The Fifty-Eight Republic - Do no masks mean that Sports Day will take place?

[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

I can't have normal pill because of migraines. Mirena has been fine. Lovely GP did first one for me, had it replaced at the clinic at the local hospital.
Had annoying bleeding for a good few weeks after it first went in and then it just....stopped. I knew it needed replacing when I started having bleeding again.

Yes mine is pretty scarred too born. I think that's why my birth experience went as it did - 3.5 weeks early and very rapid smooth transition to active labour but then all of a sudden stuck and panic stations around me. That apparently can happen with scarred cervixes. Anyway - way off topic sorry!

Neither of mine hurt any more than a smear test. A bit uncomfortable but not painful at all.

@noblegiraffe

What use is an extra half hour? Genuinely can't fathom what they'd do in it at secondary. Five minutes getting there, five minutes packing away, 20 minutes doing....??

Unless they save it all up for .... Saturday school

They'd restructure the day to make each lesson a little longer rather than just add on 30 minutes. It wouldn't actually give you any real time to do anything and be completely pointless.

As the article says though, most schools are already open 6.5 hours a day so it wouldn't change anything for them. It's just there to force the ones who aren't to do so.

Thanks Guy. I have migraines too and they stopped me taking the pill because of them - I think at one stage they really got strict about aura + contraceptive pill = stroke risk. When that happened I thought I'd never be able to have hrt because of it but apparently it's all calmed down a bit but I'm hoping it helps to make a case for creams/patches and mirena rather than pills etc.

Exactly what I have, migraine with aura. GP was horrified I'd been on Yasmin for years before kids and between them 😆

Yes piggy I just came on to post it and will again as people need to read it. Was thinking of bursting into Staffroom and shouting “Wagwen!” to get your attention! They succeeded in blocking info in PHE report on Indian variant spread in schools just before the publication of the guidance removing masks in schools.

www.theguardian.com/world/2021/may/22/no-10-tried-to-block-data-on-spread-of-new-covid-variant-in-english-schools?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other&fbclid=IwAR29Q2q1HshlU1IKtpWSEboxLJZAEdNxH2OAI7pNt7Tuh_VYr9dKFUQZ5JQ

I had to have my last colposcopy under GA. Apparently I have a very sensitive cervix... I did point out to the male doctor that he couldn't really comment on how I wouldn't really feel it since he didn't own a cervix.

I screamed blue murder when he poked it so he wasn't getting any closer.

He's a parent. The shame.

And this puts John Deeks’’ angry tweet a few days ago about the govt refusing a FOI request for the data from the school trials to be published ahead of their (unknown) planned date into context.

( @MrsHamlet sorry, obvs John Deeks was not tweeting about your cervix..... )

When I had my colonoscopy last year I had to have two vials of fentanyl and gas and air. They were amazed that I was up walking about to go to the toilet immediately afterwards and asking if I could go home now. Apparently that amount of fentanyl would floor most people for at least an hour. I have crazy tolerance levels for pain medicine. I was ready to fight them over wanting to remove my morphine drip a couple of days after my bowel surgery Best I never get into hard drugs!

I don't know, Jan... I did scream very loudly 😂
I didn't need to be able to see the camera angle of the scopey thing, or the blood either. I'm a wuss.

Have started a thread on Covid board about the masks tweet, thought it would save noble’s time and energy! People should know .

I have NEVER fancied the idea of a coil, I have to say!

So glad I am on Eurovision thread

Ukraine to win! My child is loving that song.

Terrified of dead Orville woman!!

???

Eurovision Jan

Just waiting for Eurovision voting to get underway. It is the best bit

So have an email from a parent asking her son to be excused from any future assembly related to mental health. She and he feels it has now been overdone and is now doing more harm than good..

I forgot about Eurovision. It's usually a laugh. Is it worth me watching a day late whilst DH is out?

Possibly a fair point - for some students - Staff??

Or is the parental concern more a dig at school “encouraging snowflakes”?

The mental health stuff in school is tricky. We can't do anything about any real issues - referral to CAMHS takes 18 months with us. We're not MH professionals. We can normalise feelings, positive and negative, we can listen a bit... but we're educators. We don't have any pastoral support, we don't have a TA per class, we don't have a SENCO in the building at the moment either. The year 6 teacher keeps going on about how he doesn't have time to 'deal' with mental health, but he circle times every day and does a PSHE lesson 3 times a week. What else is he looking for in an already crammed curriculum.

I find mental health a minefield. The ones really suffering go (largely) unsupported and unnoticed while the loudest use "mental health issues" as a free pass to do what they like.
We aren't trained in supporting students effectively. I don't know what to say to students struggling with their mental health. I can listen to them and recommend services that I know they won't be able to access for months. We signpost services like Kooth that students can access 24/7 but it's not really an ongoing support tool. I don't think the stiff upper lip is any better, but I'm not convinced labelling every problem as a mental health issue is helping either. Do we need to normalise life being a bit shit sometimes and actually that's OK because usually it gets better.