Last day of term

[tazmaniandevil]

Why on earth does school have to close at 13:45 on the last day of term? What is the purpose of this? Confused!!!!

Just wanted to post to say that Catty is wrong regarding getting paid for 52 weeks of the year but technically we do get paid for some holidays. Like most other jobs and statutory holidays, some of the 13 weeks are 'paid'.
This is from Teacher's Pay and Conditions:

Where a teacher works on a full-time basis (i.e. a five-day week), they must receive a minimum of 28 days' paid annual leave per year. This is calculated on the basis of multiplying the teacher's normal working week (i.e. five days) by the annual statutory leave entitlement of 5.6 weeks.

And why do people complain about having their own children around on holidays? Look at yourselves first if you find your children too difficult to be around. Why can't you appreciate the time you have with your children it's enough that they start school so very early in this country.

My son (13yo) just told me that today in double cooking lesson they all cleaned the the cooking room ready for summer then they watched ratatouille. In English lesson they watched Moana. In maths they did work. In science they watched a documentary.

So they learnt how to hygenically clean and take care of kitchen equipment, completed Maths work, watched an educational documentary they would probably never watch at home and got to enjoy themselves with a bit of Disney.

Yes. Shocking stuff.

Oh and before anyone starts, I work in a state nursery attatched to a primary school. ✌✌

No I am not Kitty, that is to do with time off. Have you been on strike as a teacher? If so you will note that your pay would have been reduced by 1/52 of your salary for each day, as you are paid over 52 weeks.

You are wrong and it has been pointed out to you several times you are wrong.

Teachers are paid In 12 monthly instalments but only paid for 195 days plus the holiday entitlement as outlined above.

If you still believe you are correct please quote or link the info you claim proves this ( that is clearly opposite to the teacher contrary I have held for many years).

Jeez. They finish early because the last day assembly and stuff doesn't take all day and the afternoon is for the teachers to sort out classrooms etc.

1. School is not childcare. You chose to have children. It's your job to look after them.

2. It's got nothing to do with adding 'yet more time onto the lazy teachers' long holidays'. Parents would still whine about it if you halved the holiday and finished at lunch time. It's all about the parents' convenience apparently. See point 1 - teachers are not your childminders.

3. The country is desperate for teachers. If it's no harder than any other job, come on... step up and have a go.

Agree with wonderstuff

We get paid contracted hours + holiday (which I believe everyone is entitled to) this is split over the 12 months.

Rightly said Eolian.
Some people just don't value and respect education(teachers) in this country and also seem to forget why they've chosen to have children in the first place.

Ah-I see what you mean. Yes. Technically it is 1/365 Catty but as many posters have pointed out, that is because, correctly, teacher's pay is spread out over 365 days, otherwise, we would have 8 or so weeks with no pay in our accounts.

Therefore, when or if we strike (not every union does strike at the same time), we are deducted pay 1/365 of our spread out payments, but not 1/365 of our 'pay'.

I think you need to change the odd word in your statements on this thread: We are not paid for 52 weeks of the year (technically no one is really as most get annual leave) but over 52 weeks of the year.

Last few schools I've been in the party line is no wasted lessons.
So in English it's perfectly reasonable that I show a film version of the gcse Shakespeare text y10 have been studying all term (whilst supplementing their annotations/notes), but it's not ok for geography to stick Aladin on.

Support staff in schools are on equated pay, so if you look at their pay scales they would not be paid that as these are based on full time contracts of 52 weeks, 37 hours a week. It would be adjusted for the actual hours worked and number of paid weeks, then divided by 12 and paid monthly (equated).

Look at the teachers pay scale, if you are a full time teacher your pay would be what you see, divided by 12 and paid monthly, as you are paid for the full year, 52 weeks, 32.5 hours a week.

A couple of years (?) ago when there was the strike, some (low paid) support staff were stopped more pay than teachers for a day strike as the TAs was worked out on their hourly rate, and teachers was worked out on their salary divided by 52 as (LA School's Finance Team informed us) they are paid for 52 weeks.

In maths they did work.

Yep, sounds about right, no loosely justifiable videos for us maths teachers. The kids were bloody awful today, they've mentally checked out.
'Why don't you just stick a video on, that would be easier for you'

'Er, because we've got three maths lessons left and have to finish the scheme of work. Not that you'll remember it because you left your brain at home along with your exercise book and pencil case'.

'Didn't know we'd need it'.

@noblegiraffe x+y is a fab and justifiable DVD for Maffs teachers to show! Our lot love it.

x + y + 9 set z = 🔥😱😡

Today was a tough one! 🍷

Aw no @noblegiraffe 9Z says it all really 😃

'I work in a school but I'm not a teacher. The utter shit they have to deal with on a daily basis means 6 weeks of holiday is well deserved.'

