Setting cover work when pregnant with covid

[Naisemayo]

Hi all,
So I am 26 weeks pregnant and have caught covid from our lovely students who never wear their masks and don’t know what keeping a distance means… anyway now I am suffering with fever a terrible sore throat, muscle aches etc. (Fingers crossed it won’t get worse) my midwife told me to get plenty of rest, hydrate and take paracetamol but I know I can’t fully rest because I have to set cover work for every single lesson (and I teach 22 per week!) especially as I am the only person teaching my subject (French) and this just stresses me out as setting cover always takes me ages, I can’t give a PowerPoint cause the cover teacher never knows French and has no clue what to do and obviously I have all of my work in school and practically nothing at home (that’s my fault tbf).
Sorry for the long post, I am just a bit annoyed at that system of ‘you’re sick and off work but you still have to work’. Anyone else agrees or am I exaggerating?
Thanks xxx

I’m so sorry to hear you are so ill. How about setting things from the Oak Academy? Video clips from BBC Bitesize are also good.
If instructions are given in English, a non-specialist should be able to deliver a PowerPoint to a class, and if you include slides with answers to listening and reading tasks, this will also save you from coming back to piles of marking.

Is there a colleague that could drop your work things off and then retreat before you open the front door? I know I would do this for a colleague in a flash.

Get well soon xx

Oh yes the oak academy is a really good idea thank you! I’ll see if someone is willing to drop a usb stick through my postbox, hopefully they’ll accept. Thank you for your help xx

Oak Academy or a work pack stolen from TES. Don’t worry about whether it meets the SOWs or differentiation etc, just provide something then go back to bed

Do you not have a head of faculty if you're a single person department? In our department when staff are sick they are sick and we provide work for classes unless the teacher has something particular they want to set.
If you have to, can you find a work pack or scheme of work on TES/Twinkl and send that in?

If you're not well then you need to rest and let people at work worry about work.

No unfortunately I am “curriculum leader” by definition there is no other language taught in my school either. I’ll have a look on tes and twinkl thank you. Your school seems to be well organised!

When we are signed off sick, we are sick. End of. You shouldn't have to set work while you are basically "unable to go to work due to illness". So they don't do French until you are back....or do independent revision packs or whatever else.
My class had a few months this year when they didn't have music because the music teacher was off and quite honestly, when I do cover, I'm more likely to teach something I'm familiar and confident with....so, yeah,...they did extra Maths and English in that time.
I'm amazed your school think it's acceptable to contact you regarding planning while you are signed off. They should have someone else sort this out.

I thought you only had to provide work if you were isolating at home due to close contact. So not sick and well enough to work except you couldn't enter the building. But you are actually sick. Can you not get your doctor to sign that you are not well enough to work...even at home. Especially as you are pregnant . Seems mad!!

If you are sick you can’t set work, especially if it’s going to take you ages. What if you were in hospital? They’d have to manage somehow. The school need to figure it out. As a pp said, if need be get a doctors note. If the cover teacher doesn’t have the brains to find something on Twinkl or Tes or even Oak themselves for that particular year group that’s fairly worrying.

If you are sick you should not be setting work full stop, but as it is so close to the end of term get them to dig out a copy of Les Choristes or Le Petit Nicolas and get them to note down 20 new French words from the film!

No you shouldn't be doing this. Go on to Oak academy and send the school the link to the French units along with an email saying you have covid and are ill. Your doctor has told you to rest.

Textbook.
French film.
Isn't it almost the end of term? Poster for a french film (the one you've just made them watch) or a holiday one. Glossary of all the french words they've learned that year.
You should not be doing any of this, but if you can fire something easy across it's all good. And then get back to bed!

I agree with others. It’s a shocking practice. Our HOD sorts it out when we’re ill and I’ll do them same if I’m ever one. Take rest and send them random bunch of staff for the week- most cover teachers won’t follow your lessons anyways if they don’t speak french or if they don’t feel like it. Wasted effort.

This is probably too late but for future reference, have you tried the Greenshaw Learning Trust? The remote curriculum is great, even for MFL. They have voice over PowerPoint that the cover teacher would just need to press play. I have used some of the Spanish resources as home learning this year. www.greenshawlearningtrust.co.uk/virtual-curriculum