The Sixty Third Republic - as we glide into staycations the DfE whip up anti-school media storm

[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.

Ah, thanks @CarrieBlue

Nice balanced article from BBC here (sarcasm klaxon)

www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-57723916

@StationView

Popping in to ask what's happened to the 'woke unions' thread. I was very suspicious right from the get-go, as it appeared to be a fishing expedition by a journalist.

That turned into a DM article...

So, from 17August under 18s no longer need to isolate following contact with +ve case, but they will not be vaccinated....

Parent on ‘school bubbles thread on CV board saying I’d they have to test their child daily they will do the test on theirselves and submit those. What a society we live in where we can’t resist parents to test their children properly at home.

I'm feeling stressed and depressed really.

There is aa finding that waaaaaaay more people want to leave the teaching profession than ever. Was in The Guardian.

I have just been told I have to move all my (safely and perfectly electronically stored) coursework form one place to another, relabelling it all. In case anyone appeals.

I feel like saying 'if anyone does, then I'll move it'!

I reckon this is at least 4 hours work.

Huh - so a 17yo whose a close contact of a postive case can go to a care home to visit their grandma? Are there no boundaries on this? I fully expected them to expose us to positive cases - and realistically we have been exposed for over a year - but they can literally go anywhere?

Say it piggy - or say I literally do not have the time so you need to take me off timetable if you want this to happen otherwise it won't happen. I know that's easy said but ffs there has to be a point where we can say, 'no'

Noble needs to start a thread!!

epi.org.uk/publications-and-research/the-pandemic-and-teacher-attrition-an-exodus-waiting-to-happen/

www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-57688355

No mitigation whatsoever and only reference to testing is ‘advising of a PCR’ if in contact with a positive case. No mention of daily testing replacing isolation, only the advisory.

They never actually look at how much extra work recruiting trainees puts on existing teachers do they? The teacher training orgs make money from an uptick in applicants and don't have much incentive to care whether those applicants are actually viable or train wrecks - teachers just get yet more work to do and if quality of candidates is poor we get crazy amounts of extra work plus the stress of wondering how the hell to deal with students who are shit but also totally unreceptive to constructive feedback and require completely bloody babysitting and handholding to cope with anyone recommending strategies to improve. We and schools don't get extra money for all the work we put in to teacher training.

Maybe the money teacher training orgs/institutions get paid should be tied to whether the candidates succeed and whether they pass their nqt year and whether they are still teaching 3 years later? Otherwise they can make a fortune accepting completely unsuitable candidates who we get saddled with having to deal with for free.

I may be slightly jaded by trainee experience this year. I did so much extra work to try and help her cross the gap between where she was and the very bottom rung of the ladder of where she needed to be and just got complaints and moaning in thanks. My expectation is that she will never be employed because no matter how well schools and teachers have dragged her through the training year I honestly can't see how she would ever get through an interview without every person on the panel going wtf? No way!

Isn't this telling on Gav:

He ignores most of Green’s questions.

[quote Piggywaspushed]Noble needs to start a thread!!

epi.org.uk/publications-and-research/the-pandemic-and-teacher-attrition-an-exodus-waiting-to-happen/[/quote]
I remember that Noble and others were told on a number of occasions that if they couldn’t cope with teaching without adequate safety measures in a pandemic they could should leave the profession. Those posters were advised to be careful what they wished for…

@TheHoneyBadger I have PMd you, hope that’s OK.

Avoided the question about providing funds for improved ventilation. Goes on about the vaccination programme but avoids the fact that children aren't vaccinated

Who do they talk to and consult with, don't think any teachers/HTs agree with anything he says

Thanks Born - I have replied.

Liberal Democrat MP Munira Wilson says "we know now about the importance of ventilation, because it's an airborne virus".

She asks what is being done to better support installation of ventilation in schools.

"At every stage during this pandemic we've supplied support for schools," replies Gavin Williamson, especially in measures designed to hamper Covid transmission.

He says the government continues to give advice to schools on how to stop transmission.

@motherrunner think they are just relying on pupils washing their hands

Has he had really special training in how not to answer questions??

On a positive note if bubbles have gone it means I get my classroom back and it actually does have a window I can open!

He really brings out the rage in me, never shout at the tv so much

They’ll be lots of parents celebrating this news, teachers not so much.

I don't like that maths, tbh, piggy. Comparing how likely someone now thinks they are to leave the profession within 5 years to how likely they reckon they felt before the pandemic isn't the most rigorous of comparisons.

What we need is actual numbers of teachers who quit this year. I'm not sure who collects those.

What I can gather from this latest announcement is that the daily LFT testing trial results were shit. Looks like they're going to quietly forget it ever happened.

Good breakdown of the new rules in schoolsweek schoolsweek.co.uk/what-step-4-means-for-schools-everything-you-need-to-know/