The broom cupboard 2 - just for when we get briefly stranded without a staffroom

[TheHoneyBadger]

I'll pop a link in the old one so you know where to find safe haven. I have tried to clear out some space by getting rid of the ohp and vcr trolley and gin is hidden behind the sick sand bucket.

The timescale for a new "Letters and Sound" seems very tight. I'm assuming that some existing schemes will fit the bill. Sounds expensive though, if we all need to buy resources, books and training.

Got lucky yesterday with lovely weather for Easter lunch in my parents. We were exactly 6 including niece and her bf who lives with her currently. It was lovely.

Looking forward to gyms opening on Monday next.

I’m going into school tomorrow and marking at least 2 sets of essays. I’ve 4 left to do but I know my brain can’t cope with that much marking in one go. I also want to get the weeks planning and photocopies done and left in order of use in my pigeon hole. Would be lovely to actually have a desk 😂

Presume the other thread got filled

Missed out the word garden.

Dd2 is going on a virtual guide camp tomorrow night with my niece. She's so excited, although I know she won't have the camera or microphone on for the zoom, but she'll do all the activities. She'll be sleeping in a den in the living room so it's proper camping (our garden isn't safe enough to put her in a tent outside). That's something different to look forward to.

Hello Everyone

Oh God , this is just brilliant!

www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/apr/05/gavin-williamson-described-sly-schemer-ex-minister-alan-duncan

self seeking little shit

Got lucky yesterday with lovely weather for Easter lunch in my parents. We were exactly 6 including niece and her bf who lives with her currently. It was lovely

That’s great Honey

Went for a walk today. Was lovely but so cold. It is however amazingly sunny, so I’ve treated myself to a Mojito (bit tipsy now).

Does anyone else have an insane amount of chocolate in their house? My kids are “organising” their chocolate stash.

It snowed a bit in London today! Brrrrr!

What a cracking article Piggy!

🙋‍♀️I have an insane amount of chocolate in my house when, especially when you realise there's only one actual child here.

I've spent my day gardening. We only have one little border next to the drive, as everything else is paved. But I've spent almost all day chopping a shrub/bush that has taken over and almost grown over the front door. That included a very expensive trip to a garden centre to buy shears (we've never needed anything bigger than secateurs before) and a load of compost to try and improve the soil in that bed. It looks a lot worse than it did when I started . Luckily, it's my "holiday project" so I wasn't expecting it to be done in one day. I suspect little and often is what I need to do with gardening, rather than what I do at the moment which is "one full week every few years". I'm not a good gardener.

I thought it had gone a bit quiet. I wondered where you’d all gone.

I hadn’t heard that about L&S. It is a bit outdated and needs updating, but I’d have thought the answer to that would be to update it. If you can create a sample music curriculum, you can surely update an existing reading & writing one. And if you get rid of it totally, you lose that national framework of which order sounds are taught in which gives publishers something to work from with reading books.

Noticed people starting threads about how they/their partners have to return to work in an office from the 12th and how terrible it is. I have little sympathy these days.

Same flumposie. The double standards is strong there!

As is the Daily Mail who have about three articles currently about how awful LFTs are now everyone is supposed to have them but yet when it was about education staff and kids going back to school...

Poor little diddums. Must be terrible for them 😡

Appu
There seems to have been a recent push on Read, Write, Inc over the last couple of years and Ruth Miskin getting more involved on a national level. We've always found L+S to be superior but I wouldn't be surprised if this wasn't another "money for mates" style thing. Whatever it is, I imagine the English Hubs will be leading on it so they will be the ones to watch.

RM was always involved on a national level, wasn’t she? I have a feeling she might have been involved in L&S, but I couldn’t say for sure.

RWI is a bit of an odd 1. It always seems to have quite a limited range of PGCs taught and I suspect that as it’s gained popularity what it actually looks like in schools differs a lot to what might have been happening in Tower Hamlets in the 90s.

I know that RWI doesn't match L&S very well. We found that out when trying to buy more phonically decodable books.

It’s one of L&S very big plus points. Phase 5 is a mess, but pretty much anything up to phase 4 that is ‘aligned with letters & sounds’ is interchangeable in reading schemes without you having to go through each individual book to align it.

It’ll make a nice lot of money for publishers producing different series of books for different schemes I’d imagine.

bylinetimes.com/2021/04/01/secretive-government-review-skewing-evidence-to-justify-dropping-masks-in-schools/

Have we had this yet.

Just going to leave this here too. Not a school, but a church, but I would think it might apply to magic tape and being 2m away.

mobile.twitter.com/HelenBranswell/status/1379099997753466888

Helps if I put the link in.

I couldn't help it on a thread the other day - someone posting about retail being a nightmare to go back to. Posted something like 'Oh well'

I mean really.

I'm on a little holiday with my child. Staying in a flat above my parents garage! I did it up for them a few years ago for Airbnb (it worked, they are rammed all the time, this is a 3 day window), so it's properly perfect for us! Went for a bike ride with my mum earlier, will walk with her tomorrow while child goes on a picnic with her cousins.

Handy little 'not quite the rules, but not quite breaking them either' effort.

I'm going to stay with mum next week for a few days. I'm so excited.
I'm all done on rules, I'm afraid.

I'm all done on rules, I'm afraid.

Me too. My parents are sticking to them, but I'm a bad person. Not going to be the only mug in my classroom not having had a fun Easter break. If I get 25 stories of sleepovers etc, I'd be furious.

I'm trying hard not to reply to any thread of people whining about having to go back to work. It's bringing out a mean side to me that I don't want to indulge 😂.

Rafals
She was, yes, but I was under the impression that the involvement/influence had increased but I could be wrong.

There are going to be a lot of pissed off Rec/KS1 staff if they have to restructure their entire reading system again to fit a new system. I wonder with what evidence they are saying L+S isn't fit for purpose anymore. It's what we based ours around: our screen pass rate and KS1 reading results are always high. Our KS2 reading results are some of the highest in the country.

I need my mum. I'm trying hard to keep smiling for my friend and her husband and her beautiful girls, but it's hard and I need my mum to give me a mum hug. Then I'll be recharged and ready.
I'm willing to indulge my mean side.

I'm staying at my sister's tomorrow, along with dd2. My niece and dd2 are doing a virtual guide camp, and we were going to all do it separately but my sister pointed out that as a single adult household she's allowed a support bubble. We haven't gone down that route so far, but she hasn't actually got a support bubble at the minute (she did have a boyfriend as her support bubble but she split up with him back in November so she hasn't had one since then). So we're now her support bubble and going to do guide camp together. Dd1 has declined her invitation to participate. Dd2 is beyond excited that she's going to do an actual real life sleepover as part of the virtual camp. We haven't seen them since August, so it'll be really nice to see them in person.