The Fifty-fourth Republic - Easter holidays anyone?

[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

We are calling ours assessments. They are exams ... in a classroom.

Ours are assessments. No idea where they are doing them. My school will probably put them all in one room together just because. And they won’t need to wear masks because it’s too difficult.

We’ve told ours what definitely isn’t in the exams for my subject...

Ours are told (in an extensive document) the topics etc. Maths just lists what not to revise 😆. Lots of dire warnings about not telling them anything in addition to this. I think ours are in classrooms. Sounds v complicated as teachers have to sort out access arrangements, as far as I can make out.

I have raised escalating workload for HODs either union. No sympathy at all and no solution.

I don't hugely care about uniform born

Oh sorry, I wasn’t aiming remarks at anyone in particular! Just rambling on. I’m not really bothered either way about uniform except that a) it’s a flashpoint for minor confrontations that could otherwise be avoided and b) it’s a vehicle for management to go off one one when perhaps they could more usefully be focusing in other issues.
On a more speculative note, I think the focus on uniform is damaging in more subtle ways. It encourages people to think different clothing/hairstyle/attitude choices are in some way meaningfully subversive when they’re nothing of the sort. By bringing young people up in an environment where dying your hair blue is an act of political rebellion, and not teaching them properly about politics, their rights and responsibilities, and life in general (look at how many women on MN don’t realise that marriage gives them important financial protections), we fail to give them the knowledge and understanding to demand real change in an effective way. So my (admittedly extreme) view is that school uniform directly undermines democracy itself.

Anyone see the thread where a poster asked what you'd do if yr friend sent her child into school after them being up all night coughing? They saw sense, took child home..... bringing them back with a "Phew thanks for pointing that out, we've now got a negative LFT result so it's fine." The OP didn't spot the problem with this either.

This is another intended consequence with the dishing out of LFTs. There could be outbreaks either in school or in the holidays (because there's going to be lots of "garden" (oh but they needed the loo/just popped inside for a minute to look at his new game) playdates and larger groups in parks now, isn't there? Even by those who truly believe they're following the guidance.

At the very least schools should be reminding parents not to use the tests if symptomatic, and what the consequences could be for the vulnerable.

Morning. First day of my holidays here so I've had a lie in.

I think piggy should have to write her posts in the style of Irvine Welsh/Welsh? so we internalise her accent.

I'm enjoying not dealing with uniform. We said blazers weren't compulsory this year and jumpers could be plain black rather than school ones, initially the uniform shop was shut and then in recognition that many people were struggling financially with Covid situation. Wish it could stay this way. Blazers don't offer any warmth or purpose other than providing an expensive place for their pens to leak.

MrsH I get sent a lot of oversea jobs if you want me to keep an eye out.

Hello lovelies.

Holidays here too.

Brain mush.

Morning (just), happy holidays to those who have finished.

We’ve got another week. Had to take DS(6) for covid test after school yesterday as he was coughing. So now we’re all stuck inside until we get results.

It's pouring with rain here so I'm glad to be inside and not darting back and forth across the school getting wet.

I saw an awesome unusual job but it was on one of those awful websites that want to store all of your information to be able to get through to applying. Found the website myself and sent an enquiry through their contact form. Probably won't hear back but worth a go. They apparently get tonnes of applications and look for people with a story to tell so who knows maybe they'll appreciate the direct contact and what I wrote.

It's an overseas school who want someone to do 6 hrs a week at £30-50 ph delivery 2 x 2 hr history lessons for their very able primary age kids. One is at the weekend and one midweek. Presume it's a boarding school?

Sounds a bit too good to be true

Remote teaching them Honey, or actually physically there?

Got negative result just now - kids have been dropped back to school 🤣

Hello everyone!

First day of the holidays here. Gorgeous and bright, but very gusty. I'm taking a day to have nothing to do with school, whatsoever. Both ds had spent at least 4 hours on their screens by the time we got to lunch, so I've just dragged them out on a litter pick in the neighbourhood. Problem is that once you start, you can't stop seeing litter everywhere . But it's been good to get some fresh air and remind myself how incredibly unfit I am!

I hope you all enjoy hearing about me being on holiday the second week after Easter as much as I’m enjoying hearing about you all being on holiday now

Sorry noble.

