The Sixty-Sixth Republic - Who will be the medal winners on Results Day? Grade inflation predicted again

[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.

I've got my little girl those Skechers ones. Super comfy too! (She says.)

In other news: my last parents' evening. Evah.

I'm done. :o

Woo hoo!

@echt

In other news: my last parents' evening. Evah.

I'm done. :o

Momentous occasion! Marvellous!

@echt

In other news: my last parents' evening. Evah.

I'm done. :o

Excellent news

@RuleWithAWoodenFoot

School shoes for girls are so impractical, expensive and can cause blisters or get wetter feet when it rains, so I would love her to stay in ‘school trainers’ like all the boys but peer pressure has started to rear its ugly head

Lands End had some great 'half trainer/half Mary Jane' shoes last year - proper grips on them, and they came higher up the foot than usual Mary Janes. Not available yet on the website, but Sketchers also do some more sturdy MJs too.

For my child it's all about the MJs. Normal ones are hopeless - she has soaking wet feet by the time she's walked across the park on the way to school.

Am eternally grateful!

@echt

In other news: my last parents' evening. Evah.

I'm done. :o

I’ve got this mental image of you sitting with a supply of gin just telling them all that. But I suppose it’s online, so spoils that a bit.

@echt

In other news: my last parents' evening. Evah.

I'm done. :o

What an amazing feeling!

Great news echt

Oh I would so love to never have to do another parents evening again. echt!

How feasible is it to have technical issues every time, do you think? Asking for a friend...

We've been told if there's a technical failure we have to phone them and then you don't get the beautiful 5 minute cut off.

Well that sucks.

Just a moan. I am so, so tired I had to lie on the couch when I got in and can't face getting up to make dinner for the dc. Can't believe it only been five days I've been back (probably because I've worked the equivalent of 7 or so days!) The sun is out and the classrooms are hot with no breeze.

So ironic that Scotland has got much better weather than England when you're stuck back in the classroom

Well I'm home from being away and in full on anxiety mode. Completely stuck for ideas for first couple of days. Feel like I still want someone to look over and approve my lessons ?! Just don't feel ready. I can't fathom SIMS and how to pull up who is PP etc.

Trying to juggle 4 school's term dates etc proving to be a nightmare. Work clothes from last year don't fit (too fat) . Should bite the bullet and buy new teacher clothes but I think I'm in denial that the start of term is next week 😱

This is all normal, normal, normal isn't it. I'm sat wondering what on earth I've done and how on earth I have a job when I seem to be inept.

Dd also starts secondary next week and I'm worried about her

I'm also a bit worried about what next year will look like with covid and DS going into y9 starting on some GCSE bits with no goalposts....

I think I may need a gin to calm down enough to get a decent sleep.

name that is all completely normal!!! You will be fine when you get there. On inset day ask someone (your mentor?) to go through Sims, etc with you and then it will be much easier. Your DD will be fine starting secondary, mine is as well and I'm worried about her too, but I know they will all be ok when they get there and have a few days to learn the ropes. Your ds has 3 years before he actually has to sit his GCSEs, so leave that panicking for a couple of years yet, just park it and come back to it later.

You will be fine!!!!! Which class have you got? Is it ks2? Am I right in thinking you know them already, from teaching practice? Do something relatively nice and "getting to know you" for the first day of two, then you'll discover that it all comes flooding back.

I know you're not one of mine name but I will be going through SIMS etc with them next week. Subject mentors will look over planning if asked.
Gin is always the answer.

@Mistressiggi sorry it's been a hard first week back hopefully, you'll get in the swing soon

@namechangedyetagain deep breath! Start of term nerves are very normal. Do you have an INSET day? If so, sort SIMs then. If not, just look on the first day -honestly, it will be totally fine.

When I started my current job, I had spent 5 years working in a 6th form college that didn't use SIMS. The attendance lady actually had to sit with me and explain how to do the register and save it

I don't teach primary so can't offer much in terms of support for planning. Maybe start with a nice getting to know you activity. Something around your topic? A lot of primary teachers like to do something to assess writing and arithmetic in the first couple of days too. Look on twinkl if you can

You'll be fab!! My NQT from this year text me the other day as he was going through his inbox and came across some emails from this time last year. He couldn't believe how panicky they sounded bless him! As his mentor, I am so proud of how much he grew during the year and can't wait to mentor him through the RQT year. I've no doubt at all that your mentor will feel the same!

It's bloody hot Mistress. If you squint we're half way through the week at least....

This is all normal, normal, normal isn't it.

Yes! I'm not panicking, but feeling like you've done nothing, aren't ready etc, is normal. Once you've done a couple of years, you know that you're not ready but also that it doesn't matter.

@namechangedyetagain SIMS can be sorted when you're in school, don't worry about it. No one expects you to have everything sorted. If you ever go into a term thinking you're ready, you're wrong!

How does it feel being back in Scotland? Hope you get to the end of the week OK.

I note that cases in Scotland have shot up which they are attributing to the return to school. Did our Scottish colleagues also have to test the kids on return which might account for it happening so quickly?

Many thanks for being our canaries, hope the week goes as quickly for you as I'm hoping it will go slowly for me.

Primary school already closed. 8 staff cases.

Where, Piggy?

I keep coming back to that threshold nonsense (which is probably why I am so annoyed at the DfE right now)...surely the 10% means 10% of a group that mixes closely, not 10% of the school who mix closely?

Because otherwise you can have 4 kids test positive in a primary school class within 10 days of each other and that's not considering worrying enough to clean the light switches over.

Saying that it needs to be 5 kids (17% of the class) before anyone even blinks has got to be wrong??