The Fifty-Sixth Republic - Who is up for a game of TAG?

[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

Getting angrier and angrier that there is no proper funding and support for the semh, asd, other sen, eal, vulnerable. I am working so hard this year and I am so tired. I am not enough. It is not fair on these children

This. We have a teeny tiny proportion of children who need support like this, compared to other schools, but it’s utterly batshit that a child in my class faces a two year wait for an ADOS. It’s only because his parents have private health insurance that he’s being seen soon - though even that has been delayed due to face to face sessions not being ‘safe’ right now. If he was in a deprived area he’d be completely stuffed.

But if course it’s ok, because schools are going to have Mental Health Ambassadors or some other bullshit title.

I thought the same @motherrunner

Now I know they are bad for me I should make changes such as drink more gin

because schools are going to have Mental Health Ambassadors or some other bullshit title

As the person who would no doubt be lumbered with that title in my school, the thought terrifies me! It feels as if it would hold me solely responsible for everyone’s mental health just because I was daft enough to not say no to doing a NASENCO years ago!

@StaffRepFeistyClub With lemon - one of your 5 a day.

My brother, a psychiatrist, was many years ago (well before CAHMS) part of an initiative whereby he went in to schools in his area to help teachers differentiate between children who were seriously mentally ill, or at risk of becoming so, and those who were (in the terminology of the day) “going through a phase”.
He said that the interesting thing was that the teachers were generally correct, but needed confirmation of that.

We're in a deprived area. I've had a child diagnosed with ASD this month, based on a Teams meeting with him at the end of February. I wrote a report in January, mum was interviewed over Teams in February too.

My notes are the most comprehensive and clearly suggest SOME 'behaviours consistent with', his mum only talked about 'when he was 4/5' (he's 8). I actually don't think he is ASD, but there you go. In the Teams meeting with him, the person interviewing him said he 'failed to make eye contact'. Are you having a fucking laugh? Over Teams? A child on his mum's phone, who didn't engage with any remote learning because his gran 'wouldn't let him, school is a waste of time anyway'...

... oh blah.. I'm just waffling. Long waffle short, children are being fucked over, and not by schools or teachers.

Why does my severely ASD child, almost non-verbal, not able to do anything independently, need to learn his 3x tables? WHYYYYYY? He needs to be in specialist provision learning how to wipe his arse properly and go to the shop or learn how to get on the bus or not stab people with pencils or not throw all my resources out of the windows. He also needs not to be using up all of my family time making resources so he can 'access the 3x tables'.

I'm so fucking over this shit.

I think I said I have a year 7 who can't, and apparently will never be able to, read or write. He really needs to be learning life skills in hope of a semi independent life not categorising and evaluating the causes of the English Civil war.

Luckily he is lovely and easy going and happy at this stage of year 7, in his sheltered world of one classroom during covid zones but going forward? Being in rowdy bottom sets with kids who are not necessarily as kind and understanding as his tutor group and the expectations moving further and further away from him?

He would benefit so much from a special school place.

He needs to be in specialist provision

Yep. We have a non verbal Year 4 with severe global delay working below preschool level in all areas. Various agencies suggested, when I had her in Year 3, that we try and adapt non core lessons so she could join in with her peers. That’s a wonderful idea, but actually I don’t think scribbling on a picture of a Roman soldier is going to help prepare her for adult life.

I don’t know how wide spread this is, or whether it was just in ‘naice’ areas, but the school I was in in the US had specialist provision on site. But what it also had at each grade level was a half sized class with full time TA provision. I suspect that there’s a lot of children that would benefit from the quieter environment and extra 1:1 support from that classroom. We could do with that here, but you’d need to make sure it didn’t just become a dumping ground for badly behaved kids though.

Oh god. I think something awful has happened there’s a million fire engines and ambulance and police have just gone past.

Only one ambulance is promising?

I've just taken delivery of a big, very lightweight but non see through kaftan affair and it is wonderful. I only ordered one because I wasn't sure if it would hideous fabric or not as big as claimed but I've now ordered two more in different patterns. I'll be living in these with swimwear underneath for summer and not worrying about my fat bits.

I am officially middle aged and don't give a flying f.

specialist provision on site

We have that - but access only for children who have 'us' named on their EHCP. Means lots of other kids with similar issues end up here by parental choice, because they don't understand that they won't have access to it.

We have in previous years had what would best be described as a 'SEMH class' in each phase. But someone has to take that on, and we are officially mainstream.

Hey, @noblegiraffe, you know you've made it when people start trying to copy your username! www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/4225998-DS-spat-in-teacher-s-coffee

@TheHoneyBadger

Only one ambulance is promising?

I've just taken delivery of a big, very lightweight but non see through kaftan affair and it is wonderful. I only ordered one because I wasn't sure if it would hideous fabric or not as big as claimed but I've now ordered two more in different patterns. I'll be living in these with swimwear underneath for summer and not worrying about my fat bits.

I am officially middle aged and don't give a flying f.

Ooh, where from? They sound brilliant. I'm just too fat for summer this year.

Aww Katherine it has been deleted already. What was that about??

Gosh, that was quick! "Noblegiraffeeeeeeee" asked if it was unreasonable her DD got detention for spitting in the teacher's coffee.

And it's not even half-term!

Wow. I'm embarrassed to have been targeted by such a low quality effort. They could not be arsed, could they?

Wow, how weird.

There's such a massive issue around SEND at the moment. There are so many kids who are being forced into completely unsuitable mainstream provision simply because the Government refuses to properly fund special education.

There's an enormous knock-on for everyone involved. Huge levels of stress and anxiety for the child and their family, significantly increased workloads and pressures for staff and, often, long-lasting educational impacts on other children. And all simply because the Government want to save money.

I find myself saying this a lot recently but as a country, we will look back on how things worked for SEND children in this time period with a deep sense of shame.

Funny how it’s all gone quiet on the hysterical mental health of children front from most quarters who we demanding return to school and/or no masks. Entirely as predicted. FFS.

@MrsHerculePoirot

Funny how it’s all gone quiet on the hysterical mental health of children front from most quarters who we demanding return to school and/or no masks. Entirely as predicted. FFS.

Well being at school is a magical fix for all mental health problems doncha know? OR, their kids went really having terrible mental health problems but were instead being a bit sad, down and naughty because of the rubbish situation. So they are now quite possibly still feeling a bit sad down and being naughty but are doing it at school where it isn't the parents problem. Leaving the ones who are genuinely having mental health problems still suffering, still with no adequate help, still in the wrong place (school actively worsens these problems for quite a lot of kids), and still forgotten by everyone except their own parents and teachers

Just seen this on Twitter

www.nasuwt.org.uk/uploads/assets/uploaded/87233d1d-3e08-4770-bbc8ef87618aed5c.pdf

Thought this was all scrapped!

Was just coming on to say this @Appuskidu
Am relieved DC's school not on there but really??

FFS!

There's been more and more talk of this lately : it is obviously coming!

Tests taken fell off a cliff over the holidays : it is obvious school pupils stopped taking theirs at Easter. They have gone up a bit but nowhere near the levels of last half term.

Our positive came back negative from PCR.