The broom cupboard 3 - for briefly stranded republicans

[TheHoneyBadger]

First in tops up the gin supplies and turns on the tea urn.

Gosh. Our sixth form aren't even allowed in the common room during most frees, let alone off site. They have timetabled classrooms to work in, and a teacher is in there during PPA, vaguely making sure they look like they're doing something productive. It's staffed by volunteers (I've volunteered for one each week for the past 2 years as it keeps me focused on doing some work too). It was introduced to try to get them working during study periods rather than using them as social time. We're hoping it will help improve results, but haven't had a chance to test that theory as school closures and no exams since it started.

Oh I think I remember you saying that previously.

What do other sixth forms do?

Ours can work in the library or sixthform study centre - many don’t like the latter as it’s absolute silence! But we just haven’t got enough room for them all this year because of grade inflation!

Ours have the common room (which is suitable for about 100 people, not 200) and a work area in the library, as well as some tables dotted around the place. They can use those in their trees or go off site.
We do have supported study periods for those who are identified as struggling but they're staffed by a specific member of staff

Ours can work in the library during frees (they get 2 frees a week, the rest are supervised study periods), and have the common room. The common room is definitely set up as a social space rather than a study space. Which is why they have the supervised study sessions in timetabled classrooms. They really need at least one computer room staffed and available to use though, as they often need to type something up/do computing coursework/research something online and they can't do that in a normal classroom, especially when phones have been banned this year even for sixth form.

Ours have frees in the common room. There are computers etc.
In our dept we run an intervention TT where students turn up to supervised maths study. Use our PPA time but worth it.

Oh, sixth form sounds rubbish now. In my day we mostly went to a local park and smoked in free periods.

First covid case in my child's school. They did whole school singing assembly on Friday - if it was July guidance, the whole school would now be isolating for 2 weeks. Under current guidance, nothing to see here, but everyone has been exposed.

I dont understand how they can say (gov) not to worry about spread in a class, when even with the measures they had 50% of the time 1 other case and mostly pre delta.

Our 6th formers can work in the library or 6th form centre in their frees. They are allowed off site though.

The 6th form centre is supervised to an extent as a member of the 6th form pastoral team is usually there.

Well, I'm as ready as I'll ever be for tomorrow! Clothes ready, lunch sorted and bag organised. INSET here I come 😂

Checked my email and I might go through my bag before bedtime but that’s as much as I’m doing before tomorrow. Thankfully meetings are online though we need to be in the building but I was dreading being crammed in to the hall. Feeling very apprehensive for DH at his school and our DCs more than myself for this term. Feels even more like being at the top of a very high roller coaster about to career down the slope without the safety harness engaged 😣

We have a separate sixth form building so there is a study room full of computers where they are timetabled to work if not in lessons (they are allocated seats for seating plan purposes! They can request to work in the common room if they need to do group work. Y13 not behind with studies/work/targets used to be allowed out during frees but not last year. Doubt they will be this year but theh might let them go home early if not afternoon lessons maybe or come in late… not sure they know yet!

It's so odd to hear of sixth form being so structured and supported. Whilst I didn't always make the best use of it, I'd say the open/free/sort-yourself-out nature of mine was one of the best bits of preparation I had for university.

I can't help but wonder if we do our pupils/students a disservice by babying them as much as can happen in education. I watched a show on schooling during the pandemic and the teachers were having to fight with the students to get them to do basic things in their own self-interest. But then I suppose if the teachers don't, they get the blame.

@Iamnotthe1
I think we spoon feed our sixth formers because it's the only way we get results. Results = bums on seats and funding. They aren't prepared at all for university.

Who decided that the class teacher was the only variable in whether students achieved?

Our students are totally mollycoddled. If they are behind/failing then someone sits with them each week and tells them what to do then checks they have done it. We have to provide reams of evidence of support.

Lazy arses should get kicked out, instead it’s more work for us.

Us too herc. We spoon feed them because that's how they get results and we need the results so we can look good as a school. Our Alps scores have been low, despite "outstanding teaching", so they've decided it must be down to how much work they do outside lessons so we'll force them to work in their study periods.

And honestly, we get a few Es at A Level maths because we aren't allowed to say they need a 7 at GCSE to take it. We know and SLT know that a 6 at GCSE maths translates to an E at A Level most often, occasionally rising to a D if the kid is particularly hard working. But we aren't allowed to say that to the kids, just vague "you'll find maths difficult at A Level". We should be directing kids onto more appropriate courses for their abilities.

I was encouraged by my school to do science and maths alevels from only Bs.
It was probably a mistake as i ended up with CDD. I was better at languages where i has As and later got a language A at level. I think the issue was i wanted to do biology at uni from gcses so needed chemistry which i wasn't particularly good at.
Also science is a lot of memory. Languages are too but it's like they are stored in a different place as you build up fluency over time.

Possibly modular is earier as less to learn at once.
So yes i agree it would be best to steer student to what they are best at.
The way of taking extra As subjects would probably have suited me as i may have taken 2 extra languages and then kept those.

Morning all

I am up starting to get ready! Best of luck to everyone else going back today.

I teach Physics at A-level and we ask for 6s but those with grades 7+ tend to do far better. Apparently, some centres in the area allow kids onto A-level sciences with a 5

Morning. Allowing kids to do a science A Level coming from a grade 5 sounds ridiculous!!! The science A Levels are traditionally considered difficult (although for me anything essay based would have been far more difficult). We had a kid a couple of years ago who came from a different school and was allowed to do maths A Level from a 5. She'd wanted to do further maths too but funnily enough we said no to that one. Predictably enough she failed the A Level completely. I think we'd allowed it because she came from a notoriously bad school and has always been top of the top set but had a series of short term supply teachers for years 10 and 11. Poor girl wasted 2 years working her socks off just to fail. She wanted to be a nurse so she would have been far better off on the BTEC health and social care route into nursing rather than the A Levels route.

Morning all!

First day with the children back in for me. Looking forward to getting to know my new class!

Have great days all

Morning all.

4 hours in the testing centre for me today. At least I’m on registration duty so I can sit. Another 4 hours on Thursday to do as well which reminds me I should take my LFT now.

Morning everyone. Good luck to anyone who is meeting their classes today!

I've had dreadful sleep since the night before INSET, so I'm shattered. Hoping that delivery of exercise books has arrived this morning!

We totally mollycoddle and agree it doesn’t prepare them. It’s more the managing their folders/work aspect that gets me. We tell them exactly what to put where. I don’t get why they can’t organise it and then tell me why they’ve done it that way initially and then we could give advice and support as they learn but Y13 they should be better!

Good luck today those who are back.
I was a sixth form tutor for 12 years and letting them off site at will before the summer term would have resulted in dreadful drop out/failure rate. We used to timetable them for supervised study periods - if I was in attendance they had to fill out a sheet saying what they intended to do that lesson and tick it off at the end if they did it. If they weren’t managing to do anything productive, their tutor got an email from me (copied to head of sixth form).

www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-58460081
See at 1440: 43% of parents polled think schools will close again because of Covid. Am surprised it’s that high. (Some weird but at least clear expression of simple stats here, Maths peeps!)