The Sixty-Second Republic - Pop da pop pop, the beat don't stop until the break of 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.

But it’s not the schools making the decisions, is it? So if you think it’s a problem, then attack the source of the problem which is PHE and local public health authorities.

Dm say 62℅ of parents want a vax for kids! And yet the committee still arent sure.
If people dont want to then fine. But natural infection is not benign either. I expect lots whose kids already had covid and were fine will not take a vax up.
I like the sound of the Egypt job. And it sounds like ds education would be better there.

The stupid thing is the MHRA have already approved the vaccine for over 12s because the benefits outweigh the risks. So it’s not like we don’t have a vaccine we could use.

If we’re going to go for the herd immunity policy, then we need to have an honest discussion about CEV children too. We either need to accept that we are going to kill some of them or that we are going to have to subject them to levels of isolation that are far greater than the levels that are being claimed to damage the children of the anti lockdowners/anti vaxers.

That’s it, these headlines about ending isolation for kids aren’t accompanied by any discussion of the admission that this will just let Covid spread through kids, and the possible risks.

Today’s morning briefing pretty worrying. We’ve been told to stay off even if just feeling slightly ‘off’. Massive concern that there is being a delay with being notified of cases. Parents have been asking why their child only has to isolate for 5 days but it’s because we’re not being informed of positive cases for a few days post testing.

Sorry about your flight, Honey
One thing that jumped out for me in your post is that you would put your son first. It is possible that finishing his education in an international school and his mum being better off financially (and emotionally) is what would be best for him. I don't think at 14 you can always know that yourself!

Agree with both yr posts Rafa!

I agree with Mistress there. He might thank you for it in the long run even if he thinks it is the worst possible thing now.

@TheHoneyBadger sorry you’re feeling that way. You care so deeply that whatever decisions you make I think will work out for you.

@noblegiraffe

That’s it, these headlines about ending isolation for kids aren’t accompanied by any discussion of the admission that this will just let Covid spread through kids, and the possible risks.

Exactly. I don’t expect that everyone will agree about what an acceptable risk is and where the line should be drawn. But at least that’s an honestly held opinion rather than hiding the unpalatable truth about what you are willing to accept in order stop the disruption in schools.

Thanks all. Found myself researching state boarding schools and it bringing on tears that I couldn't quite pin down the cause of - maybe that I'd even consider it or maybe recognition of how much good it could do him and how much he's being failed by his current schooling and situation.

I'm not sure I could bring myself to take him so far away from his GPs when they're in their mid 70's and my Dad and ds are so close and bonded to each other and who knows what time is left.

Hopefully HRT will make the world make sense again and I'll have clearer ideas about what to do for the best.

The no isolation and daily testing thing even when it was first mooted just threw up massive ethical concerns around consent for me. Do I consent to being in a room with known cases, do parents consent to their children, perhaps CEV or living with someone CEV, consent? Why have they not even mentioned the idea of consent and would parents even be informed that their child was sitting next to known contact and therefore be able to keep their child out of school if they wanted to - if not informed that's even more rough shod riding over people's ability to consent or not to levels of risk. No one seems to be even talking about this in 'the conversation' at large but to me it's hugely important.

Yup

If people dont send them - how long would it take for covid to go round the class and stop spreading. It could be months.

Also for eg if a primary teacher is a contact out of school and dont have to isolate, then that is putting it into the class and school.

Realistically though with kids asymptomatic and adults say 60% vaxxed by sept covid will spread largely unnoticed.
And there may be a further change in attitude with even more people not testing if they think that noone will isolate anyway (and lft dont work so basically classes will all have covid in.

I notice the covid and flu doesnt seem to have the school age groups in.

And i realised yesterday that our holiday is only allowing 30min a day in the outdoor pool. (Although i guess that restriction could be removed.
We are going to still be wearing masks if we have to go inside (i dont fancy catching covid on holiday and having to leave)

Checking in, my course officially finishes today. I'm now waiting for someone to decide if I'm competent enough to teach. The exam board is sitting, not exactly sure what they do or when we will find out if we're qualified. @MrsHamlet you would know?

@TheHoneyBadger for you. You sound lovely

Well done @namechangedyetagain enjoy your summer now before the ECT year starts!

Been a very busy week again. Feeling tired now and crawling to the end of term!

I’ve sat on exam boards (only as observer): they basically rubber stamp all the standard results, discuss individual problematic ones (you’d know if you were one of those!), check that appropriate QA has happened, that’s all. And results letters are usually produced ASAP following the meeting.

God, what a week.
3 days if field trips. Kids all great. Phew
My kids are self isolating due to cases at their respective schools. Oldest is now feeling coldy so done PCR test. Lateral flow ones all negative.

Then we've sent 8 one full year group, a while bus and half another year group today.

It all feels like it's blown up SO fast.

This graph might explain why it feels so fast, Guy...

Yes that graph does indeed show why it feels so fast.

I didn't like the teacher tap questions today. I wanted an option of "all close contacts, which is more than one full class but is spread throughout several classes as they have different classes for different subjects" for who was isolating. I went for "a whole class" but that's not quite right, and may well be used against schools in some article or other.

Yeah I've got kids out isolating from most of my classes, but no full classes because we only send home a handful of kids each time (then wonder why it spreads).

I didn't like the teacher tap questions today. I wanted an option of "all close contacts

I felt the same way MrsA child tested positive for LFT. He sits in the middle (ish) of a very tiny classroom. So he’s taken out most of the class as most but not all are close contacts.

Any room for a newly QUALIFIED teacher in here 🥳🥳🥳

Congratulations name 🎓 🍾 !!! (Gosh I guess results are by email these days, super quick!)

Yay name!!! 🥂 🍾 🎉 🥳

Brava! I have no emojis.