The Forty First Republic - Gav encourages parents to report schools to OFSTED

[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

I have massive issues with any work being completed now by students being used to contribute towards final grades because it is not a level playing field and completely open to abuse. We all know that our students will be receiving different levels of support and it is inequitable for work outside the classroom being used to inform our final assessments.

As a parent of a Y11 student, I want to feel certain that by being scrupulously fair and leaving him to get on with his work, I will not be disadvantaging him against students and parents who might not be so honest... Hope that all makes sense!

Ah just spotted the second one....

I am worried with year 11 that they will say 'plough ahead with NEAs'and create a massively unlevel playing field.

There is a mention of 'portfolios' : presumably that's for subjects like Art.

That thread has pissed me right off.
The other one still pissing me off from months ago is the mental health NHS worker saying how safe schools were and how they were needed to stay open because of MH issues if they close, and how she needed her child at school so she could work from home. When actually a large proportion of the MH issues are because fucking CAMHS and scho counsellors and social workers disappeared and did fuck all because "schools are not safe" for them to enter!

When actually a large proportion of the MH issues are because fucking CAMHS and scho counsellors and social workers disappeared and did fuck all because "schools are not safe" for them to enter!

This.

I find that increase numbers of external agencies desperately want schools to open, then when they are, send emails telling the schools they have to do extra because they themselves can’t help!

How are normal exams unfair but exams marked by us are suddenly fair? Is it just to push exams back nearer the summer and they know the logistics of external marking won't work if they're later?

@noblegiraffe

I am rather irked to see vocal teacher bashers now starting threads about how terribly dangerous everything is out there.

Yeah I spotted that too.

This si what Hancock said about safe schools. is anyone as confused as me? It sounds like something a confused MNer has said:

"But the challenge is that because children often catch it asymptomatically – I mean adults do too right, a third of adults who get Covid don't have any symptoms at all but do pass it on.
"With children that proportion is much, much higher and so schools can still cause spread while being safe for the children who are in.
"So that's the precise explanation for why the prime minister was right to say schools are both safe but they do contribute to the spread which is why unfortunately we have had to close them."

@EvilEdnasEnemiesOfEducation

How are normal exams unfair but exams marked by us are suddenly fair? Is it just to push exams back nearer the summer and they know the logistics of external marking won't work if they're later?

This brings me back to the horrors of coursework moderation when you'd realise that you wouldn't just be looking at a few and writing "yep" on the form, but you'd actually have to call the school and ask for them all because they were fantasists.

He’s basically saying it’s safe for kids to catch covid. But also not safe for kids to catch covid. What is there to be confused about?

I'm going for yes, eviledna...

I couldn’t help but notice that the councils that closed schools and were forced to reopen are now on the ‘totally fucked’ list.

Someone needs to pay for that.

You know when you're a teacher and it's incumbent upon you to give clear explanations and not confuse everyone... why is that not the same for politicians and my headteacher

I saw him on Ridge and Marr and he looked more annoyed with Marr as he was the second person to ask. Their schools are safe line is because children don't suffer as much as adults but he isn't including transmission in his definition of safet.
Marr said it was at odds but then moved on. He did the same with the testing accuracy question. Saying the liverpool stats are from your government report. Hancock rolled his eyes.

Yup noble

What Hancock spectacularly misses too - along with so many others- is that no one is questioning the safety of children from Covid. We have always said it is about disruption to education, the safety of adults and spread, not whether children get asymptomatically ill.
He is wrong anyway : few people are genuinely asymptomatic. What they often are is presymptomatic. People test positive with random samples whilst exhibiting no symptoms. They then go on to be varying ranges of ill.

Are they thinking of closing nurseries?

While I agree it will help and protect staff, I may be fucked re any work I'm doing at home which is a bit extra due to setting home learning.

Homeschool will certainly have to stop beyond reading eggs and doodle maths. (Ds would be devastated 🤣)

(As in he really wouldn't!)

I have massive issues with any work being completed now by students being used to contribute towards final grades because it is not a level playing field and completely open to abuse. We all know that our students will be receiving different levels of support and it is inequitable for work outside the classroom being used to inform our final assessments.

I have issues with it not counting. Maths students haven't covered all of the curriculum content (particularly high sets). So on their mocks it was impossible to get a 9 because they hadn't done the stuff. They need to be learning this stuff online and have some sort of assessment when they come back.

I selfishly hope they don't close nursery too. I have no idea what I'd do.

What happened with nurseries in lockdown 1?

What really needs to happen is for all exam students to get a "Covid year exemption" certificate to explain lack of exam results.
All GCSE year students get one extra free/funded year of A levels plus "retakes".
A level students can either get a funded foundation year at uni/college or an extra funded year for A levels.
Nothing we do will be fair.

And we need a very strict lockdown with closed borders / quarantine to go for zero Covid before our economy is irretrievable broken.

@noblegiraffe

What happened with nurseries in lockdown 1?

Keyworker / vulnerable only - same as schools.

Surely teachers couldn't be made to take on a shed load of additional directed time in the form of exam marking that is usually contracted paid work?

Plus it would need a shed load of moderation with nqts for example teaching year 11s for the first time and being unfamiliar with mark schemes and what eg a grade 7 answer looks like etc? And with exams that late it would fall into the holidays.

Hopefully that's a toe in the water to test it leak. If you're watching sfe/ofqual get to fuck, that won't wash

dfe! The s could stand for shitshow or sadists though.

Some people struggle with mental health staying at home. Some people struggle to go into school because of their members health. The former trumps the latter because its my job. Right?

Ugh I feel sick.

I can’t see them closing nurseries. We have a school nursery class that is currently KW&V in line with the rest of the school. It was originally at HT discretion. Now they have changed the guidance to force the nursery class open - schools will lost funding if they don’t.

I was on mat leave in lockdown 1 (mostly). But nursery was KW only I think.

Round her private ones are advertising to take more kids