To think my HOD is being a bit of a jobsworth?

No. They have to have proper structured learning from the first day back.
I'm sure you're very successful, but the sooner children get back into learning, the better.
Anyway. Not the point of the thread, just surprised. If I was the line manager, I'd ok the swap.

Here you go.

@DefyingGravitas ???
I never said "why on earth don't you do proper work?" !! How on earth did you read that?
I have no idea what's going on here.
I am a teacher. I know how hard people work.

I"m as academic as they come, I loved school and loved learning but I always needed a couple of days to warm back up after the summer. A warm up lesson or two makes far more sense

I agree. Goodwill is worth a lot.

Oh I’m so sorry, it was the irrelevant comment and the lead with ‘why on earth don’t you do proper work.’ I thought you were trying to be super condescending but I can see from the tone of your reply that you definitely didn’t mean to be and I’m completely wrong as I’m sure people often are.

He's an idiot. A little bit of flexibility goes a long way. The fact is you both sorted the solution, so all he had to do was agree to it.

I think your HOD is unreasonable. I'd let job sharers swap, in fact I've done so in the past.
I'd expect proper lessons from day one, though, whoever took them.

Good grief. That's something of an over reaction! 😂touched a nerve?!
We have to teach proper lessons from day 1 of term. Oh, yes I am a brilliant teacher in a brilliant school 😂😂

Oh it sounds like you’re the best teacher ever at the best school ever and I bet there’s none of those pesky job shares or reasonable flexible work situations going on!

Why on earth don't you do proper work with your yr8 class on the first day? Where I work, and where I have always worked, we do proper lessons from day one!

I'm amazed this is the HOD's decision, surely it should be the HT?

I’m a secondary teacher. I’m allowed the morning to take my DC to his first day of school. I would have requested the first week of term off as parental leave if it had been a problem. However, at my school, SLT know a little bit of flexibility like this goes a long way in getting staff’s goodwill.

And, yes, this means that two of my classes will have a ‘sub’ for possibly their first lesson with me. Whilst not ideal, my child’s first day of primary school is more important to me than your child’s first day at secondary school. Sorry! I’d accept the situation for my children if the shoe was on the other foot too. Teachers are also parents who don’t want to miss all of their DC’s school milestones (and we miss a LOT!)

Yes he’s being a jobsworth. I would speak to HR. Our school would approve this, no problem… which is why it has loyal staff. It also means that when many people are asked to step in to cover other staff for illness / trips etc. (against union guidelines), people do just do it. It’s much better for the kids to have actual teachers covering their lessons as opposed to random agency staff. It works both ways.

Yes he's being a knob your classes will be fine. It's just one swap. The amount of supply in secondary schools atm means having a different teacher is hardly an unusual event and they'll be seeing you again anyway.

My HOD and my 2 previous ones would absolutely accommodate this.

Personally I would check in with your SLT line manager and go above his head. It's difficult enough accommodating your kids needs as a teacher. This is such a simple solution which will not affect him in anyway.

For one of my kids first day I had cover because why would I miss that??

A colleague had a whole day off for her kids sports day on Friday.

Teachers are leaving the profession in higher numbers than ever. What's wrong with a bit of give and take?!

He’s being a jobsworth. The stupid thing here is, this would be an easy win for him to give you something you’re asking for, that requires nothing from him and has no impact. Then he could be the good guy for free and say no to things he doesn’t want to give in the future. But instead, he’s flexing his muscles. At least you know where you stand and the kind of manager you work for.

Also bet if he’s got kids that his wife is the one doing the lion’s share of the childcare.

I think I'd be tempted to put in a formal request for unpaid leave for that week and make reference in the application that you are requesting it, as per your right under the law, as your informal request was denied, despite a workable solution being put on the table. Think about how you word it.

It won't be approved but it will give HoD some paperwork to do and, woth any luck, when they have realise they have to put pen to paper and put their name by the decusion, where the acknowledgement of the first refusal will need to be justified in writing, you may find HoD changes their tune. If not, then you may be able to escalate the request to someone who will give HoD enough of a raised eyebrow that they backtrack.

He’s being unreasonable. I was an HOD and had two staff who job shared, I had no problem with then swapping days occasionally if they needed too. The alternative is that you put in a LOA request. See how he likes having no teacher when it’s approved. Honestly, I’d speak to his line manager, it doesn’t sound like he knows how to manage staff effectively.

I think he’s being a jobsworth. I used to have a job share (primary) and our head was happy for us to sort any swaps between us. At the time I didn’t have kids but my job share did and I was more than happy to swap days so she could see them in plays, sports day etc. it made no difference to the pupils. We appreciated the head letting us do this and so it was all in all a good working relationship.

Just thinking about this. The next time one of is off sick, and the first person the HOD would call is the other one as cover - that is dead in the water now. What an absolute bellend. Talk about cutting off his nose to spite his face.

It used to be that the difference between "jobshare" and "part-time, happening to share the classes" was that jobshare partners were responsible for covering the job between them. I used to work with a jobshare pair. One was married to a farmer, which meant term-time worked better for holidays, and the other had a child in private school, which meant it was helpful to have time off when their term was shorter. They just sorted it between themselves.

I don't think it's essential to be there for your child's first day, but I do think your HoD is being a jobsworth in not allowing the swap.

He is being v unreasonable. He has now caused unnecessary stress and resentment on day 1, literally. Very foolish IMO.

I’m wondering if they didn’t really understand your proposal? If they thought you were asking for external cover then I could see why they might object. Additionally, perhaps they asked the other teacher and they weren’t happy with the arrangement but found it difficult to explain that to you?

It might be, but if you can book the time off as annual leave, or use some flexible working hours to start late, or work a different shift that week you're much more likely to be able to arrange it that you can go.

Teachers literally have to be in front of their own class when their timetabled lesson is happening (which is why the OP's HOD'a refusal is so ludicrous in this situation, as it would be the kids' normal teacher for the same proportion of time!) It's not like a teacher can bring the kids in during the holiday or that evening to get the lesson done and then let them stay home Monday period 1, or Saturday's teachers might be willing to swap etc.

This. God this is why so many teachers are leaving. Its a big day it only happens once. He is being soo unreasonable.