The Sixty-First Republic - Covid the gift that keeps giving even in the last half term!

[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.

@DollyMixtureLulus Not many other options - the smaller class is protecting a wobbly member of staff, who has had a difficult year in lots of ways. They are also the least experienced teacher.

Basically Jan, yes! The pupils and teachers do the tests themselves with a trained person (not army) watching /advising, but not doing.

The all the tests taken get logged which apparently is a big job, at least as big as the LFTs. This is done by school staff...

And all of that was only possible when we ran the test centres from January to March because most children weren't in, freeing up admin/technicians/pastoral teams to run the test centre. How you could run that with a fully open and functioning school, I have no idea.

^The pupils and teachers do the tests themselves with a trained person (not army) watching /advising, but not doing.
The all the tests taken get logged which apparently is a big job, at least as big as the LFTs. This is done by school staff^

Argh, not all this again, I have a horrid feeling lots of kids are going to get positive LFTs tonight. Sigh, this is so disruptive.
Wish Covid would just fuck off.

That’s shocking piggy. So far from the expectation created by the July 2020 Guidance and rhetoric from the government at the time. I’m surprised that someone from one of the other schools that have had one hasn’t gone public on this.

Of course, school staff and students weren’t ‘trained’ in swabbing etc last July, so to be fair they must have ‘adapted’ the original plans.

Well, basically dangling we have to eat into our special budget finding minimum wage students to do the extra admin.

@Namechercanged

Regular NC (some of you may spot). Doing an assembly on sexism, sexist comments and consent. Any advice?

Hi Name Depends on the age of your audience? Cup of tea video is a nice, simple analogy. If you've got older kids, this video (Oppressed Majority) might be useful, but I think it might be too adult for anyone younger than 6th form.

Dd been reading the Everyone's Invited website, which I think can open lots of conversations at secondary level.

Thanks both. Aimed at 14-16 so possibly too young for that. Really want to get them thinking about how they talk to each other and the normalisation of sexual language. It's rife.

Are they outside the U.K. Lola?
If they are in the U.K. I think I’d be trying to arrange a visit soon
Within the UK, but can't to manage a visit with DC before the summer. First day of the holidays I'll be in the car with the DC.

Ooh that reminds me. MNHQ are having a follow-up meeting with Ofsted about the sexual harassment report. They also asked if there were any experts who could advise parents who they could invite on for a webchat. Anyone got any suggestions?

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/_chat/4267401-Sexual-abuse-and-harrassment-rife-among-children-report-finds

Well, there's the Scottish bunch I linked upthread. BRB

@cantkeepawayforever

Bleurgh.

We provide F2f education, at considerable Covid risk to ourselves, for all except 8 weeks of the year (and F2F for nearly half our pupils through the lockdown too), and what do we get?

Complaints that children are traumatised by a parent free sports day and a videoed end of year show.

My actual experience is that children are delighted by the tiniest hint of something vaguely special, such as a walk around the local area and are not one whit regretting all these 'life events' they are supposed to have 'lost'.

If parents think children are "traumatised" by stuff like not having adults at one sports day, what sort of long-term damage do they think their parenting choices are doing?

I just withdrew from my interview. Thinking about the job made me feel awful which is not how you should feel about a new job. I may regret it but at least I know I can still get an interview.

These:

genderfriendly.co.uk/

@noblegiraffe

Glad to hear you're feeling better, MrsHP. I'm particularly keen to hear whether your eyesight has improved, especially around correctly typing usernames....

Fraid not nobs 🤣

Although I now have varifocals AND reading glasses 🙄 FFS. This is my 3rd prescription change since end of august… been referred to ophthalmologist but might be my erratic blood sugars apparently. It’s bloody annoying and probs karma for calling you names 🤣🤣🤣

@CarrieBlue

I just withdrew from my interview. Thinking about the job made me feel awful which is not how you should feel about a new job. I may regret it but at least I know I can still get an interview.

If that’s how you felt then totally the right decision! Well done for doing it as I bet it wasn’t an easy decision.

I don’t think you could be any fairer then Rule. 18 in the morning is a dream.

The only other options would be clustering the 1-1 in together and making a de facto base for them. One of our neighbouring schools did that but how they got away with it is beyond me.

I second mrsHP, Carrie

If anything, our children are so much more grateful for the little things now.

@DollyMixtureLulus

If anything, our children are so much more grateful for the little things now.

Yes! Exactly! they are touchingly grateful, and noticing, and appreciative. They don't talk about the things that they are 'missing', but all the little things that ARE happening.

A few of ours were disappointed about missing their swimming lessons and their outward bound trip, but were really very mature about it.

The weather here has been terrible and we haven’t even managed to have the lovely afternoons out playing that we normally get, but they’re so content in each other’s company during choosing time. It’s lovely.

Parents United page has a couple of parents saying they were told children had to isolate when a parent was a close contact for delta variant (at work). And 14 days not 10.

Thank you MrsH and MrsHP - I just couldn’t see myself in that job, I really love where I work now despite some ripples of discontent. And I’ve proved to myself I could do it if I need to

Missing the end of Y6 stuff last year was shit. Really shit. Don't blame parents and kids for being gutted about that.

Missing sports day though...I'd be delighted.