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

Brexit was a stripping of mine and my child's birthrights. It will limit opportunities for everyone, and now I'm stuck on this shitty island with probably a Tory governmentfor the rest of my working life. I'll never forgive the people who made it happen. Nearly all of my family voted leave - farmers voted leave because of the 3 crop rule. I hope it fucks them over.

To change subject massively, can I ask what other schools do about transition from year 12 to 13 if someone is plainly not going to pass? I mean really not pass.

I think part of it with the left and antisemitism comes from falling down a rabbit hole of criticism of Israel and ending up at Jewish conspiracy theories.

A big problem with the hard left and antisemitism is because the hard left is critical of power structures, champions the oppressed over the oppressor, is anti-imperialist etc. Israel was created by the west, displaced Palestinians (the oppressed) and is a country maintaining power by military heft and support from America. They are obviously the oppressors. And it's a Jewish state. The only Jewish state. Created as a homeland for Jews.

But what directly preceded the creation of Israel? The Holocaust, in which it is very clear that the Jews are the oppressed and victims of genocide. Giving them their homeland could be seen as compensation.

How to reconcile the two? Holocaust denial. Overblown, numbers miscounted, the gas chambers were actually showers, the Holocaust didn't actually happen. The Jews really should stop going on about it.

Then you have all the old conspiracy theories about Jews running the world (Protocols of Zion) rebranded against Israel.

The example that got Rebecca Long Bailey sacked was the sentence, snuck into the article, that George Floyd was killed using a method that US police had been trained in by the Israeli secret service (not true). Innocuous mistake?

Or to look at it another way, blaming the Jews for the death of George Floyd and suggesting that Israel is training the US police force (secretly running the world).

We have continuation exams. If they fail they cannot continue with the course. Some resit y12, others go elsewhere.

@Piggywaspushed

To change subject massively, can I ask what other schools do about transition from year 12 to 13 if someone is plainly not going to pass? I mean really not pass.

Under our current regime it's our fault and we need to put in place massive and time consuming intervention to try to get them to pass.

If we allowed them on the course, then they should be able to pass. We are not allowed to suggest that they might be better off at the college down the road doing a more suitable course.

Oh, and then they fail. Or scrape an E.

We had exams like that. We do have exams this year but apparently, since covid, have scrapped non continuation ( no one told HODs this). But this lad was entered for actual AS ( fake exam obvs) and is about 12 percent off a pass....

We get that too noble , even though I protested when he was admitted! Such is our daft school that his ALPs target grade is a B. With 4 4s at GCSE.

It's also ignored that maths is forced to accept 6s onto A-level despite our view that we shouldn't. Then it's our fault when they really struggle.

'Other colleges take kids with a 6 and manage to get them to pass, why can't you?'.

'Because those kids on a 6 have been poorly taught at their school and are actually more capable than the 6 suggests so can be boosted quite easily, whereas at our school they've had excellent teaching and that 6 represents the peak of their ability'....

...isn't accepted as an argument.

The example that got Rebecca Long Bailey sacked was the sentence, snuck into the article, that George Floyd was killed using a method that US police had been trained in by the Israeli secret service (not true). Innocuous mistake?

And was it actually possible for her to make that mistake and it be seen as innocuous because amongst her peers no one bats an eyelid at that kind of rhetoric - ie. institutionalised.

Anyway the more I try to research the more confused I am tbh. In recent years I'm living through a stage of my development where I'm losing a lot of beliefs and certainty and I'm asking lots of questions of myself. Certainty and answers are increasingly thin on the ground. It's the old adage about the more I learn the less I know maybe and the more I see the madness of blind ideology on all sides. Definitely politically homeless anyway.

@Piggywaspushed

To change subject massively, can I ask what other schools do about transition from year 12 to 13 if someone is plainly not going to pass? I mean really not pass.

They're gently encouraged to leave. If they don't and they fail, it's our fault.

In maths they all have access to an extra 5 lessons a week taught by a specialist. When I was in charge of a level, when asked how I could improve results, I asked for the same. It never happened.