I just made us the best tasting steaks ever to celebrate end of term.

Glad it was negative mrshp.

Yes remote teaching

Another week for me as well. Well 4 days now. Roll on next Thursday! I can imagine next week is going to be very long 😬

I haven’t broken up for Easter yet either. DS has. His Smug Level is set to high, but mine will be higher in 2 weeks when he has to go back and I don’t.

Anti-vaxxer gobbing off in the Staffroom this morning. Apparently, she has “read all the stuff about it” and thinks anyone who has it doesn’t realise how foolish it is to have it. Now, I have no issue on a personal level with whether or not someone has any vaccination. I don’t have the annual flu one and refused tetanus and rubella in my teens. What I do object to is someone with 2 fucking GCSEs acting like they can Science better than the finest minds of research into vaccines.
So of course I just smiled and said “You know, I work on the principle that I won’t try to change anyone’s mind about not having it if they don’t try and change my mind about having it”.

Sorry to those who haven’t reached the end of term yet. I’d rather plough on for another week and have a shorter summer term.

God year 9 boys are a pain in the arse (obviously most are lovely). I’ve had to phone home for two of them this week, their mothers were clearly appalled by their behaviour. I naively imagined they might be a little less rude and a little more compliant - there was a moderate improvement.

One of them got a question wrong (very very low stakes). Shouted out I’m not having that, I’m done with this. Slamming his pen on the desk. At least he cares

I've had a fair few complain about it being hots this week. Of course, they were sat with their coat on.

Some of them are very rude at the moment. One boy still had his bag on the table and no equipment or book out five minutes in and the conversation went

Me: Bob
Bob: what?
Me: can you get ready to learn please
Bob: I am ready
Me: Bob, get your equipment and your book out and write the date and title
Bob: huff

These mini strops are wearing me down.
4 working days til Easter!

Mine are all ratty, tearful and argumentative too. Mostly I think they are exhausted. I know my two teens are- several times this week i've gone upstairs to tell them dinner is ready and found them asleep.

I forget sometimes that early teens are essentially big toddlers. Even now when dd is weeping /shouting it turns out she is tired/hungry/ill. I tried imagining my year 6 as giant toddlers today and it really works.

@noblegiraffe

We've had a COAT EDICT.

It is the hill we are all going to die on.

That's us too!!!! I spend my entire life telling kids to take their coats off, because the head has decided that it's not cold enough for coats. Of course, the heating is broken in my building, so actually in my classroom where I have 6 windows open and a fire door open, and the wind blowing a gale (as it has been this week) plus no heating. It is flaming freezing!!!! I've got my thermals on, and elbow length fingerless gloves. I've been letting them keep coats on since the heading broke, and have told the kids I'll accept full responsibility for allowing it if the head comes in. When the heating works again I shall comply with the coats edict.

I did draw the line at a boy trying to write in those massive thermal mitten things. It wasn’t even that cold!

I've still got 4 days to go til the Easter holidays. I had to phone one of my y13 parents today about her child's mock results. She asked "how long has she got to revise properly before you do more tests? When does she actually leave?" No idea, sorry. Nobody's told me any plans at all. It's not as if I need to worry about planning for next term, is it? I think they're (SLT) telling us the plan on Thursday next week, maybe, if I don't hear it from the kids before then.

An interesting analysis of this infections in schools this week from Deepti Gurdasani :
twitter.com/dgurdasani1/status/1375428112608079873

I had a run in with a Bob this week, when covering a colleague's lesson. Didn't know the child, but teacher teaching from home very clear that masks to be worn in lesson.

Bob watching YouTube on his tablet at the back. Went to see what he was doing and he put it away. Asked him to put mask on. Bob gives me a big spiel about government says he doesn't have to wear one, I can't tell him what to do and he decides whether he wears a mask or not. Explained to Bob that if he thinks he should be exempt from masks, he needs to follow procedure and get parents to inform school with reasons.

Parents get in touch with school that night and Bob now exempt .

Same day I see a dear friend having a rant on U4T FB page, with pretty much the same arguments about masks that Bob had .

That said, I'm surprised it took 3 weeks! Our children have been great about masks and handwashing/sanitising on the whole.