Sixty Seventh Republic - under temporary guardianship

[Hercisback]

In the absence of staff and her fabulous thread titles and witty openers here is a 67th thread. The broom cupboard is overflowing so time for another Republic. Hopefully we hear from staff soon.

Stolen from thread 66.
'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.'

Yes, which is very Shanghai but the important bit about Shanghai is that the teachers aren't teaching and doing catch-up at the same time.

there has to be an obvious response in the planning and in the lessons to each pupil's progress

Each pupil's progress? As in named individuals? Not just 'kids who didn't get it do this, kids who did do this, and kids who can do it standing on their head do this'?

@cantkeepawayforever

Oh no, that's no good cant and just adds even more to your workload both in terms of the behaviour and in terms of marking / intervention. Are SLT putting any support in place for that?

Um - no. It's apparently my fault because the child in question 'wasn't like that last year'. So I have to solve it....

That's really shit. I hate the whole "last year" bullshit as, often, it turns out the reason they weren't like that last year is because there were no expectations on them and they did fuck all work.

It is insane.

I finally stood up to the insane marking policies being implemented in my primary foundation subject, which occurred while I was on maternity leave. (Sen) Lots of sleepless nights and stifled ranting and researching needed though prior to doing so, as it's often v unclear what exactly Ofsted and slt want/ need.

One of my arguments was that you don't put green and pink markers on kids' foreheads in PE, so why do so (on work) in my similarly practical subjective subject.

We assess and review and plan next steps constantly.

I was recently told "policy is power" which helped.

Disbanding the LEAs hasn't helped. Schools / academies seem to make it up as they go.

Noble
Yeah, but that's not seen as a valid reason for it not to happen. You've just got to make it work.

And yeah, individual progress. You can group the children into "Got it", "Not quite", and "WTF?" based on your marking to help you do small group same day intervention but you need to ensure progress each lesson on an individual level and be able to talk about it. It's the side effect of only having the one class.

Extreme behaviour is exhausting. Barely anything gets done properly in books as you're physically exhausted and constantly having to fill in forms or cpoms etc, have discussions with people about how to manage.

I've one class that haven't transitioned to the next class at all well. Nothing's going in books. All has to be peaceful and practical to avoid them actually really badly harming each other or themselves.

In fact we all think the impact of the pandemic seems to be more visible this term than previously across the whole school.

More parents seem to be splitting up aswell which is having an impact obviously.

@cantkeepawayforever

Oh no, that's no good cant and just adds even more to your workload both in terms of the behaviour and in terms of marking / intervention. Are SLT putting any support in place for that?

Um - no. It's apparently my fault because the child in question 'wasn't like that last year'. So I have to solve it....

Urgh I hate that statement. 6 weeks in a long time away from school so that can have a huge effect on behaviour and stability. Plus masking is a thing, we had a child who hadn't been at the school long before first lockdown so of course their behaviour changed when we were back still felt personal when people said they weren't like that last year. It's not the fault of the teacher (or lsa). Plus often it's due to being allowed to get away with things for a quiet life too.

Plus often it's due to being allowed to get away with things for a quiet life too.

Ain’t that the truth.

@Iamnotthe1

Noble Yeah, but that's not seen as a valid reason for it not to happen. You've just got to make it work.

And yeah, individual progress. You can group the children into "Got it", "Not quite", and "WTF?" based on your marking to help you do small group same day intervention but you need to ensure progress each lesson on an individual level and be able to talk about it. It's the side effect of only having the one class.

Exactly that. Head walks into class, picks up a book, looks at what they are doing & marking and expects you to be able to explain exactly what you have done to resolve any issues that are apparent in previous day's marking. Those responses can be adaptation to the whole class teaching; differentiation for a child or group of children, including allocation of in-lesson support; individual or small group catch-up OR a longer-term planned intervention .produce folder here. The answer CAN'T be 'Oh yes, they had a problem with that yesterday. Haven't had time to sort it out yet because I was on CPOMS and in meetings'.

That's unreasonable and unworkable Cant

The answer CAN'T be 'Oh yes, they had a problem with that yesterday. Haven't had time to sort it out yet because I was on CPOMS and in meetings'.

The question should be ‘should I prioritise CPOMS or marking?’

People working unreasonable hours to meet unreasonable expectations won’t stop otherwise.

