Apple muncher's number crunching

apple_muncher

Driving along this morning, I saw the top half of a traffic cone sticking out of a 'pot hole'. That is some pot hole!

Took dd to sch; met with the dep head over sthing; went to see my counsellor; shopped for dd's food in a sainz where I overheard 'It's not been this bad before' - to queues only 6-8 deep! They don't know how lucky they've got it! And the self-service tills had a queue of just 1 or 2.

Then I took a very scenic, but unintended, route to the gym and had a great workout, and now I have a wash ready to hang up.

Still at the point of the virus being at arms length - I only know 1 person confirmed with it and 1 maybe. But am keeping up with the French and Spanish papers, to get their view on things too. I'm re-learning bits and bobsof vocab!

apple_muncher

So... not only are all schools closing, but all exams are cancelled. That is massive. I can't get my head around it yet. Y11 + 13 with no more work required of them; no work for examiners; how to award grades fairly...

Humdinger1

Apple

Hello again! Do you think it's likely that teacher assessments will play into GCSE grades? I certainly hope so.  I'm devastated that schools are closing, but so grateful for everything they've done to keep things normal.  Really, I know teaching is a vocation, but it seems all wrong to expect educationalists to face exposure when everyone else is confined to barracks! Please keep posting; I'm one of your many admirers and the moral support here will help us all get through it.   Love Humdinger x 

Karmacat

Hi there apple!  I'm back, currently lurgy free.  The schools closure is astonishing, isn't it - it seems sensible and insane both at the same time, hard to believe its happening - hope you and your dd are coping with it.

And what a good idea to keep your languages up by reading the French and Spanish newspapers - I like that.

apple_muncher

The y11s are in shock. I think that their initial reaction was 'yay!', but then the disappointment, the let down, the discarding of all their hard work and potential kicked in. I guess that how their grades will be awarded does not feature mega high on the current priority list, understandably, when there are kids who'll go hungry without fsm access, or suffer neglect... or are kids of 'key workers'. Hope we get that definition soon, as schools need to plan, feed, support...

Humdinger, the exam boards will have to be fair with grades, but I hope schools don't inflate grades just to look good... Or set kids up for future A level failure by overestimating...That said, I could grade my y11s now, if required and I'd be pretty much spot on. Hey, after 20+ years, I should be able to do that!

My lovely y11s asked if the current y10s would get special dispensation next year, as they'll have missed weeks, possibly months, of being at school. How thoughtful is that?!

Dd has her 1st day of distance learning tomorrow...I think she'll be fine. And I have been plugging the 'opportunity to get trained at independant learning/self-study' line with kids at sch.

apple_muncher

Dd did well with her school work, but if Monday brings another 3+ hours of intense screen use, I'll be contacting the school. I know they use the white boards - heck, so do I - but it's not such close work as a laptop.

We had the back door open for a while today as dd went outside to play. It was good to have fresh air in the house.

I'm feeling quite sad today. It's just the way things go, with the whole situation as it is. I am so grateful to know that I'll be paid, that we owe just a smidge on the mortgage, that we have food in the cupboards.

Karmacat

That critical incident declaration in Harrow really brings it home: it's here, right now.  Stay safe, apple.

apple_muncher

So, retired drs are being asked to go back to work. But aren't they all in the at-risk groups??

apple_muncher

Do you think that the anticipation of 12 weeks (or whatever it ends up being) makes it harder? And having to stay inside? I recall that several years ago, dd and I both had flu about a week before breaking up for Cmas, so ended up with having about 3-4 weeks inside together. That time, it was simply a case of 'one day at a time'. And we weren't worried about going stir crazy. I totally recognise that the situation then is very different indeed from where we are now, and I'm trying to think of it as one week at a time rather than all at once. For me, I think it'll be after the Easter hols that it kicks in. Also, I don't personally know anyone who has yet died or is in intensive care, so it does all feel more distant...

Doesn't mean I'm not going to keep away form people though!

apple_muncher

We all got out and up to the woods for a walk in the sunshine this afternoon, which has done us good. Almost as soon as we got home, one of dd's friends called and they are out and about on their bikes now.

It was good to be out, but the short walk was my limit as I'm recovering from some virus thingy. Pretty certain it's not that virus though - no temp, no cough. But am not going to work tomorrow, just in case...