number detectives as a starter, and the 5 or 10 questions to project on the screen. We used to print the 20 Q skills checks into a booklet and set one a week as homework.

Mathsbot is also a very good, free website.

My usual and longstanding name (not the temp Christmas bell one) was a grammar pun wink

I honestly have no idea who people are when they change names

What’s happening with Welsh schools-does anyone know?

Not properly followed thread; what do I get for my accurate prediction (tier 5) this morning?!

Gin all round

What a waste of time the last few days have been!

I must admit I forget I've changed and then don't immediately register when people refer to my new name!

Maybe we should all revert....

Yes @RandomGrammarPun I thought that might be the answer but I can't remember, will have to look back 🤭

Must admit I hadn't thought about how primary children would handle one day in and then closed.

They were so excited to be back, talking about Christmas, catching up with friends! What is the bloody point of them coming back for one day? No point whatsoever. When people go on about mental health impact, well, there’s that side of it. To have a year of a young life where the adults around you try and keep everything on an even keel, explain why some unpleasant things may be necessary (your school being closed, not able to see your friends, having a stick stuck up your nose etc) but that everything will be ok eventually........this incompetent shit doesn’t help, does it? How can you trust what your significant adults tell you if you go home one night and wake up the next morning and your school is shut again.

Cold people; try half size hot water bottles tucked into your lower back (eg into waistband) and / or two for pockets.

Mine was a child gift and I luffs it.

@TheHoneyBadger

Erasure on radio 2 perked me up briefly singing then back to slump. Need coffee.

Here's my things that shock me:
That any ht would insist on in person inset (are they afraid of tech?)
That there are schools without laptops for teachers
That anyone would think it's a good idea to spread kw kids around the school and expect teachers to traipse from room to room as if it was a normal week

We had in person inset via Teams! I spent a day in a room of 11, then the whole staff had to queue for lunch. My sympathy for SLT is waning.

[quote Frlrlrubert]@KathyHop that would be lovely of you, I could at least try to change his mind.[/quote]
I will send it over to you tomorrow :) once im in.