To think some teachers are getting away with all sorts with no way of challenging them??

[RedEyePen]

Mainly SLT! So today my ‘high needs’ son who the school tried to off roll had a head bump. On the way back from A and E I bumped into the Head getting her weekly shop in the supermarket. During school time. She didn’t seem stressed at all! Just getting her shopping in. V happy to interrogate my son as to why he wasn’t in school. Head and non teaching SENCO are always in the playground chatting every morning, yet can’t do any of my son’s paperwork without - at worst - an 8 months delay because they are ‘snowed under’.
I also work in a school where planning meetings, courses, computer based admin trumps : actually attending to the children’s needs.
AIBU??

Maybe she's snatching a quick 40 mins now because she has a parent comping in later, at their convenience and will still need to run that errands before her own child's nursery closes at six. Clearly you have an issue with this school. Your sons high needs are irrelevant to the point you are making and your snipe that meetings etc take priority over childrens' needs suggest you don't understand what it takes to keep a school running and meet all the requirements and standards. We'd all love to bin off a load of pointless admin but teachers have to operate in the system they are handed by successive, statistics and evidence obsessed governments. I highly doubt there are kids in crisis in a corridor outside a meeting while a teacher flips through paperwork. 🙄

@RhaenysRocks

I’ve seen her browsing in there before during school time. She doesn’t have children. The high needs point is relevant because they say they can’t meet lawful regulation requirements because they are too busy. I do have an issue with the school.

Yay, another teacher-bashing thread.

You have no idea why she was out of school or how her contracted hours work.
So YABVU just to assume she was skiving.

There's no doubt they are snowed under with paperwork, every single school is, and YABVU to suggest that the playground " chatting" is time wasting . How do you know they are not discussing something important?

And why is it relevant that she doesn't have children????

If you're so at odds with this school, maybe you should try another.

Because another poster suggested that she might.

You don’t think a head teacher, who doesn’t teach, should be able to get her shopping in at a time that suits her best, or have a chat with a colleague when they’re standing next to each other? Why not? Do those rules apply to people in other jobs?

Maybe she was doing her shopping during the day because she would be seeing parents and answering never ending e-mails until at least 7 30pm.

@RedEyePen that was a random example...maybe she has caring responsibilities for a parent or some other commitment later which is being displaced by some school business out of what you perceived to be her working hours. Whatever. I get the frustration of parenting an SEN child, I have one, but to suggest that they are just sacking off work for a mooch round the shops is a reach. Do you work? Do you not ever leave your desk with tasks still pending? How would you feel if a client slagged you off for buying groceries?

Teachers are allowed to do a food shop. Even though they aren't in school now, they probably started at 6am and will likely do more work at home this evening.

She could have been buying stocks for school/ staff room.

As a teacher, I often nip to the local supermarket on my lunch break as it’s so much quieter than than battling it on my way home from work. Not quite sure how I would react if I found out a parent took umbrage to this!!

Also it is very common for SLT to stand on the playground in the morning as pupils come in. Just showing their faces, welcoming children/families as they walk by. Would you prefer them to stand in silence than chat to each other? They probably use it as an opportunity to catch up on school related things. You may not see it that way but this 10/15minutes or so they stand out there each morning is actually part of their job. Not a case of “they should be inside doing paperwork.”

Ummm yeah, I would think it does apply to most jobs 😂

I don't know anyone who wanders out of work to go food shopping, do you?

OP I don't think this is typical at all of most teachers. I work in healthcare and I find teachers go to great lengths to have appointments scheduled for outside of their working days, were as most other people comment they're happy to miss work 🤣 I think it would be very rare to see a teacher skiving like this. But like all occupations I'm quite sure there's the odd one!

Plenty of people in salaried as opposed to hourly wage jobs are trusted to organise their own time.

Maybe she needs to get a delivery like the rest of us plebs.

There's a big difference between 'organising your time' and heading out of school to buy groceries, going home and putting them etc 😂 I'm sorry, but that's absolutely not normal or acceptable. I'm not saying this even happened, I'm just saying let's not pretend it's OK if it did.

Hmm. I don’t know why teachers are so ‘protected’ - do they never, ever, ever do questionable things? Other professions potentially skive and shirk. But never teachers….

Yes. Every single person who has the kind of job where much of it you can do whenever you like as long as it gets done. Alongside non-negotiable meetings etc which are set.

And it’s part of an overall pattern I’d say…

When I worked in school, I had no qualms about using some of my ppa to do life admin because I used so much of my free time doing work stuff. I just saw it as time management.

TBH I see an Animal Farm mentality in a lot of schools. TA’s do the brunt of the hard work while the Heads are in a shop!

When I worked in a school I did my shopping at about 10pm!

You have no idea of the reasons the head was shopping when you saw her, so you are not in a position to judge for that. It’s good for SLT to be visible at drop off and pick ups.

You’re not wrong about admin and tasks that tick boxes often taking priority over children’s needs but in my experience, it’s not fair to blame the teachers for that. Especially not the ones who work directly with your child.

I recently had a mammogram in the middle of the day as my A-level class had exams and no cover was needed. On my way to the car, I bought a Tesco meal deal for lunch. Hope that's ok with you.