The Fortieth Republic - Schools are safe but they are vectors so go online

[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

Forgot to finish!! But I know we have lurkers so if you want to help me spot them, PM me!

Appuskido weirdly I don’t think but I may just not have noticed. I’ll PM you

I do this too tax. If I had my time again I'd be a forensic linguist!! I looked it up last year for DS.

I'm going to look now.

Appuskidu sorry! It’s that complete lack of attention to fine detail that got me into forensic linguistics in the first place

I know I can be spotted by form/from error and ....

Exclamation mark usage gives away a frequent ncer on HE board.

Oh , and the use of 'DCs' .

I've mainly been lurking on here (since the First Republic), but wanted to share this with you all.

Thank you for talking so much sense and being such a support to those who've need it.

Thanks January I'm ok. Just been busy working. I was in school Monday and today and did quite a bit of work at home yesterday.

I tried to catch up last night but couldn't get to the end then the same this morning. The threads are moving fast. I've got 2 weeks of lessons recorded for the year group I'm responsible for doing it for and have also been marking and have done 2 kw provision slots. Year 10s today who are bored of being sat in school all day already bless them. It's amazing that people are jealous of kw/v places it's a bit miserable for the poor sods who are stuck in school everyday whilst others get to stay at home.

Getting pretty fed up of hod. Glad I recorded an extra lesson for one of my colleagues as she's really not coping and I now realise she gets no support. Last year she was an nqt but they closed in March this year she's totally cut adrift despite having year 11s for the first time and not being a subject specialist.

I'm getting annoying emails about nonsense repetition of filling out spreadsheets on every lesson I set and wanting me to produce worksheets with each recorded lesson when I've deliberately avoided them because many kids just have a phone and and no printer so are writing out their answers on paper and taking photos. Haven't got much patience for it because she's too late and hasn't thought anything through sensibly.

Sorry long post. It's freezing here!

Did gav actually announce anything or just insult teachers and Scotland?

Monkeytennis that sounds like a brilliant day! Glad it’s all gone really well

Cognitive dissonance alive and well today. Drive to work on clear roads, full classroom, drive back on empty roads, realise there’s nothing normal to do apart from stay in.......weird.

All he said (from the kind of simultaneous BBC reports I was reading, is teachers will assess, no SATs, complain to Ofsted about yr school, kids who don't have devices can be in school.

So no, nothing remotely (ha!) helpful.

And then there's the Biz/Vax Minister on R4 this morning explaining that (coincidentally) "nurseries are safe".....

@Saucery

Cognitive dissonance alive and well today. Drive to work on clear roads, full classroom, drive back on empty roads, realise there’s nothing normal to do apart from stay in.......weird.

Same. I skidded on thick ice. Really good idea having in more staff than kids. Good job I didn't actually crash.

I went and sat in the library with about 12 Y9/11/12s so quiet apart from the last half hour! Saw more staff than have seen in one day since last Mar which was nice.

Apparently from next week a member of PE staff is going to come in a couple of times a week and give some kind of PE lesson to all kids in (only about 30 max I think)!

Whilst I applaud this idea in principle, am wondering what effect it will have on attendance a) where parents have the option and b) where students have the option!

Several of our older V kids who have been booked in, are not turning up, don't know if that's because parents are reluctant or they're reluctant.

See, what's happened is that they've conceded that "officially" schools must close, but they've sneaked them open through the back door, by making the criteria for qualifying to attend so broad that it's virtually business as usual. Except for the doubled workload for us, as we teach remotely at the same time.
And of course, teachers have to attend in person, continuing to put themselves at great risk, because section 44 says we're happy to teach Key Worker groups.

Maybe we didn't think this through. We appear to have been snookered.

Sec 44 doesn't say that though, the unions need to get together again and redraft that letter!!! Because it's still not safe.

But I can see Themis will be a much harder issue to fight, from several points of view.

Gavin has completely screwed us (secondary, area with very high number of cases) by saying that kids who don't have tech must be allowed to come to school. We already had over 100 KW/Vulnerable students in and we're now inundated with calls from parents saying the screen on their kids Ipad has cracked or they don't get very good broadband reception or their kids are having to share a laptop and it's causing arguments so they'll be coming into school full time from tomorrow, thank you very much.

So, would a cap on numbers allowed in schools help? And if so, what should that number be?

See, my thinking is that, if it's true that we can't mix with ANY other households indoors at all in the 'real world,' then there's no arbitrary number to pick for classrooms. Anything above one is too high.

I'm so sorry for primary colleagues with this.

For various logistic reasons specific to my school/our KW provision, I feel less safe in with the KW kids than teaching classes from the front (mostly) but it's nothing compared to primary teachers and TAs who have next to full classes.

I've thrown the toys out my pram and lost it with slt. Either they refuce my class, reduce the amount of vulnerable/difficult/ebd kids or I work from home with support from my GP who I rang this afternoon.

Class reduced to 16 with a TA for the runner and most difficult ebd . My card is well and truly marked now though and once this is over I will 100% be on capability but I don't give a shiny shit.

Gavin is a complete and utter cock and I bet his wife hates him.

Well, Gavin's announcement in the house said exams officially cancelled. Just hope they organise the alternative properly!

Did anyone hear his announcement that parents can complain to Ofsted if they are unhappy with the remote learning from their child's school at a time when everyone is coping with last minute changes and doing their best, I do hope that parents will be a little understanding!

Oh phleb

Scary, Riga! I got stuck on the ice at the back of the house but the trick of pulling away slowly in 2nd gear worked after a couple of tries.
I suppose one downside of commuting when it’s quiet is that other vehicles haven’t ground the grit in or helped melt the ice.

phleb, you’ve done the right thing. You’ve improved your safety for now and if there any repercussions after all this you can battle them as they come.