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.

And in regards to schools parenting, that is so true and I think the pandemic has really shone a light on how much schools do outside of education.

Agreed @motherrunner. It’s been increasingly obvious the past five years or so how much we are expected to do. I often get asked my advice on issues as wide ranging as how to get a child to go to bed on time and how to deal with fussy eating.

I very much have to bite my tongue to avoid pointing out that I teach eight year olds, yet am only a parent to a two year old myself. Where they expect me to have gained expertise in parenting their children as opposed to teaching them I’ve no idea…

Any Scottish teachers, some great training opportunities here:

genderfriendly.co.uk/training/?fbclid=IwAR3PvzTdGOPKGQZ4HGBUeV-4bf8mkqrZt5l0H1PBm1fVYxY4aKJEWyQzTa0

Time
I often get asked my advice on issues as wide ranging as how to get a child to go to bed on time and how to deal with fussy eating.

I've seen a big increase in this too, especially around managing behaviour and sibling relationships. I've even had parents booking proper meetings in with me to discuss various aspects of how they parent. I don't mind at all but I'm not an expert and worry about the lack of support for parents from actual experts.

I get asked about sleep issues and gaming, and how they can get their child to do homework, and friendship issues . It never stops...

Big discussion about sexual harassment in schools just after 8am this morning on Radio 4. There was a woman who set up a program to tackle it and when asked if it had made a difference she said ‘I wish I could confidently say yes’. This is not just an issue in schools, look at the response to Sarah Everard’s murder. And yet trying to tackle it is met with such resistance and indignation from so many men that it makes it really difficult.

I was asked by a Relate counsellor whether I thought I might have done anything to trigger my husband’s abuse. And told by the then CSA that my husband had a “right to be believed” when he claimed that his income was £(insert some ridiculously low figure). When I said that I knew it was higher, because we’d just been in court and I had copies of his bank statements, I apparently didn’t have that same right.

I was a counsellor to several parents over the January lockdown/remote learning period. It was tough going, but what can you do when you have a parent in tears at the end of a Teams meeting/lesson? Don't think it's fair really.

My child has the potential to be just as badly behaved as any other child, I'm just lucky that she's neurotypical and we all understand that ultimately I'm the adult. I'm not sure how I'm supposed to be able to help a parent who has a neurodiverse child - I literally don't have a clue.

150 year 9s sent home. Watch this space...

Oh no piggy!

Gosh!

How many cases piggy?

8 or 9.

Not sure all are PCR confirmed though which will complicate things.

That's 8 or 9 in that year group today btw. About 30 across the school.

I find these threads fascinating where posters proclaim they have had no cases in their school. How are they sure?

I checked with my friend who has 2 DDs at my school. She has no clue that we have had any cases.

I checked with my friend who has 2 DDs at my school. She has no clue that we have had any cases.

The same with me! It’s why I rarely believed any posters that no positive cases hit a school at all and so many kids were sent off to school who should have been self isolating (parents didn’t want to test or testing sentences wouldn’t test for particular symptoms) means that many were positive and never even knew!

Oh no piggy.

We officially have 10 teaching days left. I am praying we all make it.

Oh no piggy!! We've had one positive confirmed today, our first since we came back in March. Year 9, so almost half of year 9 have now gone home to isolate.

Yikes, Piggy.

100 KS3 sent home today at my DC school!

@Piggywaspushed

I find these threads fascinating where posters proclaim they have had no cases in their school. How are they sure?

I checked with my friend who has 2 DDs at my school. She has no clue that we have had any cases.

Is an email not sent out? We recieve an email as a parent and a teacher every time we have a case even if from Lateral flow.

Gosh though Piggy sounds like it is going right through your school.

Not at my school riga no.

@Piggywaspushed

Not at my school riga no.

Ahhh ok we get one saying that a full risk assessment has been taken and we don't need to isolate. Which can be a bit hmmm

@Piggywaspushed

Not at my school riga no.

That is just a standard response for anything in your school, isn’t it?