Job a or job b?

[catcalledmarvin]

This might be long...

Job a - rural school.

Cons - In transition so no-one is really in charge and no-one knows what anyone else is doing. Decisions made on the spur of the moment and not stuck to. Poor behaviour policy which isn't adhered to and isn't working. Very low staff morale. As a result of staff morale there is a lot of bitching, staff have formed cliques, no-one has much positive to say about the place. I would need to buy a newer car before winter next year. There is no public transport available. Poorly funded, learning environment is tatty and there is no money for improvement.
They also messed me around badly, see my previous thread here.
[[https://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/the_staffroom/2863491-offered-job-then-not-offered-job previous thread]]

Pros - although it's rural the commute is an easy 40 minutes. They pay to the teachers pay scale. They are now offering me a permanent job. The school day isn't long. There are potentially prospects for promotion.

Job b - a city centre school.

Cons - notoriously tough students. Don't pay to teachers scale so I would earn approx £5k a year less. Commute is also 40 minutes but a packed train journey or more difficult drive than job a. Hours are long, it's more of a college than a school so expected to work until 5pm every day. Poor parental engagement.

Pros - can take the train so less wear and tear on the car and no pressure to buy a newer car for a while. Very good prospects for promotion and extra responsibility. Despite tough students behaviour policy is excellent and adhered to. Good, accessible SLT. Supportive, funny and friendly staff. Students are tough but likeable. Every hour worked after 5pm, including parents evenings, can be claimed back as time in lieu any day during term time obviously this is pre agreed with SLT but would mean the occasional long weekend away or longer holidays. Facilities, equipment and working environment are second to none.

Which would you choose and why?

[Shadowboy]

A sounds awful. There are hints of B that sound like my old school which was the most horrendous teaching year of my life.

What are the lesson blockings like? What Key Stage groups would you be allowed to teach? £5k is a lot to lose if you are in the bottom end of the pay scale? I'm presuming you've got interviews in these schools?

[PotteringAlong]

B. I work in a school very similar to a and it's not worth it.

[MatchsticksForMyEyes]

B definitely. There is nothing worse than working in a school with a bad atmosphere and unsupportable SLT.

[WigglyWooWorm]

Literally every hour? Like marking books and prep. Id have every Friday afternoon off at that rate...

[catcalledmarvin]

No shadow I'm top of the payscales so £5k after tax, NI and pension contributions is about £250 a month. But to get to job a I will definitely need a newer car by Nov of this year because my journey is cross country, on roads which are full of potholes and often ungritted. So the car could negate most, if not all, of the £250 gained.

[catcalledmarvin]

Yes wiggly literally every hour but in school b there is quite a lot of PPA time anyway. In part this is because there is a lot of SEN so lots of differentiation is needed but there is extra funding with these students too. The marking workload wouldn't be huge in school b.

[Haggisfish]

B without hesitation.

[RandomDent]

B

[WigglyWooWorm]

Wow b then.

Marking and prep killed me.

[Bestthingever]

B I hate the sound of the staff in school A.

[ATruthUniversallyAcknowledged]

Is there a c?

[catcalledmarvin]

There isn't a c at the moment atruth, I'm firing out applications.
This is all for September btw and there are only 8 and a half teaching weeks to go until May 31st.
I'm being cautious in assuming that a and b are my only options but they're my options now.

I took the job in school a because it was the middle of the year bestthing and I want a permanent post but yes, with the occasional exception the staff are a challenge.
I understand that they have been through some awful times at work in the past couple of years so they have had to form tight groups and an us-against-them mentality but they do go out of their way to be actively nasty sometimes. An incident on Friday was noted by one of the nice colleagues who later commiserated with me.

[Haggisfish]

Colleagues make or break you imo. School b, especially with little marking.

[Shadowboy]

Hmm B sounds better if they are genuinely going to treat you well. A sound horrid. I worked in an outstanding city academy for a year and pupil behaviour was amazing (pay was also less) and you had to work 8-5pm but they said the offshoot was no work to take home. It was the worst year of my life. I can explain more via PM if you'd like.

But B certainly sounds far better than A. Support from staff and management is very important. Good luck!!!

[Bestthingever]

I agree with Haggis. I'd much rather work in an environment with positive and supportive colleagues. It just makes the job easier.

[catcalledmarvin]

Thanks everyone, b is what I've been thinking too but when you apply cold logic taking a £5k pay cut to work until 5 every day doesn't seem sensible.
However, I think that job a will wear me down in the long term.

[Haggisfish]

If I could have s job with less marking, I'd happily stay till 5pm even for a pay cut!

[Shadowboy]

Catcalledmarvin- I tried to reply via messaging but it wouldn't let me for some reason!

Reply was:
I used to work in a city acedmy which was and is outstanding by ofsted. It was my second teaching job (I'd been teaching in the outer London fringes before) and this school looked on the face of it amazing- kids were so well behaved and the building and facilities fantastic (own gym/swimming pool) huge departmental budgets etc.

However, they got their monies worth from you! I teach geography so there are lots of field trips involved- but so it doesn't affect the lessons all field trips are in the holidays. It worked out that I ended up with 14 days off only until the summer holidays as I lost all half terms and all of Easter!

Lessons were 3 hours long which was difficult with years 7/8 and they had a strict dress code- one day I forgot my jacket so I wasn't allowed to leave my classroom for lunch as I 'couldn't be seen so poorly dressed' by the students.

My mum was diagnosed with breast cancer in December that year and I wanted 2 days off to visit her (she lives abroad) as due to field trips if'd not been able to and they would not allow it. It was heartbreaking.

The intense pressure of 8-5 in a 'perfectionist' environment got to me in the end and I left at the end of the year. The staff were lovely as were the student (although they were a bit lacking in character due to school rules/quick exclusion process) but ultimately it was the 'push for outstanding' (98% A-C pass rate!!) which just washed me out in the end.
I'm currently teaching in an outstanding college and have been since 2009 and I love it here much better attitude towards their staff

[SpikyFish]

Neither TBH. You need a c