yo to what time would you expect a school to answer a call?

[Ankhmo]

I'm just curious.

I've been on hold for about 20 minutes now. It's a secondary school.

Would you expect someone to still be available at 4pm? Or up till 5pm?
Or would you not bother calling after 3.30?

Probably not on the last day of half term or on a Friday

In the school I work in the office staff work 8.30 to 3.30. But if no one is there there is an answer phone.

Our receptionist leaves at 4pm so although there are lots of other staff still in the building, no phone calls come through.

No one will be there past 4pm on a Friday. It is 4pm latest most days for the office.

If you have a direct line to a teacher I would say 3.30-3.45 on a Friday at the latest.

School finishes at 3.15 Our receptionist goes home at 3.30. I wouldn't expect anyone to be there this time on a Friday (particularly the Friday before half term).

Well... You'd think they'd switch answer phone on or something then because the hold music is like aural trepanation..

Imma hang up..

On a Friday afternoon I wouldn't call any later than school ends unless it was urgent and couldn't wait until Monday.

School office closes at 4pm.

At my school the office closes at 4.30. You would be able to leave a voice mail though. (Though a parent told me this week that they did do this and I was never told there was a message for me.....)

Best to send an email for the attention of the staff member you want, but that wouldn't be forwarded where I work until after half term.

It's fine it's not particularly urgent.
Without going into detail, they sent an email at 3.56pm that said:
"Any issues, don't hesitate to get in touch..."
I didn't hesitate, but no one answered.

What time does the school day finish? Either then or possibly 15 or 20 mins after that? I think it's different in a secondary school than a primary as, in a secondary, parents can usually contact their DC directly, the DC will have a door key and things so, even if a parent is delayed, they can let the child's know and the child can get into the house once they've figured out a way to get home.
Staff may be in the office after then finishing off bits of work but won't answer the phone as that will just delay them, particularly not as they finish for half term

Our office is manned until 4:30, regardless of whether it's the last day of term. We had an inset day today, but the office was still taking phone calls up to the usual time.
However , we actually had a telephone issue last week which meant we couldn't receive or make phone calls for a whole day - apparently now that the phones are digital any internet issues can make them stop working. Could your school have an issue?

Can you not reply to the email? (I know some email addresses don't accept replies, I'm not being snarky)

You might have called just as they switched the answer phones on and you're stuck in limbo.

It's a "this message was sent from an email address that doesn't accept replies... Please call...." Type deal

The have main email address, but I don't think it's monitored very well.
I'll fire an email off in a bit and call the first week back after HT