TA at Reception is leaving

[Lollitapr]

Just got some sad news that DD's TA is leaving at the end of this week. Our class rep got this news through the grapevine and she's trying to organise a card and a little gift.

We are all very sad. She's quite young, I would say early or mid 40ies and has been with the school for 14 or15 years, her kids are in secondary. She is really lovely and my DD loves her. But I'm very suspicious as to why would a teacher leave half way through the term? Quite a few teachers left last year as well and I cannot help but wonder what's going on. If there are nasty things going on behind the scenes will this impact the quality of teaching? I'm worried about the impact this change will have on the kids too, particularly those who struggled to settle.

No doubt to start a new job where she is paid fairly, given fair breaks, appreciated and made to feel part of the team.
A friend left being a TA to work as a 999 call handler - is earning 3 times as much for 10 times more job satisfaction.

The children will be fine, the environment for teachers has been terrible for years and I highly doubt any child has been scarred by the effects. It'll be best for the TA to get out and improve her situation if that's what she's doing. If she's really left because of the conditions then surely the kids would be better off without a struggling TA.

They'll be fine, she'll be fine.

£1260 a month if you work 5 days

More like sub 1k a month. Depends on hours of course. 25 hours a week is 'full-time' in my school. Supermarkets pay more per hour and I imagine the opportunity is there to do more hours to bring in at least a living wage. Hopefully she is leaving to do a less stressful and higher paid job.

There was an article just last weekend about this very issue - schools can no longer recruit or retain TAs easily on NMW when supermarkets are paying several pounds an hour more
www.theguardian.com/education/2022/oct/09/teaching-assistants-quitting-schools-for-supermarkets-because-of-joke-wages

When I dropped off my DD this morning some parents approached her and then I saw her crying. She was telling them she absolutely hates change and she loves this school but...

I didn't catch the rest of the conversation and I had to leave quickly, but I think all of you are right, it's the pay.

Yes but you don't have to worry about childcare for school holidays if you're a TA.

Ah yes, if you are at the same school I suppose they mirror those and if not it covers a majority, I was thinking people meant working around school hours and wondered why the were different around here

At my school, we currently have 5 TA roles available. They've left because the pay doesn't justify the travel or effort involved. You're lucky if you get the breaks you are entitled to and it's very difficult to leave on time. You frequently work for free after hours to get jobs done because you don't have time during the day. You are expected to prepare and run intervention groups with children who desperately need help from qualified, experienced teachers, but you are neither qualified nor experienced. Class teachers get PPA time, TAs get none. TAs are often expected to teach classes...for no extra pay.

Gawd knows why I do this job! 😆

So the TA is going to another school, not far from her current one.

It will probably be a combination of the pathetically low pay for what has become a job with a lot of responsibility that requires a lot of skills. If her children are now old enough that she doesn’t get child benefit or maintenance any more she probably can’t afford her job.

Maybe the job is with a different key stage that she prefers, or the school has something that's attracted her like a play based or outdoor learning model that she's interested in. Maybe she's fallen out with a staff member or doesn't get on with slt