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I am a teacher in a secondary school and I want to share my experiences at present as I think everyone should know what is happening in schools where our children a supposedly 'Covid safe'.
We currently have a third of our staff off because of being asked to self isolate, as well as a whole year group and half a year group. The system of choosing who is isolating is utterly moronic. We have twins in one year group, where one is isolating and one isn't!!
We have a student in one year group told to isolate while his younger brother still attends school. How is this allowed? A class I taught on Monday is now reduced by half, but we were all in the same room together and I remain at school. Just doesn't make sense.
Now we have so many staff off all our 'free' periods, usually used for planning and marking, are being used to cover staff off isolating. This is putting a huge strain on teachers, with stress levels going through the roof.
With no senior teachers left at the school and the business manager acting as Head, the behaviour policy has been scrapped as it can not be supported properly. The students smell blood and are starting to act up, adding more stress to a very stressful environment.
Today, a teaching assistant walked into the staff room and burst into tears because of how she was treated by a group of students. The supply teacher was unable to control the class leaving the TA to deal with the unruly kids.
The vast quantity of supply teachers, while trying their utmost, is creating another dimension of stress as they are not used to the school procedures and layout. I taught a lesson this afternoon while a small group of students were outside in tears.
For the first two days this week nobody turned up to register the class opposite mine, leaving me to deal with 55 kids who were unsettled by the lack of routine. Consequently, the Covid safe procedures, spraying tables and hands, were missed.
This evening we have received an email from the Head, who is self isolating, telling us 2 soldier on. PHE have said our level of cases is fairly normal across the country.
The school is not Covid safe, teachers are being put in a very stressful position and students are volatile
The school is not Covid safe, teachers are being put in a very stressful position and students are volatile
Is this what you meant @BorisJohnson when you said schools are the safest place for our children?