We make them do an exam at the end of year 12 to get into y13 but there's always someone to make an excuse for them.

We ask for 7 in maths, incidentally.

I'm torn on this one because education is now mandatory for a'level age. Maybe there is worth to studying something you are interested in aside from what mark you get and the pressure on schools for scores shouldn't mean kids aren't allowed to continue studying if they're not going to pass?

Totally understand that from teacher perspective and being held accountable it's a nightmare though.

There may well be worth but not in outright failing,I'd say. I am sure that is wasting the boy's time. And his target grade is a B!

Not sure about the interested bit either. Lots of our weaker kids do specific A Levels because of encouragement from adults or because they are the only ones they have entry requirements for!

Is education mandatory until 18 though? The son of one of Dh's colleagues failed his AS's a few years back and she was really struggling to get him into a new school/college to restart yr12.

Nowhere would take him and when she contacted the LEA to ask what they could provide as he had to go somewhere, they said no, it wasn't compulsory to be in education, but that if he wasn't, he just wouldn't be eligible for any benefits!

On my maths edutwitter timeline today: mindfulness is racist

Any explanation of that statement, noble?

I’ve realised today how ‘out’ of political discussion I am these days compared to my youth 😞

Isn't it education, or training until 18?

I am sure this poor boy is just one of those for whom there is no real good fit. Maybe 20 years ago he would have left at 16 to go and work in a small business/estate agency/airline. We have loads like him. It ahs always been a problem at my school and in my area as vocational provision is poor. Worse this year with some inflated maths and English CAGs coupled with our low entry requirements.

I am all for open access sixth forms but there needs to be suitable stuff for them to do.

I think politics have moved on a lot since my youth jan. If anything you could be a bit more anti everything back then because Thatcherism seemed to be something that it was considered perfectly valid to protest about and calling people Tory Scum was so mainstream Ben Elton did it on the BBC!

Cultural appropriation, Jan. Along with yoga.

Actually I’ll link to the thread because it’s a good example of the ‘left’ telling people that they are bigoted racists for doing normal stuff (watching Hidden Figures is white supremacy).

twitter.com/mrpranpatel/status/1391329104868282371?s=21

How can mindfulness be both racist and woke??

@noblegiraffe

It's also ignored that maths is forced to accept 6s onto A-level despite our view that we shouldn't. Then it's our fault when they really struggle.

'Other colleges take kids with a 6 and manage to get them to pass, why can't you?'.

'Because those kids on a 6 have been poorly taught at their school and are actually more capable than the 6 suggests so can be boosted quite easily, whereas at our school they've had excellent teaching and that 6 represents the peak of their ability'....

...isn't accepted as an argument.

That's almost word for word the argument we have at our school. And then the few who have come in with a 6 from a much smaller school where they have struggled to recruit qualified maths teachers (don't blame them, I wouldn't touch it with a bargepole) do work hard and get themselves up to a C/D at A Level. Which is seen as proof that we should accept all grade 6s. Despite the fact that noone with a grade 6 from our own school (where we have fantastic teaching even if I do say so myself) has ever achieved higher than an E at A Level, which often doesn't get them into the uni course they want. Why do we let them waste 2 years? Better advice at 16 would save a lot of disappointment and anger at 18.

Sorry piggy, no advice there for you. We continue to teach those who are plainly going to fail and let them fail (after wasting everyone's time with enforced interventions) rather than suggesting that repeating year 12 doing something different would be better for them. Our sixth form tutors weren't even aware that kids can get an additional 2 years of funding if they change their minds at the end of year 12 until I told them. They should know these things, and they should be advising pupils based on what's best for them not based on bums on seats and funding for our school (although I see why they do place a high priority on our schools funding)

I think it depends on whether you like the person doing it, piggy

I’ve realised today how ‘out’ of political discussion I am these days compared to my youth

It would be fascinating if you could tell us what life was like under Winston Churchill, Jan

You’re probably not out of political discussion at all, the names have just changed. I was talking to my dad about Corbyn and Momentum and he was talking about Kinnock and Militant Tendency and it all just seems to go in circles.

I see noble. That sounds sensible...