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.

@MrsHamlet

I got told the other week that I'm "not needed" for gcse and a level now because the new appointment is outstanding. Charming.

Eh? You're not going to be teaching GCSE and A-level?

I'm hoping that taking the tricky class next year means I can avoid the horrible one coming up the year after! I will certainly argue the point when the time comes.

No timetables yet - sometimes we don't get them until the September INSET day.

That would be the Head Knobhead 😂
Who knows? I currently have y10 and 2 y12 - and had been asked to take on a y13 from someone who is leaving. If they take those three off me, I will be devastated. The other I can live without.
I hate proclamations like that. And I don't like KS3.

I'm hoping that taking the tricky class next year means I can avoid the horrible one coming up the year after!

I might have to leave after this year!! The current 3/4 cohort as 5/6 will be AWFUL, but the ones coming into 3 at that point.. aagh.

It would be weird to make you Lead Practitioner then take away your exam classes

@noblegiraffe

It would be weird to make you Lead Practitioner then take away your exam classes

Yep!

Rule - we're in the same boat with tricky cohorts. This year's reception classes have gained a certain reputation as well. Maybe that's just how things are now?

Blimey. Gaining a reputation in reception is not good.

DS now has a Covid test booked for tomorrow morning - has slight temp and feels sick, apparently felt funny yesterday too but omitted to mention it - wish he’s told me early enough to get a test this evening so I’d have had some hope of making it to work tomorrow (don’t start til lunchtime)!

We have about 5 in the year above him isolating at present but no notified cases as such.

Oh no, Jan. People dropping like flies at the moment.

Fingers crossed it's not Covid.

Watch out for a poster who is posting anti vaccine posts on lots of threads. Already been deleted a couple of times.

@motherrunner

Watch out for a poster who is posting anti vaccine posts on lots of threads. Already been deleted a couple of times.

Posts demanding SI for close contacts to stop in schools and lateral flow testing to replace it, seem to be on the up as well!

Seems the MHRA have released the guidance the produced on 19th May for acceptable standards for covid tests.

It probably won’t be a massive surprise to you that the Innova LFTs don’t meet this standard. It might surprise you that today they’ve also granted Innova tests a 2 month extension to their exceptional use authorisation.

MrsAD

I have a Friday this year where I have PPA followed by my one and only 'free'. I get sweet FA done in those two hours mostly, despite my best efforts.

We got our timetables some time in August this time. I hope my new school is more organised.

Very jealous of people who already have timetables!
We tend to get ours as we leave on the last day of summer term, probably so we have zero time to complain. We normally spend time sorting out students into the different classes to make each group as even and fair as possible for the heads of years to move children around form groups during the holidays which then mucks all the groups up.

@JanFebAnyMonth fingers crossed for you. It is horrible being in waiting for a pcr result mode. Very hard to get anything done. I am supposed to be going camping straight after school tomorrow. Nothing is packed and I haven't repaired the hole in the tent. Damm it!

Whereas I’m a bit frustrated that I can’t go into school tomorrow as am on a real roll with processing our massive backlog of new books and want to get on.

It frequently happens that we don’t get our TA allocations until September on the Inset day. We are currently trying to find time/opportunities to meet with (virtually I assume) 7 x SSP parents with existing teacher and receiving teacher. For me that’s a total of 10 meetings! I’m part of a job share and we only overlap pm one day - there are not enough Wednesdays to meet 10 sets of parents!

Summer term “to do” lists just get longer.

Hi everyone,
I feel as if gin needs to be passed around. Sorry to hear about the situation deteriorating in so many schools, and I hope that PCR tests will come back negative. Sounds as if some of you (MrsH) work with some right nobbers!

Our timetabler has gone off sick, so I'm not sure whether we'll get anything before the end of term - we normally get it with a week or so to go, but I hear it's got to be started from scratch. I feel as if everyone is pretty much clinging on by their fingernails at the moment. Children are unmotivated and to be honest, so am I. I covered a Y10 class earlier this week and they were so rude and disrespectful, I was tempted to just sit down, stop teaching them and let them figure it out for themselves. Just ugh at everything. All of the trips and concerts which were planned are being cancelled. Not hopeful for a decent summer and autumn term is looking bleaker by the day.

I get a weekly email from Chartr, who shared this graph about the transmittability of the Delta variant. Thought it might be of interest.

Brie

The demotivating is unreal here too. We can finally do practicals, but behaviour means I'm constantly saying 'if you can behave/waste any more time/aren't listening it will be a demonstration..' Lots of demonstrations this week!

2 Year 7 (!) girls flat out refused to put on goggles today so had to copy out of textbooks in the corridor while the rest did a practical. They were so rude as well. I despair.

So glad I'm 13-19 only next year.

Is the Delta thing everywhere else too?

The delta variant feels a lot more transmissible. Loads of schools in my area are affected.

I’m struggling with behaviour in practicals too. The girls vanity regarding tying hair back and wearing goggles

Shocking behaviour on the walk to the lab. And complete over excitement once we are actually in the lab. I don’t think Year 7 have learnt anything from the practicals they did. Just had fun buggering about with stuff.

Is any one worried about winter, is there anything we can do to demand a proper plan for winter if things get bad?
Chris whitty said, brace for winter.
I suspect he suspects a nasty twist from this virus again.
Most of my stress comes from not knowing when schools will react to pupils becoming ill and it builds up and up and up.
I worry for my own dc, the pupils I work with and myself!
We don't know what varients are coming our way and how current vaccines will work agaisnt them come the depths of winter.
I'd like to demand a proper plan now.

The demotivating is unreal here too. We can finally do practicals, but behaviour means I'm constantly saying 'if you can behave/waste any more time/aren't listening it will be a demonstration..' Lots of demonstrations this week!

2 Year 7 (!) girls flat out refused to put on goggles today so had to copy out of textbooks in the corridor while the rest did a practical. They were so rude as well. I despair.

My own classes have (touch wood) been ok in terms of behaviour - a bit more chatty but generally still a good natured bunch. The class I covered, I taught half of them last year and I can see that some (most) of them still have a level of respect and want to learn and get on with things. The ones I don't know - well, it was only a few of them but they didn't half make their presence felt....