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.

Sorry to derail; Just remembered via a post elsewhere at this other good menopause website

www.menopausedoctor.co.uk/?fbclid=IwAR10WhZBzG8pH7xA-cWYpFZXHFumv1xlW7wn_ugf2dsF-k8DTIqnuEouWV4

I'm wondering if I really should be looking at doing something. I ache a lot sometimes especially feet in the morning, and it's not Vit d.

I went back PT after first mat leave and they were restructuring and offered me safeguarded pay and I dropped responsibility which suited everyone all round at time.

I moved schools and after second mat leave they kept my replacement and sort of split roles up. Then change of head then massive restructuring again and I lost out but pay was safeguarded.

I now have a bigger and better responsibility and am 0.6.

What does your contract say? Can they just change it like that? How part time are you? Is there anyone else that would like part time share of the responsibility? Are you primary - I suspect it’s harder if so than for us part timers at secondary maybe

Also see REACT study shows cases RISING in south and west London and that is BEFORE schools go back. FFS....

@WarriorN - Louise Newson is ace - she'll tell you exactly how to go about getting what you need. I found her via Liz Earle (who I find massively annoying).

I've the option to go full time next year (3 days now) and I can't make my mind up. I think work would actually be easier.

I voted poor attitude ; lack of study skills and SEN holding them back. The kids who really are not engaging at all in my schol are rare but generally there are either recent issues such as bereavements, MH issues (neither on choices) or they are very weak and just can't access the work. Or they are ,and always have been, bone idle.

Prevalence highest in education staff... schools haven’t even been fully open.

Also highest in age 13-17 but that’s ok because very young children don’t seem to spread it 🙄

From here: www.gov.uk/government/news/final-findings-from-february-covid-19-react-1-study-published

That's not true about vulnerable adults though, is it.

@MrsHerculePoirot

Also see REACT study shows cases RISING in south and west London and that is BEFORE schools go back. FFS....

I can’t remember who, but one of the epidemiologists I follow on twitter had cases rising in 13 (possibly) areas last week. I don’t think they were all in London and the SE.

This might fit slightly with something I’d seen about Germany while where the current lockdown was making their overall number of cases fall, cases of the U.K. variant were rising.

Personally, given the speed of vaccination, I think I’d write the rest of this term off. Stick with the relaxation of outdoor activities and some social mixing outside over Easter and start again from scratch in the new term. Cases would be lower, you’d have more immunity in the general population which would break transmission a bit and kids will have a chance to get out and socialise for a bit. Can see that would be a bit problematic for exam years though.

@RuleWithAWoodenFoot

That's not true about vulnerable adults though, is it.

No. Group 6 is still a bit of a mess.

@RafaIsTheKingOfClay totally agree that is what I would do too. It’s the first time I’ve seen in black and white education staff being singled out in that way. Do you think the announcement and people’s subsequent behaviour had anything to do with the rising? Or variants?

@MrsHerculePoirot

Prevalence highest in education staff... schools haven’t even been fully open.

Must be because health and social care staff are vaccinated!

@RuleWithAWoodenFoot

Teacher Tapp interesting today.

Reasons why specific children haven't engaged in online learning:

Limited/no parental support for learning (61%)
General, long standing poor attitude to school work in general (71%)
Lack of independent study skills (60%)

I agree with that.

It is the ones who expend vast amounts of energy in not doing any work for the rest of their school career that are not engaging now.

The only difference between now and normal times is that they're not actually disrupting everybody else in their concerted efforts to not get any work done.

There have been some cracking excuses. Including critiquing the free to them computers, as they aren't fast enough to run CoD smoothly even when all the education software (such as full versions of Office) have been deleted and the 'internet' says that The Bay is blocked. The slightly icy suggestion that they needed to return it as they weren't using it for lessons was not appreciated.

Has that REACCT report made the press??

I’ve no idea. They were just looking at the released data. I don’t think they knew either. I suspect not the variants because as far as I know the kent variant is the most common variant across the whole U.K. now.

It does seem like people have relaxed lot since the announcement. I see whole groups of people sitting around chatting in the town centre on my way to work and the roads seem busier. That might be less of an issue down here, but if it’s happened in more populated areas with more circulating covid I can see how it would be different.

