The Forty Third Republic - Lockdown learning continues - when is half term?

[Staffdontblowitnow]

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

Just finished my marking and planning for next week.... means I can not do any work tomorrow..... but it is VERY late....

Good for you, MrsHP

I haven't done my marking or planning for Monday which means tomorrow (today even) is going to be dreadful. Enjoy your Sunday!

I had a good sleep and went for a pitiful attempt at a very short jog this morning.

I'm not working this weekend. My Monday is supposed to be just 2 lessons and one of them I'm not the lead teacher on. Before I was in school with kw/v for 2 hours but I've put a stop to that. I'll live support my class tomorrow and do marking and planning and the email avalanche. I may be in school on Wednesday or Friday for one kw slot but don't know yet.

I think the time tabling guy will be determined to squeeze me in there even if I'm not needed but I have identified the only 2 lessons I'm not required to be teaching/supporting my students on week one or two and ask if I have to be used to pick one of those. I think he really dislikes me but I'll live.

Noble I identified with lots of the past stuff but as an adult they perfectly described about how overwhelmed I often feel and my inability to effectively case manage basic things like keeping a house running, thinking what's for dinner, keeping to a routine of cleaning or being able to do one task like cleaning to the end. Starting lots of things but never being able to focus and finish.

It talked about women managing at work (though I have to work part time and this is the longest I've stayed in one job) but not managing to cope at keeping home going and commonly not being able to cope with a relationship because it's just too much and the demands are overwhelming. And all the feelings of inadequacy that can come with that. Also not knowing when to shut up and doing things on impulse (I am learning not to fire off emails but to try and sleep on it).

Also sleep problems and tiredness and desperately seeking dopamine hits from eating or drinking.

Sorry long post. I tried to keep my answer brief.

I’m just feeling like Me for Me at the moment. Reading your stories of vaccines being handed out to people sitting safely at home (and knowing a few myself) has made me even more fed up and not very nice to know.

I feel the same. If ECV DH could get the vaccine I could go back to work and feel less guilty and shite. If I could have it too he might be less of a grumpy bastard towards me as well.

At our place, gaslighty twat head is snug in office, all TAs except me are in, teachers doing live stuff from home. No breakfast/afterschool club, dinner ladies all in. Balance seems wrong to me. Not that it matters what I think, that's been made quite clear.

honey after reading your post I googled adult women adhd and ticked off an alarming number of bullet points 😕

At my school everyone is in. We are a tiny primary.
We have 2 kw children in ks2. 2 teachers a ta and a student.
I get looked at as if I have 2 heads if I go and sit in an empty room instead of in a room with 3 other ( unnecessary) adults.

We all have to be in rather than on a rota like in the first lockdown as there are double figures in ks1 so they couldn't rota. We can't mix bubbles and it wouldn't be fair if some staff wfh

I am super lucky I am managing to keep my own dc at home.

Just saw this on fab

I thought quite interesting

www.heraldscotland.com/news/19034569.neil-mackays-big-read-inside-scotlands-education-wars-parents-teachers-government-daggers-drawn/?fbclid=IwAR1JrUoZcwVL5vR88YI4OfXQL2nYzDoAAjWbqphjWMaEIusCcK1pHSo3zeY

Special school staff in some local authorities are being vaccinated - as far as I know two LAs near me have already given all special school staff who want it the first dose of the vaccine and several more are in the process of doing so.
I’m included but not having it at the moment as I’ve been trying to get pregnant a while and given my age/ possible fertility issues I don’t really want to stop trying for four months. I’m worried though about how other people might react as I don’t want the whole school knowing I’m unsuccessfully trying for a family - knowing our head, any sign of ‘lack of commitment’ will not go over well, especially given he said last week he was going to give my area of responsibility to someone else
Many people are very worried and we’re going through a lot of additional non-Covid stuff at the school this year but I’m hoping if I do have to tell people I’m not having it because of medical reasons/ GP advised against they will be understanding and not think I’m putting them or pupils at risk.

@noblegiraffe

Occupation data release on Monday re vaccinations will be key here.

This will be interesting.

I really hope they don’t mangle them somehow by taking some sort of average including when schools were barely open during lockdown 1 (and school holidays). If it’s a graph over time, that should be transparent, but a figure saying a random number will be annoying.

There was talk of vaccines for special schools in my county union meeting last week.

