The Fifty-first republic - twice weekly tests and wear masks at all time till Easter

[StaffRepFeistyClub]

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.

Do not give the staffroom password to others 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. Do not sit on the chairs and wear a mask.

If you're lucky!

@MrsHamlet

Ah yes Piggy but at least in Alabama or Oklahoma, I could whip the pistol from my knickers.... And the back to school section in Walmart makes me happy. Not so much if I was funding the whole damned lot though, like my Californian teacher friend.

Ah Dahl's Revolting Rhymes

What do you mean about Walmart, do you mean a StationEry Aisle Dream?

Yep Jan I bought some amazing crayola board markers in one once.

I'm cross.

Just been to the GP - yes, I managed to get an invitation to attend the ACTUAL surgery! It was like getting into bloody Fort Knox. Locked doors, entryphones, perspex screens, sanitiser, temperature checks, minor scolding for being 5 minutes too early and therefore on the premises too long, no chairs but dots on the waiting room floor to stand on, GP and trainee bundled up in PPE having had their vaccinations, one way systems in and out...
And yet, compare this to what we're going to endure next week...

@phlebasconsidered

I have a blood clotting disorder and a history of DVT/embolism - was told I couldn't have HRT, and that the side effect for me 'would be death'. By a GP. I changed GP. New one referred me to the menopause consultant - it took 6 months to get the appt. I walked in and the first thing she said, before I even sat down, was 'you can have HRT, now breathe out'.

From the beginning conversations to getting the HRT was 18 months, lots of tears, 4 different GPs seen... I used to go in with highlighted NICE guidelines and still get nowhere. But... it was worth the wait, it's changed my life.

It feels like you're going mad, doesn't it Ange? To be told over and over that it's perfectly fine to go into a crowded room with no social distancing and no mitigation measures for hours a day to the point you think maybe you are making a fuss over nothing.

Then you see the fuss being made in other places and the lengths they are going to to minimise contact with anyone.

Reading articles about how office workers are outraged at the suggestion they might go back to work at some point in the future is pissing me off. Again we're told we're the only ones with any concerns and everyone else is just calmly getting on with it.

Fucking liars.

My lovely TA has come in after her jab to help me sort my room today. She is 63 and only just got it today. She said the queues were full of mostly people in their 30's and kids from the local private school. Presumably they've managed to swing a place on a trial?

I am so tempted to lie and book one.

@RuleWithAWoodenFoot you have galvinised me! I am going in armed and dangerous now I know of such things as menopause clinics!

I don't think it can be a trial plebas - we're kept well away from the public!

@noblegiraffe

It feels like you're going mad, doesn't it Ange? To be told over and over that it's perfectly fine to go into a crowded room with no social distancing and no mitigation measures for hours a day to the point you think maybe you are making a fuss over nothing.

Then you see the fuss being made in other places and the lengths they are going to to minimise contact with anyone.

Reading articles about how office workers are outraged at the suggestion they might go back to work at some point in the future is pissing me off. Again we're told we're the only ones with any concerns and everyone else is just calmly getting on with it.

Fucking liars.

This.

It totally 'explains' why the government feel they have to keep saying schools are safe though.

noble and angelina I’m also in that pit of rage right now. (I’m regular-ish in these threads but have name changed temporarily!)

Ds has had ongoing problems with his tonsils, and has been refused a gp appointment until he has a negative covid test. (Only symptoms - very swollen, weird looking tonsils and an occasional sore throat.)

They told me to ring 119, who refused to give him a test as he had no covid symptoms. Gp still won’t see him without a negative test, so I’ve had to lie to get one sent out. Yet next week he’ll be sitting in a classroom with 30 others and his teachers and that’s apparently “fine” and I don’t need to keep him off school

And he’s had these symptoms on and off for a year so it’s hardly worrying new symptoms. Aargh.

Am reading this frequently on other threads - GPs insisting on tests pre any consultation if there's any hint of Covid possible symptoms, it doesn't fit the criteria for access to testing so people have to lie. It's ridiculous!!

All kinds of double think going on at the moment.

Yep, I'm about to head to the Post Office shortly where it'll be the same. One staff member, one member of the public in the building at once. Room twice the size of my classroom. Masks. Visor for the staff. Perspex screen. And an eye roll if you've gone in for something they don't deem necessary.

We might he being a bit unfair re office workers. Some are wfh throughout and refusing to go back until they've had the vaccine. Some are in as normal with basically no mitigations, like us, because their employers don't care.

Some are in as normal with basically no mitigations, like us, because their employers don't care.

Except that their employers legally are supposed to care and make their workplace covid secure - our employers actively make our workplace not covid secure.

Oh, yes, I know that they're supposed to. Same with factory workers. I know people who are in this situation, though, and can't exactly complain. They'll get the boot. Office workers were surprisingly high in the death stats.

Also hilarious is that our pharmacy is in the same building as the Post Office. So, only member of the public allowed in to access either service, causing huge waits outside. But, on top of all the mitigations the PO staff have, the pharmacy staff are also vaccinated!

It's them complaining about having to go back to work when they don't feel it's safe, it's us being told that no one else is doing this.

noble I couldn't read your graph on the oetrh thread. Do you ahve a link?

I annoyingly can't find the one now that says the biggest (mahoosive!) increase is in people applying to teach psychology.

Geography has dropped since bursary went and biology has dropped too. So not sure a plan to get biologists teaching the other sciences will sustain itself.

Graph is in this article.

schoolsweek.co.uk/covid-recruitment-boost-sees-government-meet-trainee-teacher-target-for-first-time-in-8-years/

Doesn't have psychology, suspect they come under 'other'

Good to see Classics meet 256% of its target with its massive bursary and exodus to the private sector

Thanks all. I like soya beans - I add them to my stews - presumably I should stop.

Government meets targets in some subject areas for the first time in 8 years = government slashes all incentives. Tory logic is great.

I keep forgetting to record my bastarding Teams lessons. Not that it matters, I've got shocking attendance this week like a lot of you have.

I forget to record mine too. Ah well. Only got 3 more left. We're not doing any remote teaching on Friday. I'm going to school in the morning, then to pick my daughter and her friend up from school and going to the park. Last chance to do the school run at normal time for another 5 years or something.

PE is a mess. It's been over recruiting for years and they struggle to get jobs. It's immoral to train people knowing they're going to struggle.

I think work might have just given me the option to work from home or stay at home on full pay if I can't work from home.

Better late than never I suppose. I don't see much point now tbh. But an awful lot of stress might have been saved if they'd done this 12 months ago.

Good news Rafals