The Fifty Seventh Republic - the joy of bank holiday marking

[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 absolutely categorically not allowing them to do them if they miss the scheduled assessment.

Thanks for all the advice dealing with whack a mile classes.

Tried a super easy lesson. Walked them through it step by step. It helped a lot. Just feel like I’m letting down the most able now.

Im thinking if get their behaviour better I can then work on stretch the most able again.

In other news I have a new job applied for a new school and found out I got it this week. I don’t want till resign this post until the confirmation letter is in and it’s taking a while.

Ours are all timetabled so they can't be moved. If they're absent the plan is ... that there is no plan.

@WhenSheWasBad woooohooooo

Well done on the new job ^WhenSheWasBad*!!!
cheers!

My eight year old Bobina excelled herself this week by getting herself evicted from at least two lessons per day thanks to a variety of low level fuckwittery that I can ignore but the poor other kids can’t.

There are now literally no children in the class whose parents have not expressly stated that they don’t want their child sitting next to her, so I’m going to have to try and squeeze a single table in now and have her sitting alone.

I also managed to lose my entire 15 min lunch break today thanks to sorting out weeping girls and their variety of friendship dramas that turned out to be something of nothing.

To top my day off, I managed to pee off the receptionist at our GP surgery by not answering a call that came in while I was teaching maths. Apparently under the new econsult system this is now how it works, and they cannot possibly arrange times for phone appointments because of covid.

Ours are timetabled too. But we just catch them up. Like the mocks.

Driving test dates are like hen's teeth at the moment.

We're running year 11 assessments in the hall next week for the kids who missed them the first time round.

I can understand the driving test thing - normal years you know when your exams are and can avoid booking anything - this year it's all been a mess and you might well have a driving test, hospital appointment, whatever that can't just be switched and they didn't have long notice periods as to assessments.

We're basically done with the assessments now bar this mopping up of those who missed them next week.

My colleagues seem surprisingly relaxed and even my young colleague who spends half their year chasing her own tail (or having us chase it for her lol) is all finished with year 11 marking and grading.

I have been quite removed from it all because I don't have exam groups this year but it seems like the school must have handled it pretty well because I'm sure if my colleagues had been dealing with some of the crazy levels of work described on here I'd have seen tears and tantrums but it has been calm.

In other news I have a new job grin applied for a new school and found out I got it this week. I don’t want till resign this post until the confirmation letter is in and it’s taking a while

Congratulations!

Congratulations when.

Don’t get me started on econsult.

Congrats on new jobs!

having had the princely 8 minute lunch break to gobble my food

Ate my lunch in front of the children in the computer room at 2pm. Yay!

Apparently under the new econsult system this is now how it works, and they cannot possibly arrange times for phone appointments because of covid.

"We can ring you sometimes in the morning" and that's it. Just not useful at all, even though I like phone appts.

2nd vacc appt for me on Wednesday. It's possibly Eid then too, which means lots of staff off, so I felt really bad. The text says "This appt can not be changed". Super!

Just not useful at all, even though I like phone appts

Exactly. Many people would I expect be happy with the convenience of phone appointments if they actually knew when they were happening. I don’t see how covid safety measures could prevent us from using the online booking system to pre book phone sessions. Unless I’m missing something very obvious here...

I was emailing the teacher in charge of transition at our closest high school today to pick their brains over what might be offered to our year 6s. They finished their reply by telling me that they had had the pleasure of our most vocal Bob (the 'where's my fucking cup of tea?' Bob) from last year in his office today. I sympathised.

My own Bob kicked off at lunch and trashed the classroom then sat and cried.

My y6s bloody loved today's topic/maths lesson... spend £15 from the 1974 Argos catalogue.
Some days are good days.

My own y11 is moaning that either she is up against yet another test or assessment, or is sat twiddling her thumbs because they have done them all and she has nothing left to do. Literally nothing. They go on their phones as a last resort. I feel for the y11 teachers.

I have two sets of papers to mark for y11 this weekend. I don't wanna

Hello all.

There's only 7 weeks of term left up here

Thanks for all the congratulations. Econsult sounds like a bloody nightmare. Particularly annoying as GPs and nurses are in exactly the same boat. They can’t just pick up the phone anytime they fancy - they will be with patients / running a surgery.

Really is so inconsiderate.

I’m dreading trying to “teach” year 11 after they’ve finished their last exam. Honestly have no clue what to do with them.

Hiya Dollu, long time no see! How are you?

Well done when!

At least of one of our Y11s has some kind of clash - I know this because he’s being supervised in the library for two hours until he can do whatever it is.

I went out to a cider makery’s open barn this evening, woo hoo! (Didn’t drink cos I was driving though - before anyone pictures me drunk and singing Wurzels songs)

Congrats on the new jobs!!!

Dreading "teaching" Yr11 and 13 tbh. What do I do with them?? Might be cracking open the David Attenborough vids. My Bobs have been present only on body since yr9 (and only then intermittently) so I am placing a large bet on them not coming back into school after their assessments finish.

We're into the period of trying to "teach" year 11.

So far done a lesson on isometric drawing that was drawing therapy.

I've invited year 13 to come in to watch the Lion king and eat cake

Congratulations when. Glad your lesson was better too.

Sober and singing Wurzels songs then Jan.

Congrats to When on the new job! 🎉

Fingers crossed that piggy's DS manages to avoid the variant (PCR tests of close contacts...that was on my list of demands!)

@Piggywaspushed

Ours are timetabled too. But we just catch them up. Like the mocks.

Driving test dates are like hen's teeth at the moment.

That's what we've decided on, but it rubs me up the wrong way. Especially as this young person has driving test in the morning but is apparently not coming in to school in the afternoon because their timetable says 2 study periods that afternoon. We wanted them to do the test in the afternoon during one of those frees, but apparently there's nothing we can do so they will do it a day after the others.