AIBU?

[MycatiscalkedElvis]

Unpaid leave? Where do I stand?

Why didn’t he book it for when he knew you were off? He must have known.

I’ll take it as there’s nothing I can do and just accept her decision and resign. Thank you all that have replied.

If you're a TA and have cover can't see why the head wouldn't allow it other than not wanting to suggest to other staff that this sort of thing would be allowed in future. Did the previous head (who gave the teacher time off) say you'd be allowed to take this time off before she left? If so school should honour it in my opinion.

Why not just change your holiday dates? No point resigning when there are other options.

Also, it's July - not exactly the busiest time in the academic calendar!

No she didn’t as I wasn’t in this situation then. She was very liberal and I suppose we were just lucky to have her. I’ll suck it up and accept it.

The thing is OP you intentionally booked a holiday (ok wedding but it’s a holiday too) during term time when you knew you’d be working. It’s not like being invited to someone else’s wedding. And 10 days is a ridiculous amount of time to take. Unpaid leave is also known as compassionate leave and is for really special things that are unavoidable!
You have 13 weeks off. You should have booked your holiday in this time!

It doesn’t really matter if posters agree or disagree, it’s her decision as head.

Just change your dates.

I was a teacher and my contract expressly said that leave to attend a close relative's wedding could be granted at the HT's discretion teachers were expected to plan their own weddings for school holidays. TAs contracts are probably the same although if the school is an academy they can make their own rules up.

I think the head is being harsh! It's your wedding. You only work mornings and you've got them covered. It's unpaid- can't see the problem. To top it off, it is in July. In my school we are off timetable by that point. Kids are bouncing off the walls. Could you ask governors?

In my experience, unpaid leave is very much at the discretion of the employer and depends on the needs of the service. You can apply but they don’t have to agree it. Check the school’s policy for more information but the needs of the business have to be considered here and if I were the head teacher I would be expecting you to have checked the situation before arranging your holiday.

Check with the travel company as you may be able to move the dates even if you have to pay a fee.

In my school the answer would be no. The policy is clear, no leave in term time. It might seem harsh but with a staff of 100 someone always has a special request and it was getting ridiculous. Thus way everyone is treated the same

People are being very unkind this evening! The op knows this, she didn't book it, her dp did.
Op I'd write to the HT setting down everything as you have here - your previous excellent attendance record even through your dp dealing with cancer, and the fact that you have arranged cover from another ta who works in the school and knows the children. If you can also confirm your class teacher is happy with the cover arrangements all the better. Explain that you did not book this holiday and don't expect it to set any sort of precedent but would very much appreciate the school's support as you have supported them in the past.

You’re right, at the end of the day it doesn’t matter about my personal situation. I work in a school and should know better. There’s no chance of changing the dates so I’ll just leave.

pumpkin The factbthe op apparently didn’t know about her own wedding date really isn’t the heads problem.

I would be more annoyed with my potential husband than my work if he put me in this position.

I work in a school and hate this sort of inflexible nonsense from new head teachers. SIBU. Leave if you need to,unless it would be impossible to get another job locally, paying you peanuts for a really important job!

I wouldn’t work fir her again either. They throw anyone unde4 the car when they need to save money! Enjoy your special day.

Why can’t you change the dates?

Thank you so much for your kind words. A bit of compassion goes a long way. Thank you x

Witty, I agree, I think the HT is trying to stamp her authority on a new school. Thing is, staff are incredibly loyal if their managers go out of their way to help them and reciprocate. Sounds like the op has been a great employee to this point, they are rather cutting off their nose to spite their face imo.

If you have found cover, for the period you are off. I think the new Head is being very unreasonable. Sometimes new heads want to have a clean sweep and get rid of existing staff, so any excuse will do. Maybe put it in writing explaining you have found appropriate cover for the time you are unexpectedly needing to be absent. Going sick for that period once they are aware of your plans is risky, so is calling in sick with the kids. Goodluck

All my colleagues and that’s teachers and TA’s are behind me and think the head is being too harsh but as I think they’re being biased I came on here to get your advice. I’m torn as of course I don’t want to let the children down but I also think I’m being covered so thought it would be ok. I guess I was totally wrong.

I don't think you should resign, nor should you accept her response
Is there an appeals process? Do you have a union rep?
What if you were sick??? Surely they have a back up plan

Thank you, going sick is what nearly everyone’s told me to do, even the deputy! But I can’t lie it’s just not me.

Lots of issues at play here but I'm wondering why your DP isn't aware of the 'no term time holidays' rule given you've worked in a school for a decade? Surely it's come up in conversation when booking your holidays?

I think regardless of where you work, you DP needed to check you could get the leave before he laid out such an expense. I mean did he check everyone else can get time off or did he just book it and hope for the best?

Slightly off topic but I'll assume it's a typo that you were off for 6 months? 6 months in 10 years is a horrific amount of time to be off. I know you we're injured but that was a long absence.

I do think it's a but harsh given its unpaid leave and you have cover, but I guess the line has to be drawn somewhere?

If you can afford to resign and want to then go ahead, seems a shame if you are generally happy in the job? Could you reduce the trip to a week? Or even 5 days and then put it to the headteacher again? (I assume HT knows you have cover?)

Yes I wondered wether to contact the union but wanted to see if anyone on here has been through the same process first