Sixty-Eighth Republic - still under temporary guardianship…

[MrsHerculePoirot]

In the absence of staff and her fabulous thread titles and witty openers here is a 68th thread. The broom cupboard is overflowing so time for another Republic. Hopefully we hear from staff soon.

Stolen from previous threads…
'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.'

Imagine if secondary staff got a PCR every time we taught a child who tested positive the next day 🤣 Might as well live at the testing centre!

Ha ha! The CO2 monitor in my room was taken away by SLT today to put in another room that the latest hard hit form has some lessons in.
It’s a bloody farce!

We still haven't got any.

At least that was a sensible move Chloe

This thread is particularly divorced from reality.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/education/4410673-AIBU-to-think-School-funding-is-absolutely-fine-and-all-the-whiners-on-here-should-shut-up

…and basic reading comprehension, noble!

[quote noblegiraffe]This thread is particularly divorced from reality.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/education/4410673-AIBU-to-think-School-funding-is-absolutely-fine-and-all-the-whiners-on-here-should-shut-up[/quote]

RoI seriously considering masks for primary children.

@chocolateisavegetable

AFallingStar I get a PCR if I have been working closely with that particular child - but not for each child that tests positive in the class. We're "lucky" enough to be able to keep the door open in our Primary - but this is obviously getting increasingly difficult!

I'm a HLTA in a year one class, 'up close and personal' is practically in my job description! We are keeping doors and windows open, which has included the door to outside up to now. The added dimension to this is that three of my class are prone to run out of the room at no notice. At the moment, this means that they can also very easily run out of the school!

This is quite a read

www.the-fence.com/issues/issue-10/inside-brampton-manor

My 'she hasn't got it, she's fine' child turned out to indeed have it, and has now taken out a third of the class and my TA. Looks like she's also taken out part of another class because we swap for one lesson. Parents should see crosses on a seating plan, might make them keep ill kids at home.

Does Branwen Jeffries' Twitter comment tonight mean we've got to set up test centres again in January? Ffs

I’ve walked passed Brampton Manor many times Piggy, it is a depressing looking building right next to the station with very little outside space (it used to be the Job Centre etc. They don’t take anyone into the Sixth Form without very high GCSE grades and none are predicted below a B grade. That practice of over filling the Sixth Form for more funding is depressingly familiar.

Re: Holland Park, I remember a thread from the first lockdown where the school parent was angry that Year 10s weren’t initially included in the CAGs. She didn’t take kindly to my comment that her child’s school was playing the system and served the school right if their plan backfired. Transpired the school was Holland Park! They get their results by starting GCSEs early and sitting some in Year 10 and others in Year 11. Glad the spotlight is finally on academies like this!

It does dangling...

Eurgh.

1. more lost teaching time
2. more lost admin/site/technician time
3. they get covid at school much more frequently they do in the holidays. Bloody innumerate, unscientific buffoons.

That’s a horrific read @Piggywaspushed

www.theguardian.com/education/2021/nov/27/ofsted-inspections-headteachers-quit

Another depressing read.

That's awful, Dangling. Sending in Ofsted to downgrade schools during a pandemic is so shitty, on top of all the other shitty things the govt has done.

I was a bit to see Garvey referenced in the article as having written books to support teachers. I only know him as someone who is gobsmackingly rude on twitter.

I really hope that it's a misrepresentation/mistake where it says the school who had a staff member die of Covid was told "not to mention Covid"

Ofsted inspectors have had fuck-all to do the last 18 months haven't they? They have no idea what it's been like in schools. And they don't want to hear what it's still like.

God knows the rage that head must have felt.

I know.

I think it's unconscionable just how in fear we are all being made to feel in education right now. This dangling over us all on top of all the rest of it. It's been like the fucking Blitz in school since before half term. No idea who's going to be off next, whose job you are going to have to do for them in their absence, how and when you ate supposed to catch up on your own work. I'm honestly surprised we haven't all resigned. In a less (usually) wonderful school, I would have done already.

Oh but it's fiiine. They won't come in when we are doing our mass on site testing.

Pula G can be very supportive. He is one of the few Twitterati who sees, accepts and believes that things are a bit shit in schools and that it isn't always/usually/ever the schools' faults. This has put him at loggerheads with he 'if only everyone was as amazing as us' EduTwitter crowd. Get beyond the bickering and he gives good advice. He also seeks advice from others and doesn't claim to know all the answers himself.

He also calls out Ofsted and the DfE.

Pula?? You know who I meant!!

What can schools do about Ofsted?

I would personally support a strike whenever Ofsted comes in.

They can look at safeguarding. But staff should just refuse to engage with deep dives. No conversations with the inspectors.
Ofsted inspector comes in to observe a lesson - the lesson stops and the kids just do some colouring in or read a book.

I’m sure more experienced teachers will pick that suggestion to bits very quickly.