Makes you wonder why they're in the job if it's that bad! My 9 year old's teacher has managed to put her off school for life, what about the utter shit they put our kids through on a daily basis? 6 weeks is not enough for my daughter to recover, I had to take her out 2 weeks ago and am not sure if she'll ever be going back.

Maybe you need a new job. I worked in a school for years, never heard any staff moaning like that.

I work in a school not a teacher school finished early but on our site staff must work normal hours and it wasn't until I worked in a school that I realised teachers don't get 6 weeks off hence why everything is prepared for students after the holidays

I'm a teacher... not far from the truth

Secondary school teacher here. I bloody LOVE my job, btw, even if my average working week during term time is 60-70 hours, spread between getting in early, staying late, working into the night, and working weekends. So no "You're in the wrong job then" for me, thank you. But it is hard, during term time. My husband and family would attest to that.

I'm sure the teacher-bashers would hate me and my school, though. We are finishing at lunchtime on the last day, and we are putting on a fair for our kids (rides, games, live band, food vans, the lot), so no work at all on the last day for any of them.

Then it's back to tutor rooms for party games. I have a Year 7 tutor this year, and they've been making bits and bobs for their Year 11 time capsule for the last few weeks. We're going to have a bit of a ceremony for putting in their "officially" sealed letters for their future selves, photos of their first year in secondary, pieces of string with their exact heights as of the end of Year 7, playlist of their current favourite songs they want their future Year 11 selves to listen to, and trinkets (fidget spinner, instructions on how to dab and bottle flip, sweatbands we made for sports day).

Then it's the end of year celebration assembly, then home at one o'clock for the kids. In my opinion, BEST DAY EVER. These are the days I really, really love my job. And it's great time set aside for just bonding with my tutor group. There's not a lot of time for that through the school year. Why are you all so agitated about having your own children around at home? They're all so fab! And I can say that as I anticipate trying to keep 30 of them in check at once in a cramped classroom when they're already buzzing for the end of term.

And get this! When the kids go home, we teachers aren't doing any work at all! We listen to the speeches, then the fair is staying open for all of us for an extra hour before we head home for the holidays. So we will be having gladiator contests and eating candy floss together for the afternoon on top of our "six weeks off".

And the holidays are fab, by the way, you should really become a teacher if you have an issue with them. It'll totally change your perspective when you get to know there's always a week "off" within seven weeks or so. I mean, yeah, I need to come into school for a week to sort out my new classroom and plan lessons and sort old books and new resources, but that's by the by.

Not all teachers are like you TypicallyEnglishMustard, likewise not all parents abhor the thought of their kids being around.

Some teachers can crush kids till their self esteem and confidence has been demolished, as in the case of my daughter. I will be the teacher as we're opting for home education after the destruction her latest teacher has caused.

You are definitely not in the wrong job but that doesn't mean others aren't, it's just a shame that it's the children who are sacrificed to find this out. This particular teacher is 'moving on', hopefully to the prison service where she's better suited.

I appreciate that one bad teacher doesn't represent the masses but one bad teacher can have serious and long term detrimental effects on our little ones. School staff and teachers could appreciate that not all teachers are holier than thou ☹️

On these exhausting threads, I end up hating parents and teachers alike.

I really respect teachers, I know a lot about teaching (university students, not children, could never do that!). I can only imagine how tough the job is. These ugly threads will have someone declare Fed up of teachers banging on about how hard their job is, wake up, most people have a hard, stressful job, with less holidays.. But let these threads run long enough and a teacher will come along and say something like we need it after dealing with a year of spoilt, rude, unappreciative teenage brats! No qualifier, nope, clearly all the teenagers are brats. I teach at a university instead of a school because I couldn't do it. But if all kids are brats for you, neither can you.

You think England's 6 week holiday is bad, you should hear the shit we get in Ireland from some begrudgers for having 3 months summer holidays! But most of us aren't in the least bit bothered. It's part and parcel of our job, one of the free perks. Retrain and become a teacher if it's that cushy, the door is always open

Private schools often do a half day last day of term and then have a staff meeting over lunch before clearing up and preparing for the next term, it's not really a new thing.
Our primary school tried it a couple of times to give teachers time to clear up and sort out without still being there late on a Friday afternoon. Some of the parents complained. The last day in summer always finishes at normal time as there is a leavers assembly in the afternoon and a tradition of all the year 6s (and others if it is hot) jumping in the river behind the school. Lots of families also hang around and have picnics if it's nice.