Thanks for that Herald link. Will send to my DSM who seems oblivious to school issues (even though she is an ex teacher and generally very sympathetic) and won't have a word said against Sturgeon!

The new narrative in the English press is 'exhausted parents' I note. I do have sympathy but would have more sympathy if it was a bit balanced like the Herald article. More focus should be on freeing children form harm by providing them down time form screens. There is no mention of overworked children or exhausted teachers, ever.

And also, exhausted - really? It's been a couple of weeks!

@Stepawayfromtheminirolls

honey after reading your post I googled adult women adhd and ticked off an alarming number of bullet points 😕

Do you find you often feel like that when you read about a condition? I'm trying to keep myself in check and remember that it's easy to fit descriptions. The idea of a prescription of something that would allow me to get things done and not see me freaking out like a caged tiger in waiting rooms or airport security lines sounds great though. Queuing and waiting or being made to sit still and listen to drivel (ie inset days and unnecessary meetings) kills me

Being able not to blurt out inappropriate things without thinking would probably be good for my career. Still mortified that I laughed and said aka bullshit when the new head of t&l used the phrase differentiated by outcome. It was the first time I'd met him 🙈

I know quite a few people who work in children's homes who have been vaccinated in the past week. I do hope that staff in special schools follow shortly.

Interesting Herald article there thanks.

Honey, I certainly agree with this:

Do you find you often feel like that when you read about a condition? I'm trying to keep myself in check and remember that it's easy to fit descriptions.

I too read yr post and thought "uh oh!", so did a bit of googling, then thought "no, that's not me". It is VERY easy to misdiagnose yourself. Or for certain traits and habits to be possibly the result of various adverse factors in one's life.

Do you think you'll try and speak to yr GP about the possibility though?

If they give school staff the vaccine and make us reopen as normal after half term, it'll be absolute carnage in the hospitals, worse than now because the starting point is still going to be far too high. We know that. Surely the govt does now too.

But, I'd take the vaccine. Dh, ECV, should get his in next few weeks, and I have been living in a separate part of the house from him since SEPTEMBER. I'm not sure how much longer I/we can cope.

Still continuing to live separately, I should say, because we are all in 50/50 at my school. Teaching staff are doing equal time with KW children as teaching assistants. We're all more at risk currently because we have more than 25% of year 7, 8 and 9 are in and the "bubbles" they've been put in are bigger than a regular class.

@RandomGrammarPun how hard for you both.

@TheHoneyBadger so many of the symptoms overlap with anxiety (definitely have that) which is probably where it's striking a chord. I'm not particularly "omg I've got it" when I read about stuff (sister who's a nurse once had to threaten to call an ambulance if I didn't go to a&e!) but if I find something that might explain how I feel sometimes it reassures me. I like things to have explanations.

Random that really sucks

Hancock on Marr Show (report by Press Association):

Mr Hancock said that while he hoped schools in England could reopen by Easter, it would depend on the levels of infection in the community at that time.

So I don't think anyone will be back in February.....

On a different note. If children are in because they are vulnerable as eligible for fsm, do they have to have school lunch or can they receive the vouchers and send in a packed lunch?
Not sure if 'the rules' but my school are saying if they are in then they have lunch at school.

Just want to be prepared as one of mine's parents are more than like going to kick off about it and it's me that will get it in the neck when she drops off the children!

No, if they're in school they have school food!

I noticed on Friday, the canteen staff were trying to send home surplus fruit and other bits that wouldn't save but none of the kids would take anyway.

@TheHoneyBadger

Being able not to blurt out inappropriate things without thinking would probably be good for my career. Still mortified that I laughed and said aka bullshit when the new head of t&l used the phrase differentiated by outcome. It was the first time I'd met him 🙈

Maybe not good for your career but it would definitely make you someone I would want to be friends with

I've got a friend who was diagnosed with ADHD about about 40. We lived together at uni and he was just fab. Idiosyncratic. We got back in contact after about 20 years, he told me he had ADHD and I thought back to how he used to get into 'flaps' (anxiety) and impulsive behaviour, bursts of energy, and an inability to work to a deadline that was more than a day ahead, it was like 'ah, I see'. Since uni he has struggled with anxiety and depression that is also linked.

A diagnosis has been useful for him in terms of understanding himself and his behaviour and needs.