👩‍🏫 How much do schools pay for PPA cover

[CathyTurnbull]

I’m sorry this is not AIBU, I’m posting as I know a lot of teachers and head teachers use this forum and was hoping for some advice?

I wondered how schools cover PPA time? Do they use a supply teacher to look after the class? I was thinking about contacting schools with a view to covering teachers PPA time (I assume this is weekly) by looking after the children for an hour or so by delivering a creative arts project. I was thinking of working with younger (foundation phase) children.

Would schools be willing to pay about £40 (per week) for this service? I’m in the North of England if area makes a difference.

Nowadays they use TAs to cover it

What about offering as after school paid for club?

Teaching Assistants cover it in my LA. They don't have the money to pay for cover staff.

I am a headteacher - I would definitely be interested in something like this as long as you were able to be in charge of 30 children and had a clear plan of activities so we could see how this supports the curriculum.
In my school some PPA is covered by teachers and some by experienced and capable Teaching Assistants. I think I would assume that you would so your arts work with a TA with you. I would also want you to leave everything spick and span for the class teacher to be able to come into their room the next day (sorry if this sounds a bit patronising but it is amazing how some staff don't always do this).
Your charge would be in the same rough area as the cost of a Teaching Assistant so a reasonable charge and a good opportunity for the children. Go for it!

Unless you are qualified teacher/HLTA the answer will be no. Schools can’t let just anyone come in and teach children. PPA time is still part of those children’s education. Have you any experience of working with children? Especially 30 at a time? EY are very challenging and require expert staff, don’t think that just because they are young, they are easy or time can just be filled with anything. An after school club is a possibility.

Do you have dbs?

@mnistooaddictive

Unless you are qualified teacher/HLTA the answer will be no. Schools can’t let just anyone come in and teach children. PPA time is still part of those children’s education. Have you any experience of working with children? Especially 30 at a time? EY are very challenging and require expert staff, don’t think that just because they are young, they are easy or time can just be filled with anything. An after school club is a possibility.

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@Butteredtoast55

I am a headteacher - I would definitely be interested in something like this as long as you were able to be in charge of 30 children and had a clear plan of activities so we could see how this supports the curriculum. In my school some PPA is covered by teachers and some by experienced and capable Teaching Assistants. I think I would assume that you would so your arts work with a TA with you. I would also want you to leave everything spick and span for the class teacher to be able to come into their room the next day (sorry if this sounds a bit patronising but it is amazing how some staff don't always do this). Your charge would be in the same rough area as the cost of a Teaching Assistant so a reasonable charge and a good opportunity for the children. Go for it!

That’s a lovely response, thank you! Yes I’d definitely tidy up afterwards!

TA's cover at my school and most other schools I know. Cheaper and children know them; therefore more consistent.

I think a lot of schools would be able to afford that but the question is more whether you'd be suitable for the role. Experience? Qualifications? Skills? A creative project with foundation stage sounds ambitious (it would be chaos) and they don't normally learn whole class (around where I live in the SE). Perhaps more realistic to start as an after school /lunch time club (parents could pay)

Classes can't be left alone without a teacher or HLTA so you wouldn't be saving them any money as such, but you never know, they might be interested in it as an additional thing. Though as a teacher, we already do arts and crafts and suchlike, weaved into the curriculum.

@mnistooaddictive

Unless you are qualified teacher/HLTA the answer will be no. Schools can’t let just anyone come in and teach children. PPA time is still part of those children’s education. Have you any experience of working with children? Especially 30 at a time? EY are very challenging and require expert staff, don’t think that just because they are young, they are easy or time can just be filled with anything. An after school club is a possibility.

Oh of course I realise that schools don’t allow anyone in!

I have 25 years experience of working with children in school environments mainly as a peri. Am fully DBS checked, have a degree, teaching certificate and performance diploma, however as a result of the pandemic have been out of work for over a year and now schools are opening back up I’m looking for a way forward career wise.

Lots of schools cover their PPA with sports coaches, who aren't teachers, or with music specialists so I don't see why art would be any different.

Teachers get 10% of their time as PPA and most full time teachers have an afternoon which is approximately two and a half hours. So if I were you I'd pitch two options of either one session of an afternoon of two sessions for two different classes in one afternoon. Then a school could cover two classes PPA with you and a TA in rotation.

You would need to tie in your lessons with the National Curriculum. They will each need a learning objective.

Where I live a supply agency charges a school £200 a day for a supply teacher. £100 for half a day.

Do you have experience in engaging 30+ children and behaviour management? That would be my main concern as a head teacher. Some schools do use outside specialists to cover PPA. Lots of schools use sports specialist for an hour for a class then swap with someone else for another hour - although it is quite often a HLTA. But we have used yoga teachers and music teachers in the past. Where I've seen it not work is where the specialist is not able to manage the class (take register, transitions between rooms, managing challenging behaviour and SEN needs). When you constantly need SLT to pop in to sort behaviour or put an extra TA in the room, it ends up being completely pointless in having someone come in to cover the class.

Then in addition to this, do you know the foundation stage curriculum? Are you able to write a scheme of work? Would you be able to adapt a scheme of work to fit in with the topics covered by the class? Are you confident in assessing the children against the early years goals?

For your reference a qualified supply teacher will get around £150 for a full day direct with the school, around £100 through an agency. A TA will get a lot less.

I used to work in education, one school paid TAs £5 an hour and the other didn't pay them at all.

@LooseLipsSinkShips

Lots of schools cover their PPA with sports coaches, who aren't teachers, or with music specialists so I don't see why art would be any different.

Teachers get 10% of their time as PPA and most full time teachers have an afternoon which is approximately two and a half hours. So if I were you I'd pitch two options of either one session of an afternoon of two sessions for two different classes in one afternoon. Then a school could cover two classes PPA with you and a TA in rotation.

You would need to tie in your lessons with the National Curriculum. They will each need a learning objective.

Where I live a supply agency charges a school £200 a day for a supply teacher. £100 for half a day.

That’s interesting about the possibility of doing two classes in a rotation thank you

I'm a languages teacher and I teach French/Spanish in several primary schools during the other teachers' ppa time. Often schools seem to have a music teacher, a PE teacher and an MFL teacher all coming in on the same afternoon each week and they rotate between the different classes. The ones I work for pay about £25 an hour.

@SarsonsWine

I used to work in education, one school paid TAs £5 an hour and the other didn't pay them at all.

Well, that's not legal.

£40 for an hour is a lot more than a UPS3 teacher earns.

In my school Tas do it all.

UPS 3 teachers earn £213.35 a day outside of London. Supply wages are on average about £130 a day. And or course no holiday pay, sick pay, maternity etc.

https://neu.org.uk/advice/supply-teachers-pay-conditions-and-working-time

For us, PPA time is covered by a mixture of TAs, teachers or SLT who don’t have classroom responsibility full time and sports coaches.

@LooseLipsSinkShips I wasn't clear £5 on top of their standard salary in one and just their standard salary in the other.

I'm not a teacher but I think the issue would be fitting your lesson in around a sequenced and well thought out curriculum. At the school that I'm a chair of govs, each subject lead has a mapped out curriculum. I'd expect any external provision to either provide similar, or be able to provide to the curriculum. Schools' curriculum needs to be tailored to the school, so do consider these aspects when pitching to the school.

What kind of teaching certificate? Do you have QTS? If so then you could charge half a day's supply which is around £60 for an afternoon.