Unfortunately noble, in some settings, the answer would be: "Both, that's your job. Are you telling me that you aren't able to do your job to the required standard?".

The school I'm in now is lovely and, as part of SLT, I can make sure the expectations are too unrealistic. But there are a lot of schools that are awful, as evidenced by the lack of support in cant's school.

"Both, that's your job. Are you telling me that you aren't able to do your job to the required standard?".

Exactly that. I am old, and expensive. It is made very clear that capability is ---> should I not do what is seen to be my job (and I am held to a higher standard because I am expensive, as well as a weak link because I had to utter the words 'reasonable adaptation' to obtain a reasonable response to incapacitating mental illness)

Don’t get me wrong, I know all too well why we don’t push back on crap or speak up. It’s just frustrating to be discussing something that is so obviously unreasonable.

Where are those all-powerful unions, eh?

ICT mr P has just said:
(In response to someone saying they'd keep marking.)

"agree with everything here apart from marking, in primary oral/verbal feedback is so much more effective and marking is mostly a waste of time in my opinion and more about showing others you’ve marked rather than moving the children on with their learning"

I agree with that. You do need to read/ check what they've put obviously.

I find there's a severe lack of trust in primary education.

Context meme....

Where are those all-powerful unions, eh?

Ignored. Half our staff aren't members. Few have ever gone on strike.

Ofsted say they'll look at well being and workload of staff... our school says they're doing that but I'm not sure the key things are being addressed. It's frippery.

I do t think this is a "primary" thing. It's more of a "Billy Bollocks Head Teacher trying to make their mark" thing.
My Head is nothing ljke that.

@WhenSheWasBad

My form is Year 7. I’d guess over half of the kids who have returned the forms haven’t given consent for vaccination (their parents consent that is).

I think most parents have concluded there’s no point. Their kids either already had it or will inevitably catch it in the time spent waiting for vaccination.

Isn't a lot of that because most year 7s aren't 12 yet though? My form have all returned the form saying "I don't think I should have had this, I'm not old enough". I've only got 3 who will be 12 by half term. I do seem to have a high proportion of summer born kids in my class though.

@WarriorN

ICT mr P has just said: (In response to someone saying they'd keep marking.)

"agree with everything here apart from marking, in primary oral/verbal feedback is so much more effective and marking is mostly a waste of time in my opinion and more about showing others you’ve marked rather than moving the children on with their learning"

I agree with that. You do need to read/ check what they've put obviously.

I find there's a severe lack of trust in primary education.

Context meme....

My immediate reaction was "no marking" as well. Probably because it's the thing that takes the most time and is relentless.

We've had good discussions here about what does and doesn't constitute effective feedback, but I also remember seeing out on the main boards posters complaining about how their child's teacher hasn't marked their book once all term and such comments.

We also have inspectors on the horizon, which I feel is making a difference.

I would selfishly go for No Ofsted as that causes so much pointless unnecessary and damaging stress. I think sensible marking policies could so easily be implemented to fix that-though I know they won’t be!

The funding is what I probably ‘should’ go for, but it’s Ofsted that keeps me personally awake at night.

Isn't a lot of that because most year 7s aren't 12 yet though? My form have all returned the form saying "I don't think I should have had this, I'm not old enough"

This could be a lot of it MrsA anyone with older forms finding a very low uptake.
We sent out additional messages about all year 7s being eligible, but maybe it’s not had an impact.

All Y7s are eligible ??

@JanglyBeads

All Y7s are eligible ??

Yes. But as MrsA has pointed out the working on the form is appalling.

States the vaccination is for 12 to 16 year olds. Then the schools have to tell the kids yes the government actually mean all Year 7s and above.

Not the first Covid related thing this government have cocked up on regarding communication.

Seriously? That's not what our local vaccination team have said. Isn't it only licensed for 12-16. It's not a policy thing, but a licence thing, surely?

That’s what I thought Dangling.

Just reading yet another “Oh no - can I break my isolation to drop the kids to school, this scenario hadn’t occurred to me as a real possibility even though this has been happening for over a year!” thread.

Half the replies saying ‘our school has said fine to drive up and we’ll meet them from the car.

Schools should NOT be encouraging people to break the law!

One poster says their LA have said they will make arrangements to get kids to and from school jn that scenario, I wonder what they are.