The Fifty Ninth Republic - May Half Term beckons

[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 for school staff to let off steam.

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. Finally, upload your covid test results twice a week on Wednesdays and Sundays.

I had a very churchy and naive little girl once (aged 7) who wrote out some interview questions for her local curate. Her handwriting and spelling were pretty ropey, so curate ended up looking like ct.
So, we had, "When did you first start being a ct?
Do you enjoy being a c**t?
And so on....

Someone in the US has ordered some stuff using my email address and omg this company is emailing me every day. I’ve unsubscribed but it still keeps coming. Thank you for your order, we’re looking at your order, we’re packing your order etc etc. Look what they have ordered.

Well that's classy

I want to rate it zero stars on taste grounds.

That seems fair

Thanks Staff.
All y11 and 13 final assessments now marked, alot of this is now in the hands of the gods aka our slt
We will see
Meanwhile some bright spark decided y7,8,9 need an end of year assessment from each teacher instead of only 1 as per normal, so i expect no life first three weeks back after half term.

Sometimes even exam questions themselves can be a little ropey. Currently one for Computer Science innocently referring to which network connection would be the best choice in a certain part of the house but the ‘scenario’ is cringeworthy with the end of the question something like:

‘ ... what would Wendy prefer in the bedroom?’

It’s been a fun one to moderate that’s for sure.

Meanwhile some bright spark decided y7,8,9 need an end of year assessment from each teacher instead of only 1 as per normal, so i expect no life first three weeks back after half term.

Let me guess, someone who doesn’t teach years 7 to 9!?

Parents got a message the other day telling them that year 10 exams will be at the start of September. We heard from the students.

Alright nobs!

I’m a bit half term happy - last day tomorrow and only two not even proper lessons before half term.

I worked like the clappers after school and got all my lessons and printing organised for first week back.

Am going to SKIP out of work tomorrow and NOT look back until after half term.

And some of my classes grades have been moderated up by the whole school analysis currently in progress too 👍

Don’t worry though I’ve got a meeting tomorrow morning which will give me the rage and reset me to normal levels of grumpiness....

@MrsHamlet

Parents got a message the other day telling them that year 10 exams will be at the start of September. We heard from the students.

Standard. I think I questioned once why we hadn’t been told something and had heard it from students and got told it had been communicated on Twitter 🙄 luckily that person has now left....

Thanks Staff

We have year 9 and 10 mocks after half term. Year 7 and 8 do QMAs every half term minimum already and I'm behind on marking already. Must make myself mark two sets of year 7 essays before Friday and get planned ahead so that I too can skip into half term like MrsHP.

I have 7 lessons left to teach.

Just heard of a secondary who have this evening had to email all Y11 parents saying the rest of this, their last week, has to go online. (Indian variant.) Including a prom, leaving assembly, and some sports thing.

Why they thought all those things were a good idea when they'd already had cases in Y11 and in other years, I don't know.

I regularly get information about what's going on from the pupils. My form ask me things like "what's this parents evening about?" And I have to say I don't know because I don't see the letters that their parents get. How hard would it be to include year 7 tutors in the emails sent to year 7 parents?

We're now in the slightly ridiculous situation that our GCSE results are too high, and we don't think the exam boards will believe us that we've got 15% more grade 5+s than we would normally expect.

Evening all
Just three more days... clinging on for dear life after another 12+ hour day. I so need the break!

Trivial, but important to me, question:

I am applying for a job - not directly in a school. For various reasons, the specific individual to whom the application (in particular the covering letter) should be addressed is unclear.

Do I:
a) Address it to the very head of the organisation, even if it not clear that they are the person directly doing the recruiting, and their name is not given on the recruitment literature

b) Address it to the individual who is named on the recruitment literature, PA to the above.

b) Do the 'Dear Madam / Sir' thing

c) Opt for 'To whom it may concern' (which I hate with a passion)

No patience today at all. One of my kids brought in handcuffs that he outright refused to hand over. He accidentally handcuffed himself in a very awkward position, so I left him there. What a div.

We're now in the slightly ridiculous situation that our GCSE results are too high, and we don't think the exam boards will believe us that we've got 15% more grade 5+s than we would normally expect.

I’m not sure what the exam boards expected and the DforE when they released the banks of questions for all and sundry to see!

Can't - I'd address it to the PA if their name is on the application paperwork (using their name and role in the address bit i.e. Jane Brown then put underneath PA to Elizabeth Smith). When it's the letter put Dear Sirs unless both potential recipients are ladies.

Both female. 'Dear Madams' seems open to being misconstrued!

The correct address (although pretentious-sounding!) would be 'Dear Mesdames' but I'd probably just put Dear Madam. I have used Dear Mesdames in a previous existence when writing to a firm of solicitors whose partners were exclusively female, but it was a rarity!

Cant that's the sort of thing I'd angst about, whereas in reality, if it's any organisation worth working for, they won't mind what you put as long as it's reasonably polite. (Unless it's the royal family or something, then I think it's worth worrying.)

Or you ring and ask someone?

Yeah Harriet but that's what solicitors are like. As, iirc, you know!

Guilty as charged!

If it's a terribly formal application, Mesdames is technically correct. If it's a more 'normal' level of formality I'd put Dear Madam. Either way you'll need to sign off with 'Yours faithfully,´ as I'm sure you already know!