The Fifty-second Republic - Beware of Education’s ides of March

[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 non-staff as it attracts the wrong sort of crowd.

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 do wear a mask.

What makes you say that Herdy?

I was just thinking that when I was a kid adults pretty much ignored you but the plus side was your freedom and independence. Now adults don't have time for you but there's no pay off.

Ideally they want throat swab and have a sick bowl on hand for vomiting - I’m not joking.

I can't do the throat swabs have tried over and over but I just retch until I'm almost sick. I've been doing nose only. I did nose only when I was actually positive and it worked fine!

I just hope I’m not on ‘holding sick bowl’ duty this week.

Did not realise I would need to wear apron, gloves, proper mask, goggles. I’m not wearing my suit, I’ll go in mufty.

@Cantaloupeisland I am so glad I am not the only one who struggles with the throat swab. I had to drive to a test centre in Sept, and the guy in charge of my bay wouldn’t let me drive away for a good 20 mins after doing the test because I had retched so much doing it I was sat shaking in the car. I did throw up using the home kit. So I’m sticking to nose only swabs for the foreseeable.

Just copying my post from another thread. This is intriguing:

*I don't think I can share this but the last research paper done by parliament on this was in 2015. Gove's name is all over it, although Raab also seems to be a pusher of these ideas.

There is little evidence of impact, various research papers including Policy exchange and Education Endowment Foundation have said.

If you google The School Day And Year (England) UK parliament you should find it*

Gove resurrecting a pet project using covid as a cover story!

What makes you say that Herdy?

I've found that when you show you're good at something, those who feel insecure about their own skills will take any advantage to knock you down in order to make themselves feel better. It took me a long time a ton of therapy to figure out that this out.

And lots of people treat part timers like rubbish. It's idiotic.

Jeez, I have just read that David Perks (anti maker/letter signer/knobhead / Unlocked member Headteacher) has had 40 staff infections at his school (small staff). There are 517 pupils, 10 of whom have lost a parent, and one who has lost both.

@HerdyGerdy

What makes you say that Herdy?

I've found that when you show you're good at something, those who feel insecure about their own skills will take any advantage to knock you down in order to make themselves feel better. It took me a long time a ton of therapy to figure out that this out.

And lots of people treat part timers like rubbish. It's idiotic.

Food for thought thank you.

@Piggywaspushed

Just copying my post from another thread. This is intriguing:

*I don't think I can share this but the last research paper done by parliament on this was in 2015. Gove's name is all over it, although Raab also seems to be a pusher of these ideas.

There is little evidence of impact, various research papers including Policy exchange and Education Endowment Foundation have said.

If you google The School Day And Year (England) UK parliament you should find it*

Gove resurrecting a pet project using covid as a cover story!

Just found that! The comment saying, ‘Staff reactions to a longer day were mainly negative’ made me laugh! No shit, Sherlock.

The only people thinking this is a good idea are the Tories and people who want to pay less childcare.

@BabyYoda9 when I did the pcr test when it turned out I was positive the guy said it's fine to just do nose, might be a little less sensitive but will still work. I was doing the LF tests at school until they changed policy to say it had to include throat- I just stopped doing them at that point!

It's actually something I have to keep relearning too Herdy. When you don't feel massively confident in yourself it's hard to imagine being threatening.

I remember a silly exchange about what character each of the department used as their icon for some purpose I don't remember. I was shocked when hod suggested hermione and when questioned it was because of being clever. Genuinely felt like I was being treated as though I was seen as thick.

I tend to put myself down and not take myself seriously to instinctively try and avoid threatening people but I think it just makes it worse.

@RigaBalsam

Just did my lateral flow.

So you have to report your lateral flow test to government and then it texts you to tell you you are negative. No shit I told you.
Honestly. 🙄

Don't think a lot of parents will go through this rigmarole twice a week.

It's all logged on your patient record too. Mine is full of the damn things!

I can imagine warrior.

There was a guy on LBC this morning. I was running so missed his name. He mentioned the EEF study and that longer days and shorter holidays were proven not to work. Well little pay off for cost and effort.

Just done my lft. Went a lot further up my nose than on previous pcr tests as it's a thinner more flexible swab (definitely not envy). Much gagging and productive sneezing ensued so I'm glad to be in the privacy of my own home

I’m actually quite excited about doing lateral flows. I like to lurk on the conception boards and watch the “is this a positive?” threads.

How are people feeling about behaviour when we go back? I’m feeling pretty nervous, we have a few tricky kids and I suspect they are going to struggle to reintegrate in to classroom life.

@TheHoneyBadger

Just done my lft. Went a lot further up my nose than on previous pcr tests as it's a thinner more flexible swab (definitely not envy). Much gagging and productive sneezing ensued so I'm glad to be in the privacy of my own home

Snap. Have done lots of them now but was better sneezing away at home rather than in a community centre testing site or school hall.

I'm anxious about the unvaccinated return. Got our FFP3 masks ready and sanitizer and gloves. Think masks in classrooms are going to make me feel a bit better but will come with their own discipline issues. Due to the kids testing I'm not seeing any KS3 face to face this week which makes me feel a bit better as I can distance more from KS4 and 5.

@JanFebAnyMonth

IMHO, the need for childcare is inevitable since most mothers started WOH. So this has been building for decades.

True. I don't think a longer day in itself is a terrible idea. But a lot of stuff needs to change before it should even be considered, mostly workload and then it'll need more money not budget cuts.

It took longer to report my results than to do the test. I think that will be my first and last lft.

Aren’t the numbers tiny? !
I keyed in the wrong ones today when I did mine and it said it looked like I was trying to register a whole pack of LFTs and tried to redirect me.
I’m overdue an eye test though.

@Saucery

Aren’t the numbers tiny? ! I keyed in the wrong ones today when I did mine and it said it looked like I was trying to register a whole pack of LFTs and tried to redirect me. I’m overdue an eye test though.

My phone scans the QR codes on the test (which didn’t used to work) which makes it much quicker.

Ah right, I don’t use the Q codes. [Luddite]

I don't mind the idea of longer days, if post 1pm they are taught only by specialists. I'm thinking primary. 8.30 - 12.30 core subjects, afternoons from 1 - 4 all the arts and sports - taught by people who know what they are doing. If a teacher wants to do the afternoons, they can too and get paid more. Otherwise teachers not allowed to leave the school grounds, can do PPA, can do 1-1s with individuals (but not regular intervention, that's not the point of the afternoons). No one takes any work home.

Have you all been told to test on a Sunday? I wasn't sure, and as am part time won't enter school until Tuesday.

Ok I know Sunday is a logical day, but then what about this whole process is logical?!