To think the school shouldn’t have to close for the afternoon

[Autumncold]

Open evening 5-7, school closes at 12. So students miss two lessons. How would you feel about this?

I think we’re talking at cross purposes, @MrsHamlet . I’m not going to object anyway, if we are going down the road of all singing all dancing open evenings at the expense of current y11s (but still of course fining if they go on holiday) it doesn’t bode well generally.

The same way that every school that manages to stay open and prepare for them does?

after School has closed for the day, as teachers don’t finish at that time?

I’ve never heard of such a thing OP. YANBU

50% of my shifts in August finished 2 hours late (14 hours), the other 50% finished on time but with no break in the entire 12 hours. But August is our busiest, sustained, time of the year, things have calmed down a little now, it's all part of my job, not ideal but it is what it is.

Nobody is expecting you to work 14 hours everyday, surely when you started training as a teacher (or very soon in to your training) you must have been aware of the expectation to do parents evenings.

We had brilliant results, especially considering our catchment isn’t particularly affluent. They always spoke for themselves.

Never heard of this while any of my kids have been at high school.

OP I agree with you, but I have had to accept that schools seem to operate in a different world (to me at least).

I see this issue as choosing to deliver a curtailed service to clients so the school can focus on marketing.

Pupils aren't clients.

@Autumncold Well clearly I completely misunderstood, which is why I thought you were being ridiculous!

I think if you are the teacher your students are presumably well prepared so this is hopefully less of a problem than I thought it was when you were the parent.

I’ve been a teacher for over 25 years so I know what’s expected. Thanks. I will not work 14 hours without a break, if you want to then crack on, but I will not

Marketing is part of the service these days though. As has been alluded to upthread. If your school doesn’t attract the requisite numbers to be full or over subscribed it can cause lots of problems. Lack of funding which impacts the curriculum and mid year transfers of challenging pupils from other schools which can affect the ethos and discipline in the school. Marketing protects the school for the current and future intakes.

I thought the OP was a parent complaining, which is why I said they were being a presious, as I thought they were just worrying about their own yr11 and yr13 children. That is just my own poor comprehension

Look, I don’t want to get all ‘thread police’ here, there are interesting comments on both sides and I don’t even mind the more ‘robust” ones, but I haven’t time or the will for snide arguments, @carefullycourageous . Any chance you could find another thread?

You'll be a better teacher if you aren't exhausted OP.

I don’t disagree - hence why I don’t really want to be spending hours on fancy things for open evenings. Good, plain teaching is definitely what I do best, not the fancy stuff

I wasn't being snide, I made a mistake & I was just explaining my error.

I haven't anything to add anyway, the reasons why open evenings are in place are well covered on the thread.

You didn’t make ‘a’ mistake though, did you? You have been posting a lot on this thread, every single post trying to start an argument tempered with grins of delight. And TB totally H,it’s not just this thread. It’s all over MN, and I haven’t got the energy. The first page clarifies my position.

Autumncold

What are you teaching that requires almost no time to setup?

Do you not have any thoughts towards those that are not putting on elaborate displays, but have to spend time setting up a room/workshop/ kitchen/drama studio so that a decent display can be put on to show the prospective parents what goes on in the department?

@FrippEnos , I think what should be expected from teachers is what you would normally see in the department - none of which takes five hours to set up.

I don't see that as any different to marketing in a company. If a company doesn't do the marketing, it may fail and let down its current clients. It is not an excuse for curtailing the service provided.

Companies don't tend to have open evenings with 700 11 year olds and their parents trampling about. They also don't put on special displays in the same way, usually, and have actual marketing teams...

I'd be willing to bet any open events they do have are for a small number of people and not outwith normal working hours. I'd also bet all employees don't have a 3 line whip to attend having already been at work for 9 hours

What do you teach that takes almost no time to set up?
Its a simple question neatly avoided.

and in order to show what my department does over KS3 and KS4 it will take the team about 2-3 hours to set up. Two workshops, one computer room with an activity work space + several machines that will be running in the background.

All stuff that would be used by the pupils in both KS.

Just curious, but when a school closes for a half day in this kind of scenario, do the kids get marked as present on the afternoon registers or is it counted as holiday?

Doesn't really work like that anymore, though - all those shiny, new academy buildings, new computers and attractive uniforms and promises of fantastic extracurricular experiences appeal a lot. Add in a few places increasing their PAN or having a bulge year with another 6 form entry academy starting up and before you know it, your oversubscribed at Christmas becomes undersubscribed after National Offer Day when they start declining their places or worse, just not turning up in September.

Year 11 isn't going anywhere, the funding for them is coming. But Year 6 is not just what pays the salaries for next year, it determines whether the following year is going to be undersubscribed or not; it's very hard to get back on track once the numbers start dropping, as it has a knock on effect upon staffing and facilities/opportunities/attainment/etc, which future prospective parents hear about.

Results no longer speak for themselves. People want more than that.

I think we are missing the point a little by going on just about lovely displays. It's also time to rest properly, eat without getting indigestion, get changed, apply make up, and even get some fresh air. Having no real break does create a fractious and exhausted workforce. Which is a bit shit.

I'll be honest - I'd scrap the bloody things.

I teach English.

It doesn’t take three hours to set up a typical working classroom. That’s not a reasonable expectation at all.