To think school heads should be contactable in school holidays

[EloiseMinch]

A secondary head is likely to be on 70k+ and a primary head of 50k+. Those are high salaries for positions of senior management responsibility. AIBU to think they shouldn't just cut off completely in the school holidays?

Maybe some heads really are working in the holidays but I know the head at DC's school definitely doesn't. She is, for example, completely uncontactable from the end of one term to the start of the next.

I'm the PTA lead at our school. If you contacted me during school break to discuss anything, especially the notion of organising fund raising during said break and paying for TA's
I'd definitely reply immediately.

I'm the head of our school PTA and I definitely insist on 13 weeks off from it!

Obviously though, if a parent instructed me to raise funds during July/August to allow a full time member of staff to be recruited and contracted for by September, I'd be straight on it

There's nothing you've said that cannot wait until the kids start back.

Think our PTA event subcommittee are still going to be trying to sort out a date to get together to plan this early September event by the start of bloody September the way they're going on about it to be honest!

Was just about to post the same 'irony' link re @Pengggwn's post.....it was a belter of a suggestion, and no-one with an iota of the sense they were born with would have thought we should all do this.

I agree 100% with a PP re the OP sounding completely bonkers, I don't believe for a minute this situation is real, the more I think about it, though.

Daughter of a teacher. Friend of a Headteacher.

They do certainly NOT get thirteen weeks holiday. They may not be pupil facing for thirteen weeks but they will be spending a significant amount of time playing catch up/get ahead before the start of the new term.

Headteachers have a huge work load and need downtime as much as anyone - your post is churlish.

The likelihood is that there is a generic email address that the Head will be monitoring and is probably available on the school website if you did actually have something that couldn’t wait till September.

DH is headteacher of a large secondary and he is at work most of the summer. Whether it's dealing with staffing issues, budgets or facilities problems, there's always something for him to be getting on with.

As such, he is contactable through his normal email address and will endeavour to reply as soon as possible throughout the summer break.

queen
Every thread they've started in the last few weeks has all been about things they dislike about this school and they contradict themselves within threads.

It's quite funny, unless someone really that unaware, unreasonable and obsessed with their own sense of righteousness.

I sort of agree the head should be available. I’m a school Governor and one of us ends up being emergency holiday contact because the head expects not to be. We’re just volunteers.

ALL holiday? To ANY parent? That's not an "emergency", is it? That'd be you as governors not having a duty of care for the head's work-life balance, which I'm sure you wouldn't want to get wrong.

Why isn't the deputy (and any other SLT if available) sharing out the holiday weeks with the HT as 'emergency contact' (i.e. only to be contacted in EMERGENCIES)? That's what most SLT do.

Only for emergencies, I repeat.

OP seems to have delusions of grandeur and a weak grip on reality/ her own storyline.

This bit stuck out for me:

when that wasn't working well What OP means is that school have dealt with this as per their policy. She has spoken to the class teacher, phase leader and a deputy. Now only on demand access to the head will be enough.

An open and shut case of megalomania.

This thread is absolutely batshit.

OP believes she should have a say in the HT's "performance management", because she happens to have a child at the school.

OP believes that the HT should be available to discuss completely non-urgent issues with her during the school holidays, even though said issues cannot realistically be dealt with until the children are back in school.

OP believes that the PTA (despite being volunteers!) should also make themselves available to her during school holidays, again to action something completely unrealistic and impractical.

OP believes that she should have a say in the number of support staff employed by the school and that in this time of austerity, "extra" TA's can and should be funded, advertised for, interviewed and recruited in the next 6 weeks (despite the school being shut!) on her advice.

She believes that she is entitled to be consulted about sanctions imposed on children that are not her own (even in the holidays when the kids aren't in so there is literally no behaviour to sanction!) and knows better than the School how classes should be organised.

OP believes she is entitled to an opinion on how much the HT is paid and how many weeks holiday they deserve despite (clearly) having no understanding whatsoever of what the role actually entails.

Talk about delusions of grandeur! I work in a school and deal with a lot of "challenging" parents who seem to think that the world revolves around them and their child but this really is something else. I think this thread is a very good argument in favour of HT's not being directly contactable by parents via email as, I suspect, if OP was to be able to contact the HT directly the poor woman's life would no longer be her own!

Isn't it a shame that teachers can't just refuse to teach the children of the unreasonable parents?

That used to happen. A school where my father taught finally had enough of one father and, after a warning of what would happen, the child was expelled.

Teachers shouldn't have to put up with irrational parents.

I fully agree @StepBackNow. It's impossible to run a good school when you have parents who just won't co-operate.

DH is a headteacher and he will remove DC from his school if their parents aren't suppprtive of his policies and ethos.

DH is a headteacher and he will remove DC from his school if their parents aren't suppprtive of his policies and ethos.

Yeah...not if it's a state school, he can't.

Link on headteacher powers of exclusion - note what it says about "the action of a pupil’s parents" and the word "unlawful":

childlawadvice.org.uk/information-pages/school-exclusion/

OP, has it dawned on you yet that she is uncontactable by YOU. She will be checking emails but you sound so entitled and such a pain that for her own sanity she’s taking a break. If I were her I would have had no hesitation in politely suggesting you look elsewhere for a school that better suits your needs and expectations.

@VickyEadie

DH asks all parents to sign a 'parental obligations contract' when their DC enter the school, which includes clauses such as 'ensure homework is done' but also 'fully support the decisions, policies and ethos of the school and its staff'.

If any of these clauses are broken, 'consequences for pupil or parent can be applied at the discretion of the headteacher, up to and including permanent removal from the establishment'.

You can’t really mean that a school has no responsibility to respond to parents concerns about their children’s safety

But the school is responding. You have met with the Deputy Head. You have been advised on here that if you feel your concerns have not been dealt with properly you have an entire complaints procedure to explore.

However, As a Governor at a primary school I would be more concerned by your blatant witch hunt of the Head than anything else at this point in time. And oh yes, we also know "those" parents. Not the ones who work with the school, support it, treat the staff with respect but who may have a genuine concern, but the ones who stir up other parents, over react, bitch about the school on Facebook and generally are a total pain the arse. Luckily for you, teachers are professional, caring people so your son will never know what they think of you - until he gets older and you start to embarrass him.

I very much doubt that would be legally enforceable sunshades

Sirzy
SS has said on another thread she doesn’t live in the U.K. I suspect she lives in cloud cuckoo land.

If any of these clauses are broken, 'consequences for pupil or parent can be applied at the discretion of the headteacher, up to and including permanent removal from the establishment'.

UNlawful in the UK.

Having said that, everyone I know on 70k+ is contactable at all times. It comes with the salary even though it is often annoying.

The senior partners at my GP surgery are on more than that, manage far fewer staff and a much smaller budget, and I can't get hold of any of them unless I book an appointment 3 weeks in advance.

Exec team members where I work are on that sort of salary, and no-one would dream of contacting them when they're on holiday.

Not necessarily @VickyEadie

And you would also have to question how it was right to punish children for their parents behaviour - especllay as these may often be the most vulnerable