The Sixtieth Republic - One half term to go - just need to survive Sports Day and Activities Week!

[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.

Don't read this article. www.theguardian.com/education/2021/jun/07/williamson-attacks-schools-amid-criticism-of-education-catch-up-plan

What an absolute tosser

I agree that lunch is too short and that this has restricted restfulness, breathing space and extra curricular activates. However, the same keen kids would go to music, drama, sport at lunch. He wants to get half of that for tuition!
Someone needs to point out that adding to lunch still cause pay issues!

I remember when we got ours shortened the wanker DepHead at the time thought we would all jump for joy at finishing at 3.10 instead of 3.20.

Rule

I love (not) the way he makes it sound like the layabout teachers just get to quarter to three, think “I cba any more! Let’s get rid of em now!” and boot the reluctant pupils out of the main door.....

“So what we’re wanting to do is ensure that as we do this review we look at all the options, so children are not able to just benefit from better academic attainment with extra support in English and maths, but also enrichment in the other activities they can benefit from being in school.”

Genuinely, enrichment activities are for parents to sort out, not for schools to provide. Yes blah blah, it's NICE that children get some enrichment through school, but that should support curriculum, not just be a laugh.

I'm fed up of schools needing to be the saviour of all. Someone on here was banging on about how schools MUST teach children how to cook healthy meals. Why not the bloody parents?

Anyway, we all know I'm jaded and on my way out so my opinions are probably jolly old fashioned.

Blimey Rule! 1000 steps? How long is your hair? Or rather, how dirty?

ohohohohohoh!

As someone on TES pointed out, give us back our hour and... pub at lunch, anyone?!

I'm NOT running a fucking club at lunchtime.
I'm NOT running extra tutoring at lunchtime.

I wonder if he'd pay for I dunno, the army to come in and police extra long fighting breaks for the kids who don't want to go to lego/recorder/whatever club?

Have we ever seen him being questioned by actual teachers? Not the ones he likes who are actually MAT CEOs, but teachers what teach in a classroom?

how dirty

Pure filth. Same as my mind mostly.

I presume he's hoping that if he makes all schools have an hour for lunch (one word on that: behaviour!), the end of the day can be pushed back so he can pretend he's ticked that box, and he's hoping he can get keen young NQTs teachers to volunteer to run clubs again at lunch for free.
No WAY. My goodwill for that checked out long ago.

A friend works at a school which goes on til after 4. But they bus in most kids, so they have a long lunch for extra curricular.
I don't get paid for lunch, so it's a no from me.

Come to the pub with me instead rule.

They can’t just increase the school day by half an hour by adding it onto lunchtime (so eg, the children get an hour instead of 30 mins) and we finish at 4 instead of 3.30 by saying-‘well, we’ve not increased the teachers’ working hours, we’ve just increased your lunch hour which is unpaid anyway’, can they??

I agree that everything is now piled onto schools to solve. Over the years I’ve seen suggestions that we teach them how to cook healthy meals, that we brush their teeth (as they won’t do it at home), put sun cream on them, check them for nits, teach them musical instruments (to a high standard), teach them emergency first aid, how to swim to a good standard, personal care, Makaton and countless other things.

Yes, appu, this is exactly what some genius at the DfE has figured out...

I do actually work throughout my lunchtime, at my desk with a sandwich in one hand and a cup of tea in the other.

Apparently this is the advice being given out by schools in some areas now:

Where is that from, Jan?

We had loads of stomach aches and headaches going round amongst the children in my primary before Christmas…

@Piggywaspushed

Yes, appu, this is exactly what some genius at the DfE has figured out...

Brilliant. The additional money needed to pay the lunchtime staff hasn’t occurred to them through, I bet?! Perhaps Gav thinks they can be paid in claps like the NHS.

It was posted by a parent on Parents United Page. Someone in Bristol said they’ve had similar.

To be fair, haven’t these been identified all along as more common child symptoms, ie originally, then more so with the Alpha (Kent) variant, then more with this one?!

@Appuskidu

We had loads of stomach aches and headaches going round amongst the children in my primary before Christmas…

So did we

@JanFebAnyMonth

Apparently this is the advice being given out by schools in some areas now:

Our borough gave schools this advice last October but because the NHS website and PHE didn’t back it up, parents fought against it and refused to test their children if they displayed those symptoms. Our school really suffered in November and December.

I don't need claps I want cash. But thinking about it I will just refuse to do lunch duty and I will not run any club other than tiddlywinks for Year 13 only.

The upset stomach thing is taking the piss. I’m sure someone at work was told that last March by their GP when their child had an upset stomach and they had to get tested. That’s not a delta variant thing, that’s a covid in Children thing.

Obviously that was back in the days when the trust were in charge of their own testing criteria and we got tested for a huge range of symptoms. before the government cracked down on that and restricted it to the main 3 everyone else could only get tested for.