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

Snow days being called locally but all saying online lessons still on, primary and secondary.

I technically could teach from home but will have my kids here. Could be interesting...!

That's great, MrsHP
If you wander the street you might find a suitable old person...

Thanks for asking January. She's doing ok as far as I can tell. She's watching all the lectures she's supposed to, attempting to do the work she needs to do. Her sleep cycle is messed up though, so here awake times don't often coincide with ours. She's researching online therapists so that's one thing, and I'll just pay for it once she's found one she likes.

Great idea from someone who started the thread about positive sides of secondary schools closing:

In future, children in internal exclusion could maybe log into lessons from the room they're in - muted of course - and so not lose out in the learning. Just not be able to waste everyone else's lesson.

Workable? Seems good to me.

And from elsewhere, "Stop moaning about schools being closed! Go and break some artisan bread or something."

I actually did that exact thing (not artisan bread) last term for two year 11 boys because it was better than sending a bloody worksheet! Our behaviour unit manager was most pleased.

@JanuaryChill actually want to tell that poster I proper laughed when I read her post. 🤣

I'd love to be able to do that. Unfortunately, our internal exclusion provision is often in sixth form lessons rather than in the exclusion room (because it's too small and can't fit everyone in who needs to be there). So there aren't any computing facilities for them and they need to be silent so they don't disturb the sixth form.

Would need a massive upgrade in our IT.

There are no computers in our exclusion room. And no web cams in the classrooms.

Maybe the excluded child could sit on a chair outside the window of the classroom instead?

@JanuaryChill we were doing that in Autumn term for kids in the exclusion room. If they are in the exclusion room, it's for a full day or more and they were given laptops and headphones to log on.

If they are removed from one lesson only we couldn't do it as they would be in a 6th form lesson.

School site but full day of live teaching expected. Nursery closed and no childcare bubble due to travel. Tomorrow will be interesting.

Obviously that should have been "bake" not "break", unless you're a vicar maybe.

If they have headphones couldn't they log in even in a sixth form lesson?

Like the idea of them doing a window version but a little difficult if higher than ground floor classroom (mind boggles!).

If they have headphones couldn't they log in even in a sixth form lesson?
Lovely idea, but there's a no phone policy in lessons, and the kids can't log onto the wi-fi, that's purely for school devices. So they can't even use their phones and there are no school devices anywhere other than computer rooms. Which is a problem that could be overcome by changing policies and investing in more tech.

@RandomGrammarPun

Would need a massive upgrade in our IT.

There are no computers in our exclusion room. And no web cams in the classrooms.

Maybe the excluded child could sit on a chair outside the window of the classroom instead?

You say that in jest but I have a student with a 1:1 TA and that is where she sits because she's not allowed in. Luckily outside is also inside...

@CarrieBlue

My MP isn’t a prick - though we are an island of non-prickness surrounded by oceans of pricks.

I wonder if we are in the same city!

Amazing how schools differ, our school has at least 20 laptops (normally in the library but they get borrowed sometimes ), 10 iPads in the library and 8 more in Art, Humanities have at least 10 laptops... there's probably more I don't know about.

And we have 2 computer rooms plus a smaller one in Art.

We are a relatively well off school though I think.

for those who don't.

On the homework app

Me; all submitted work has been marked and returned, (deadline was Wed) here are the answers, no further late submissions will be marked. Correct your own if you've done it and not submitted it.

Five seconds later.

Kid who hasn't done the work: Okie

Just, WHY? Also, why does it annoy me SO much?

I have come upstairs for a break from planning lessons. It’s been a funny old few weeks.

H and I are still recovering from Covid. I’m pretty certain that if I were in school, I wouldn’t be managing all the moving around classrooms. H has managed 2 days back at work proper which left him useless for the rest of the week, so he has since been wfh. We’re both tetchy and fed up which means life in the Medra household has been pretty crap.

Friday was tough. I got so annoyed with kids asking stupid questions just because they’d not read instructions that I ended up in tears and considering sending in a letter of resignation. I ended up emailing my line manager instead and suggesting we get kids to read instructions. I then cried some more.

I’ve avoided TV and radio 4, to try and help me avoid the rage with Twatvin.

I have my Y11 tomorrow, they will no doubt cheer me up as they are amazing and lovely. I also don’t have Y7 until Tuesday, so some respite from the neediness.

To be fair I don't know how you'd police what the excluded darling was doing on said laptop....

How long since you got it @Medra and what symptoms are you left with? Do you think the tears etc would have happened even if you were 100%?

I'm going to say this on here (as I don't quite dare to on the other boards!)
Am I the only one to be getting a bit irritated with all the parents who are saying they have to sit with their KS2+ kids all day giving 1:1 support?
Do they think they get that in school? Heck, even my 8-9 year olds are told to think for themselves and then think harder before automatically asking for help. And once I've explained/taught the task (depending what it is of course), in many cases it's "off you go and get on with it."
We have 30 kids to deal with! How do they think WE manage?

I think there is a lot of pandering that goes on that wouldn't at school!

Am I the only one to be getting a bit irritated with all the parents who are saying they have to sit with their KS2+ kids all day giving 1:1 support?

I’m in the same situation but with a 5 year old at home (it’s why I’ve been a bit quiet on here recently, ha ha!) and she is able to do some things alone whilst DH and I are live teaching. We just catch up after 3 and the weekends.
It’s hard but it is certainly doable and I am just so grateful she is home safe with us and still able to have daily fresh air and exercise in the afternoons/evenings.
At her school, a Nursery bubble and year 5 bubble have already burst with positive cases.

I'm sure they're exaggerating and mean their child needs help finding the work/printing it/organising?

Because, no, they shouldn't need help doing their work in UKS2?

We are counting our blessings that our new (5 years ago) HT was dead-set on increasing the IT provision as much as was possible due to budget.

We've got no computer rooms, but mobile laptop and ipad trolleys. We've 2 class sets of chromebooks in uKS2 class set of ipads to share between 4 classes, all timetabled usually on a shared document all teachers have access to. Another class set of chromebooks and a set of ipads in Lks2. And 10ipads per foundation phase class.

All teachers have been bought a laptop since last lockdown highlighted issues of teachers sharing tech at home with their dc needing it for school. And TAs have a chromebook each too.

It was a massive learning curve for a lot of staff who were not quite so up on ICT but it's paying off now.

We still aren't doing the live lesson thing though due to the fact that it would exclude some pupils who don't have the provision at home, although we have loaned out ipads where a parent has requested it.

I guess there will be some who feel they need to ensure they're completely on task, using their best handwriting, etc etc....

And to be fair we all know teachers are magic, don't we? Our own kids won't do for us what they'll do in class.

But yes, pandering too.