Well , DH hasn't developed immunity yet form his vaccine!

Presumably they mean the CEV. Who are shielding??

Looking at the actual report, here are the figures:

Healthcare workers and care home workers had higher adjusted odds of infection at 1.48 (1.25, 1.77) in round 8 and 1.37 (1.02, 1.86) in round 9 compared with other workers. Higher adjusted odds were seen in participants who worked in public transport at 2.17 (1.58, 2.97) in round 8, and 2.14 (1.20, 3.83) in round 9, compared with those who did not; higher adjusted odds were also seen in those working in education, school, nursery or childcare at 1.20 (1.03, 1.39) in round 8 and 1.43 (1.07, 1.91) in round 9 compared with participants not working in those settings.

(Round 8 is the first fortnight or so of the currently published study, round 9 the subsequent fortnight.)

So HCPs and care workers were at 1.48 then 1.37, while education and childcare staff were at 1.2 then 1.43. With most secondary and some primary teachers having no contact with kids..... And I wonder if the rise in rate corresponds to greater numbers of children in schools?

Doesn’t that take up back to that interview where they dragged some poor sucker out to argue that the most vulnerable adults will be vaccinated by the middle of April, which will take us to the first week of May, so we’re opening schools from 8th March?

Group 6 is a horrible mess. Near me, EVERYONE is being done through GPs, because there isn't a vaccine centre/hub within an hour's drive. Some areas of the county are even having to travel about 20 miles to get to the nearest GP surgery that is doing vaccines. So we're really, really slow near me, because you just can't get through the same amount of people in a GP surgery as you can in one of the bigger hubs. I wish those of us in group 6 who can drive that far were allowed to book the vaccine centres. I would willingly drive for over an hour to get my jab, because I'm pretty keen!! It's not an option though, which annoys me.

I have to say that my two haven't done much. We have shitty rural internet and they are sharing a laptop or managing on phones. If I am at home and doing live stuff they all have to get off so I have enough bandwith. When I am atwork they cope with mum and what they do manage is a bonus.

Dd started well but tapered off. She was going in as a keyworker but was the only girl and hated it. She's stuck with maths and science and reads tons but she has essentially given up. She's tearful and super fragile, I have to coax her out of her room. She can go from ok to end of the world in 50 seconds. She's in year 8 and very bright so she'll be fine.

Ds is now only doing his option subjects and even then quite badly. He has really struggled as he is in second from bottom set, is Aspergers, and usually needs teacher prompts and reassurance. He's that kid who never says anything but can't start the work until you've told him it's fine. He has gone backwards academically, I have no doubt. However, he's much much happier out of school and spends tons of time outdoors building stuff. He's also become a truly excellent cook and worked his way through my Slater and Stein cookbooks.

I rang ALL my home working class today and spoke to all parents. Lots of parents telling me their child is angry or anxious, even more saying they've done nothing but screens and ps4 so their weight has ballooned. Child obesity is a real issue in my area so i'm expecting a lot of miserable, breathless kids in. I'm going to set a target of 5000 steps per day and walk them round the field. They can chat and catch up and it will be hard for SLT to argue against.

DH is getting very anxious about school. He gets anxious anyway. But he is stressed about not having vaccine protection yet. I think he feels sod's law will get him in the next two weeks.

REACT report
www.gov.uk/government/publications/react-1-study-of-coronavirus-transmission-february-2021-final-results--2/react-1-study-of-coronavirus-transmission-february-2021-final-results

And here's some cheery news on ventilation in schools:

https://www.heatingandventilating.net/opening-windows-will-not-protect-schools-says-besa?fbclid=IwAR1r3BFuXSfDusHH_uaFIdcUSvl5Y-02vxErFru-ql9wUx8iTOvsvG0NxZo

Had virtual staff meeting this afternoon. We already have some pupils who have tested positive for Covid and will be self isolating (they’ve been at home throughout lockdown so haven’t caught it from school but it shows the potential of kids bringing it back in to school. So much for lockdown)
Started before we have even returned...