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

Exactly Sansa the cycle of being in school for a few days then 2 weeks isolation on repeat has been hideous for kids, and this is exactly what we'll go back to if we reopen too soon. I know it's only anecdotal but so many of our kids are saying they prefer working at home from a MH point of view. They are far more resilient than adults give them credit for and it just does my head in knowing that for a lot (not all) of posters the mental health argument really means I don't want my kids home all day!

I have students who struggled last term as they were worried about bringing the virus home to their families (this is primary age) why is that mental health impact never discussed?

TBH ours struggled most with sports/dance being cancelled than school.

@thecatfromjapan

Rule in another thread, RedToothBrush has suggested the timing of this sudden, spontaneous burst of interest is down to the fact Johnson's coronavirus measures come up for another vote at the end of March.

So this is all about building pressure for that.

The CRG will be trying to get MPs to vote against Johnson.

That’s two months away though? Why a sudden flurry of it all today?!

Hmm.

My child's school is struggling with the pressure of MH issues in the children.

Their usual methods are hampered by coronavirus and their ability to hook children up with outside MH agencies is hampered because said agencies are overwhelmed.

MH is a massive issue. It needs to be addressed separately - because it's not all down to school closures.

Indeed, schools being open - unsafely - was being used as a sticking plaster.

And schools being open doesn't address the plunge in university-age people or older people.

It's a separate issue - and there is something so, so cynical about using it as an argumdnt to re-open schools safely. It really needs addressing in its own right, and solutions in its own right.

Appusdisku I think this is going to go on for a while. Perhaps I'm wrong ... but I think we're at the start of a joyous experience that is going to build and grow for weeks.

Happy thought.

I give up.
My eldest is playing with PhET build an atom simulator (age 9), middle child is watching David Attenborough and taking notes, youngest is playing with PhET skatepark simulator (age 4) instead of phonics.
None of them are remotely interested in the rather dry work set..... Am I a bad parent?

has suggested the timing of this sudden, spontaneous burst of interest is down to the fact Johnson's coronavirus measures come up for another vote at the end of March.

The school closure guidance is up for review on 8th Feb which is two weeks away.

And of course if they get schools open then that puts them in a good place to remove other lockdown measures.

Not a bad parent. Weighing up whether to force ds1 to write a paragraph for a story that they've already read several times and he's not that into. Or play with my old digital camera which he's desperate to do.

Schools being open unsafely in a pandemic - massive uptick in mh issues in our student body.

"Normal" school - massive numbers of kids with anxiety/ASD/ADHD struggle with their mh of having to function in a one size fits all offer.

Being bullied day in, day out in school (even where school knows about it and is doing their best but isn't allowed to exclude bullies) - massive mh issues for a large number of students.

Living in poverty/abuse/neglect/with an alcoholic parent/as a young carer/with a parent with cancer or other physical health condition - massive mh issues for large numbers of students.

--------

It's almost as if those four mental health causes don't count?

Sorry about your flights, Honey, Enemies of Education ON TOUR grounded for a while longer.

I’ve stopped making plans because I can’t bear cancelling them. I’m not sure when I’ll feel safe to make them again.

None of them are remotely interested in the rather dry work set..... Am I a bad parent?

If they’re watching David Attenborough and not Teen Titans (unless it’s the episode about Young’s Double Slit experiment) then you’re all good.

I was thinking about booking a (cancellable) cottage for October half term before they're all snapped up?

Oh god Teen Titans. My middle child binge watched that every afternoon last week (after completing school work). I'm hoping that's got it out of her system!

I'm sorry if I'm ignoring the MH posts at the moment. I just find it a bit too overwhelming right now to look at a bigger picture

From experience, Enemy, no. Mine just started again from the beginning with Teen Titans. Months of it.

Teen Titans - scream!

I just cancelled my maths Teams lessons, and instead invited them all to 'Come and have a chat if you like' session. We've just done an hour and a half of chatting about Among Us, various TV shows, some books they like etc. Even the super academic keen beans were talking about how they get 'angry tummy aches' and 'I hit a ball against a wall for 10 minutes then I felt better' etc - then my very unemotional boy, who had hardly said a word throughout, put his hand up to say really loudly "I WANT TO DO THIS MEETING EVERY DAY".

When they'd gone, I did a cry. These are 7 year olds :(

Months of it.

Same.

Rule - oh, that's lovely/sad.

We need rotas. They all deserve some time in school but for it to be safe(r than it was).

Aw that's lovely Rule.

I'm close to ditching most if the online learning. Dry is a good description. Not the teachers' fault. This is v bloody hard!

Ds was set some non screen activities yesterday which he loved (in addition to work) Make a big piece of art in particular. Thank you giant roll of paper from IKEA. (But it was then v hard to get him to do his set work.)

Rotas would be brilliant. But there so many KW kids in I query if they could accommodate additional kids effectively/ may as well be all in. Which defeats the point.

Unless you're going to be really radical and do half days.

Teen titans may just too me over the edge if it continues! 🤣

Rule that is so lovely

Rotas - and you only count as a critical worker if all adults are out of the house on actual critical work. And the laptop/quiet place to work doesn't count anymore either. That would get it down to less than 5%.

Week on/week off would be my preference.

On the subject of dry work, I'm currently in a stand off with my English lead about the stuff she wants us to be doing. No kid is doing the writing to any decent standard. Because it's dull as shit - I don't even want to read the book it's based on.

I've got one that like, Rule, same sort of age, and he worries me a lot. Bright, but doesn't bother to engage, does the bare minimum. He's like it in school too and being at home isn't helping. Many of the rest of mine are bored and screen-bound, but they are making the best of it. It helps that they have naice middle-class parents who are there with them, helping and encouraging. I do so worry about the ones who don't have that.

But this crazy OPEN THE SCHOOLS NOW IT'S SAFE THE ONS SAYS SO TEACHERS type rhetoric is making me scratchy. Reading that UsForThem thread is too. And the news can feck off.

Good. A horrible post reported and deleted on the Alice thread.

Good for you re stand off Rule.

It's very hard to set literacy/ writing work remotely I feel.

I also feel it's a big focus on writing; literacy isn't always actual writing. All the kids I know have become allergic to writing including my own son.

We had week on week off rotas. It worked well. They did have to shorten the day though to enable staff to set and review work for remote learning (mainly as it's all so individual in sen.)