The Sixty-Fifth Republic - The Covid School Phoney War under way so who will the gold medal and who will get the wooden spoon?

[Staffholidayclubrep]

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.

You can sit on chairs but keep the windows open. You don’t have to upload LFT results during the holidays. You do not have to wear mask - free choice

Are you from the Midlands, born?

Lee Child is a Local Hero from my birthplace (along with George Eliot).

It is so typical that the first day of my holidays is weather like this!

Yes - my experience is that this happens two years out of every three, same as for my birthday. Weather beautiful throughout July, along come the holidays/my birthday and it pisses down. Apparently it’s sometimes called the British Monsoon, and there’s a connection with the St Swithin’s day folk wisdom. You can see I’ve done my research on this .

Are you from the Midlands, born?

My family is almost wholly Irish but yes I was born and brought up in Worcestershire and went to school in Birmingham. I left vowing never to return! I travelled a lot and lived on the south coast for about six years, returned to the Midlands when I split with ex and now live about 20 miles from where I was born…not something I ever planned! But I actually love this rural part of south Worcs verging on north Glos, think it’s very underrated in terms of history and landscape.
Well that was long! But I think my friend met whatshisname through work and in Manchester or London. (She worked in television.)

The new Hunger Games prequel has a great title: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. Read yesterday that Suzanne Collins’ father fought in Vietnam and she has written about this, interesting.

George Eliot is fab, she understood human beings.

George Eliot is very lyrical in her descriptions of midland landscapes, worth reading for those alone. (I tried fairly recently to reread Middlemarch - was a longtime favourite book when I was younger - but couldn’t get past the dopiness of Dorothea. I found that once I got past 40, most of the female characters I once admired seemed silly, naive and horrendously self centred. Really they were just young and foolish, but no less annoying for that.)

Is it your birthday born ?
Happy Birthday if it is!

I need to get up and do something other than post on here but the wind and rain is putting me off. Good thing I did my strimming yesterday! Have found a few more bites.
I’ve avoided reading the Hunger Games books, I think because they were DD’s thing. Should I give them a go?

@ChloeDecker

Is it your birthday born ? Happy Birthday if it is!

Thank you Chloe! It was on Thursday, so this year nice weather!

I love the HG books and think they are very worthwhile.

Must admit, was forgetting about Dorothea, she is a bit of a disaster isn’t she? I love Mill on the Floss and Maggie.

Just dropping in to say happy holiday everyone! Last half term was crazy and I've been struggling to keep up.

Very excited to hear about the new Hunger Games book. I'm a big fan - it's gone straight into my Amazon basket along with Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell, which I'm looking forward to reading.

Happy holidays everyone!

I didn’t know there was a new HG book out-it’s got nearly 40,000 reviews on Amazon already-how did I miss that?!

Happy holidays everyone!

Oooh I may dive into the HG books. Didn't know there was another! They'd definitely get me reading again.

I was an absolute bookworm till i started teaching. Even had a brief library job which was ace! It gradually declined and I don't think I've read a book cover to cover for 10 years. Partly as I got into different sports / yoga to counter the stress of being a full time teacher and prefer to make arty stuff on down time. The last decade has been because of kids! And probably mumsnet!

When smallest starts school I think it will change, though I also want to do more arty stuff....

I met a beautiful dog last night, it was a poo mix but his temperament and intelligence was perfect for us. Going to start following the breeder on fb and planning a fur baby. Again, small needs to be in school I think. I'd get a rescue but I don't think the rescue would pass us due to kids etc.

Another one to add to the ‘Gav is a twat’ list

schoolsweek.co.uk/williamsons-irrational-refusal-to-revoke-academy-order-quashed-by-high-court/

@JanFebAnyMonth

I love the HG books and think they are very worthwhile.

Must admit, was forgetting about Dorothea, she is a bit of a disaster isn’t she? I love Mill on the Floss and Maggie.

I love Maggie too. She’s the most real of Eliot’s creations, but of course she never properly grows up, does she? Tom is very realistic too, they must surely be painted from real life. The scene where Stephen kisses Maggie’s arm is seriously erotic, I remember being shocked by it when I read TMOTF for O level Eng Lit.

Regarding the LFT v isolation trial study, I've just started reading it, and the "freedom" from isolating is only freedom to go to school. The participants were still expected to isolate after school and at weekends. I don't imagine that many teenagers would keep to that. And of course, they could be using public transport to get to and from school.

There are some very worrying views being expressed on the CV board.

Need to reread TMOTF.....

schoolsweek.co.uk/daily-covid-testing-a-safe-alternative-to-isolation-but-study-has-limitations/

As I think piggy pointed out yesterday, this study is utterly meaningless! And no one is pointing this out!

It “found” that if you allow close contacts to stay in school, they are in school more than those sent home. You don’t say!

Love MOTF too. Properly heartbreaking. I think Eliot and Hardy remain my favourite (English) classic novelists.

I don't read anymore too much time on MN instead , but have just started "Notes on Grief" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, whose work I love. It's a tiny book. I'll try to make some headway through the Cormoran Strike series this summer too - enjoying the first book but not picking it up very often.

Dd loves Hunger Games.

I love the Strike books-the most recent one was absolutely brilliant.

I pointed out it was rubbish Jan, I even posted a graph!

There’s another graph that shows that towards the end of the trial, the daily LFT kids had more absence than the isolation group kids.

Yay finally made it to the end of the year! Happy holidays all, I think I must be only one glad for the storm 5 days of not sleeping did me in.

Loving the book chat, i used to be an acid reader but after I had a period of poor MH about 5 years I've struggled with reading and focusing. Covid was the same - had hoped it would give me time to read but I crocheted and cross stitched instead. Currently reading a book on norse myths and then hoping to read Richard Osmans new book and then the Strike books (saw there was a new one in sainsbury's and got very excited)

This morning I've finished the last Robin and Strike book and I have the new Hunger Games one lined up. I actually bought it in the hopes it would get ds reading again as that trilogy was one of the last things he avidly read, he hasn't touched it so far but still might. I might have to feign and internet outage

Overcast but humid here. Off to the gym in a bit for more sweating.

I have quite a few books piled up and I like getting 'stuff' out of my house so hoping to read and pass on plenty this summer and to try not to buy anymore till I've read them all.

We could do a book swap if we meet up!

Reading more of the trial paper - some of which is way beyond me - it does at least say they’re planning another study using genome sequencing to try and work out how transmission occurs in schools. That will be interesting.

Read some snippets of it out to DS, honey?

I've talked with him about how it's a prequel and we've discussed the different times she could go back to that would make a good book so I think he's getting there. Reading out snippets and giving hints but not telling will hopefully push him over the edge.