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.

Am fumming all over again about covid bus boarding boy.

Excluded yesterday. For smoking.

That's not surprising Piggy. When you show a child that rules don't apply to them...

I know but excluded for smoking and not for boarding a bus with covid??! I was told they were going gentle on him and how important it was to 'work with him'. FFS.

I really feel for y6 as they've watched lots of year groups do things like trips, running tuck etc but have missed that experience this year and have been looking forward to it for years.

Rule I think you've sorted classes you can with limited support. Feel lucky our school has lsas in the morning in every class (and1:1).

We're still doing sports day... at another school. It's mad.

@JanFebAnyMonth

This does seem to just mean Y7 although am not sure he it can be...

What do we think: will DfE really withdraw all bubble guidance if Step Four happens on 19 July?

Probably, yes. It seems like the sort of think they would do.

However, I’m not sure we need to worry about restrictions being lifted of July 19th.

eitak
Are they missing that much though? Ours are still doing a residential, production, leavers' assembly, leavers' evening do and having the same in school recognition (certificates, memory books, hoodies, etc.)

With the exception of a day visit to their secondaries, I can't point at anything and say they aren't getting it.

Last year's, however, missed their whole production because of coronavirus.

Our transition day has been cancelled but apparently our summer school is still going ahead. Is anyone else’s school doing this? We finish really late but I am concerned that the work will be put in and it’ll be cancelled last minute…

@Iamnotthe1

eitak Are they missing that much though? Ours are still doing a residential, production, leavers' assembly, leavers' evening do and having the same in school recognition (certificates, memory books, hoodies, etc.)

With the exception of a day visit to their secondaries, I can't point at anything and say they aren't getting it.

Last year's, however, missed their whole production because of coronavirus.

They've missed the things we do throughout the year and responsibilities (which current year would have loved). Not sure about our evening do going ahead as nothing has been mentioned yet. Performance is happening but scaled down a lot and not sure if parents are seeing it or it's being recorded. 1 day trip to the residential centre instead of a week. So yes and no I guess.

Goodness knows re 19th rafa. Leaked scientific report yesterday said that certainly masks etc will stay; later Johnson said everything will definitely go. There will be more in hospital and dying by then ....

Sorry but can I ask a stupid NQT question?

I’m moving to a new school in September. New school has asked me to fill in paperwork and complete a safeguarding course.
But so far that’s all. Do schools normally ask new teachers to come into school in July?

All our new staff will be in for a day in July. I'll see them all on INSET in September and the ECTs separately then too.

Do schools normally ask new teachers to come into school in July?

Yes, this is very common for Sept starts. Often happens in other months too for nee staff starting Jan, Easter etc.

*new

Probably not this time round for Covid reasons?

@ChloeDecker

Probably not this time round for Covid reasons?

Yes I did wonder if Covid might make things a little harder. I’m in the North West, it’s really impacting schools where I am.

@JanFebAnyMonth

Goodness knows re 19th rafa. Leaked scientific report yesterday said that certainly masks etc will stay; later Johnson said everything will definitely go. There will be more in hospital and dying by then ....

Vaccination is going to make the data look messy and things more difficult to predict. The ‘geeks with spreadsheets’ (their name not mine) have played around with the numbers a bit and it doesn’t look great.

They also came up with a theory that we might have got the vax strategy wrong once we’d covered groups 1-9. By going strictly down the age groups we’ve ended up creating social groups that are largely vaccinated and and large groups of people socialising where nobody is vaccinated and covid can spread like wildfire.

But so far that’s all. Do schools normally ask new teachers to come into school in July?
That's quite common. I'm not sure how many places are doing that at the moment due to Covid.

We're having all new staff in before September. Need to, there's hundreds of them!

We have new staff coming in for an afternoon. We’re also running a transition day but only for the main feeder schools which I think is a bit crap for the other Y6 who will arrive in September knowing no one.
My eldest has to work from home one day next week to allow transition to go ahead at her school.

Waiting for a pcr result for y6 ds. So many things will be stuffed up for so many people if it is positive. Arrrgh. Probably just a cold but am busy catastrophising here. Bloody hate covid.

Waiting for a pcr result for y6 ds. So many things will be stuffed up for so many people if it is positive

Oh no squashed I’ll keep my fingers crossed for you.

Apparently cases are just over 11,000 today. My school has over 10% of pupils isolating at home. Staff not in because they have kids isolating.
The last 4 weeks are going to be shit.

I'm going to my new school for induction on the 29th of June.

I'm hacked of with 'little jobs' at the moment. Y7 parents evening, 25 slots for 50 kids, the rest will all want a 'quick update' via phone or email. EHCP reviews. You know the stuff.

Is anyone else dealing with a trend for setting off fire alarms? SLT are blaming tik-tok but I'm not so sure.

I ahve almost found this week unmanagaebaly surreal.

We have MTUs on site and the whole thing is very serious. Meanwhile kids not wearing masks (especially boys) quite defiantly (including sixth formers in common rooms etc) , people not being punished for severe and endangering infringements, staff gathering in groups, including pub outings (and now a positive case in the same group), transition events going ahead in huge numbers ... all whilst we have large numbers of one year group out.

We have had to reroom exams because LA said our RA didn't allow for our exam plans(even thought they are further apart in exam rooms than in classrooms...)

It's all got a bit much.

A bunch of y12 sent home this morning. 20 minutes later, the rest followed.

for you piggy. What’s left of it, anyway. That all sounds mad.

Fingers crossed squashed.