Broom cupboard 4 - soon be time to think about heating this place

[TheHoneyBadger]

Will post this on the end of the other thread too but I have just found this:

If you are identified as a contact and asked to self-isolate by NHS Test and Trace, including by the NHS COVID-19 app you may be entitled to a payment of £500 from your local authority under the Test and Trace Support Payment scheme. If you are the parent or guardian of a child who has been told to self-isolate you may also be entitled to this payment.

^Presumably that is all of the 'thought' that has gone into the situation I've been talking about. Still doesn't tell us if we would be seen as taking unauthorised leave or able to work from home or anything - need union specific advice on that.

I've been on strike every time there has been the option to. Joined a striking union for a reason. I'm not in it for the kids st the cost of my own health. Doing better by teaching staff drags benefits to the kids behind it.

Nice graph.

And never mind the gazillions who are refusing to test...

I am pondering the 5-9 rate. Is that lower due to lack of tests, or primary schools not mixing as much? Or a combination of the two?

@Hercisback

I am pondering the 5-9 rate. Is that lower due to lack of tests, or primary schools not mixing as much? Or a combination of the two?

I reckon it’s both a lack of testing and a lack of acknowledgment that symptoms are different in kids. We have loads off at the moment, but they’re off with upset stomachs, sickness and colds-none of the covid symptoms so parents don’t get them tested.

I can see why they want to do something about KS3: research and anecdotal examples often reference a lack of progress and some children even slipping back. However, they've only looked at it very shallowly if they think KS3 SATs are the solution.

One of my friends is a cover supervisor in a secondary. He is the only maths teacher that some Y7s and Y8s have had despite not achieving a passing grade on his own GCSEs. In another school, I know kids doing Spanish who didn't have a qualified Spanish teacher until Y10. Now, the DfE could look at those examples and say that SLT have allowed them because they don't see the importance of KS3 and introducing the Y9 SATs would fix that. But that doesn't address why it has happened in the first place: there aren't enough teachers and when new ones join the profession, you can't be sure of the quality given how the application and pass requirements have been relaxed in recent years. When you do get great teachers, some of them end up burnt out or leaving for better pay or a work-life balance in different sectors.

KS3 SATs would be a short term fix at best and, at worst, actually compound the real problem.

I agree ks3 needs investment and they are not prioritised school wide for anything. GCSE and A level groups are give the solid consistent teachers and ks3 suffer. Your point about supply teachers or cover staff is crucial. We had students who only had 4-5 weeks of lessons taught by a maths teacher last year. How more parents didn't complain I don't know.

All comes down to lack of funding (or funding being spent in the right places). MATs suck up £££ in salaries for CEOs, Executives and consultants fees (to their mates).

We have no unqualified teachers but some subjects are forced to staff their KS3 with whichever person is free.
The foundations are built on sand.

All comes down to lack of funding (or funding being spent in the right places). MATs suck up £££ in salaries for CEOs, Executives and consultants fees (to their mates).

Don’t they just?! Should be a much bigger scandal than it is but funnily enough, always seems to be suppressed by the media. People in high places ‘n’ all that…

KS3 is a big issue in 3 tier and was especially so when we had SATs . But then they want rid of 3 tier so....

I am old enough to have been teaching when the ks3 sats were in place.

They were roughly equivalent to year 5 now. The beginning of year 5.

Herc, the ONS data (2.6% for primary, 4.6% for secondary) show that primary are in fact less infected than secondary and it's not lack of testing as the ONS data is done by random sampling. Primary have been consistently lower than secondary throughout even when secondary had measures like masks.

Before schools opened properly in Sept 2020, we were told over and over that children transmit covid less effectively. I remember posting that 'children' when they were doing these studies always involved kids under 10, so the data didn't apply to secondary. Perhaps it's true that primary really don't transmit as much.

Other option is that primary kids don't mix as much. My DD's whole primary school has fewer pupils than a year group at my secondary school so maybe?

KS3 SATs were only Maths and English so wouldn't address lack of teachers in other subjects.

They seem to have forgotten that they were scrapped due to a mighty balls-up over marking them. The govt hired some incompetent US company who bungled it, lost a bunch of papers and kids didn't get their results on time.

I’d deffo strike and/or leave teaching for good. I’m on leadership spine so 1265 doesn’t apply to me but bloody hell what are they thinking?!?

I know exactly what they were thinking:

'We haven't got any catch-up money and the kids need to catch up'
'Get the teachers to do it'
'When?'
'Longer school day'
'We can't extend the school day as they have limited directed time'
'Get rid of that nonsense then. And make sure it doesn't mean paying them more.'

What is your maximum contact time, currently? Ours is 22.5 hours in Scotland. Which I have often read is some of the largest contact times in Europe.

Ooooh I just thought about KS3 SATS - how would they be graded? We scrapped levels!

10% PPA, Mistress, so same, I guess?

That idea of no national cap on hours, to be negotiated locally makes no sense. There has to be a basis for negotiation, i.e. a starting point, or else the SLT set the the rules. Which sounds more like it,

I'm in Victoria, and as union rep, I do local negotiations in my school, but they are based on a state-wide agreement, binding teachers and government. An example would be class-size, which is set at 25 by law. Occasionally a class goes over and the union goes in to negotiate the compensation for such teachers. The arrangement is only binding for the academic year. It only works because the basis is set in law.

Contact hours are 20 pw by the way.

I should have said the 20 hours contact includes covers.

Hmm, children at school for 26 2/3 hours a week so do you mean 10% of that? That's four and a bit hours a week. (Don't want to put actual number in case I've got it wrong and a thousand maths teachers give me disappointed looks)

Thanks for the clarification noble. Perhaps under 10s really don't spread it as much, who knows!

10% of teaching hours gives you 22.5, but add in 2.5 hours of form tutor time and it's back up to 25 hours of contact

Does anyone know if Staff is ok?

Form tutor time should be contact time, surely. It is for us.