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.

Depends on whether you have a tutor group. Management time is 1hour a fortnight for subject leads!

I find 22.5 hours in college much easier than the equivalent in school tbh. For a start we have 3x90 minute lessons with each class, no (or barely any) split groups. So the week is yours to split as you wish - so on a heavy day I might set an exam lesson for one group as breathing space. Also we’re not scrutinised or micro managed as far as teaching goes. It’s perfectly fine to set the class off on a task and then mark at the front, for example. Also wander in and out of each others’ rooms, go and get a drink or take a loo break, nip into the department office for a bite on lunch if you’re starving...it’s just less stressed and pressured.

No form time so I start at 9 but get in for 8.30 so usually get a bit of planning/prep done then. Also often work a bit in lunch and use independent working time in classes to plan lessons for the rest of the week. So I don’t take much home. I have hardly any random marking to do - any marking is useful assessment which is both good and bad! No wading through piles of books “just because”, but also you can’t put off a stack of BTEC folders!

22.5 is full time here plus form time actually so over 24. At 0.4 I teach 9 hrs a week. Don’t know how full timers do it. I’ve got a marking backlog as it is.

It’s getting to the time of year where I’m interested/worried as to what next year’s timetable will look like. I know Hod wants me teaching at least one class of both themes of year 9 so that’s at least 5 of my 18 lessons a fortnight accounted for. I’m presuming the rest will be ks3 but anything could happen once our timetable guy gets stuck in. I get the feeling he looks at part timers last and sees them as gap fillers.

Gravity in my first post my classroom was by the department staff room and it was acceptable for me to nip and make a coffee. Miss those days!

We do 22 hours teaching for full timers, plus form time of 20 minutes a day. I know my class allocation for next year, and will see the timetable next week. I'm keeping 3 classes from this year, 2 are currently year 10 and one class are currently year 12. That's 11 hours accounted for. Then one year 8, 1 year 7, 1 year 12 and 3 hours of computing with year 7.

Our timetabler works really hard at part timers. They are his first priority, making sure their correct allocations are possible with no trapped time and in decent chunks of time. I always think it's really poor management (or incompetent timetablers) when I read about part time teachers with tons of trapped time or being given random classes.

Does anyone know anything about rheumatoid arthritis?

It is. He just doesn’t give a toss really. By the sounds of it hod has been clear on what she wants me to have. I’m a bit sad that I can’t keep my current year 9s into year 10 but they have 2 teachers in year 9 and just one in year 10 and I wasn’t the lead teacher. Lovely group.

I’ve taught tons of year 8 this year so year 9s will probably be largely kids I’ve taught. Hoping not to have too much year 7 because I really don’t enjoy the topics. I was only lead on 2 this year and minority teacher on another 2. That was plenty.

Next year should be easier as I’ll have been through all units once and have a better idea where the resources are hiding so realistically whatever I’m given will be fine

www.bmj.com/content/373/bmj.n1408?fbclid=IwAR18fV-vqdTEXY9ggVCu58QmxUoQGfEG6tUJbBI-PVykwmkAIQI5OWcgEzU
Legal challenge over govt not releasing schools Covid data!
Also, Deepti Gurdasani’s twitter feed has a link to a webinar tonight with her and other iSAGE peeps on why they so worried.

Glad you’re our eyes and ears jan. I can’t face much news at the minute so I appreciate that others are staying on top of things and I’ll know if anything relevant happens.

Off to the gym shortly. Feeling a bit panicked about how quickly this week is flying by.

I know can’t figure out how it’s Thursday.

Honey am I right in thinking you teach history?

@Piggywaspushed

Does anyone know anything about rheumatoid arthritis?

My DM had it and I've been tested as I was concerned about pains I have but it wasn't flagged up.

twitter.com/VictimOfMaths/status/1400469064846397450/photo/1

Why aren't they producing variant data on schools. Look at this!

Yes rafals.

The gym was hard work! Still sweating.

Blimey mistress!!!! (Once I’d reminded myself of how the colours work - black is Good in this case!) Yes, although the rates for Blackburn schoolchildren have been in the news it’s sort of been reported as “this is unique to Blackburn”. But of course it probably isn’t.

Just struggling with the probate application for my brother’s estate. It does seem somewhat ridiculous that as he was precluded from writing a will (Down’s = mental incapacity), I now have to fill in forms listing things like “how many surviving half blood or whole blood aunts and uncles over 18” he had. (Although it is rather Harry Potter, so that warms my heart!) Also have to pay £215 for the privilege (which of course I can eventually get back.)

(honey, just wondering if you missed the conversation a few months ago when I and a couple of others realised that it’s Rafa Is The King Of Clay - tennis reference - rather than someone mysterious called Rafals... )

Daily Mail article talking about an 'epidemic of the young' without mentioning schools. www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9647859/Number-Brits-getting-ill-Covid-jumps-45-North-West-Scotland-worst-affected.html

Doh I actually did see that conversation then forgot. Sorry Rafa.

I still read it wrongly, don’t feel silly! I keep thinking of Raffles Nightclub (is it real or fictional, not too sure.

(Hmm, Republican most likely to know this..... @MrsHamlet possibly?)

Raffles is an hotel in Singapore, I think.
I've never been though.

They used to talk about it in Tenko, iirc.

Raffles is the name of the most notorious council estate in Carlisle. But I do remember a nightclub called Raffles in my youth (living in the North East)

Raffles hotel in Singapore named after Sir Stanley (I think ) Raffles. V famous in WW2.

Rafa Is a tennis player. Birthday today! 36.

Quite offended no one asked the queen of quizzes about this...

No worries Honey I might just change my name to Rafals.

I was just wondering how much time, if any, is spent covering the Occupation of the Channel Islands during WW2. Obviously this will vary from school to school. For the second time in a few months I’ve been surprised by people not knowing something I can’t imagine not knowing about.