Can anyone explain the staggered school start please

[notevenat20]

What exactly is happening with secondary school in January? I read that children will go back on the 4th online and the 11th in person. Is that right? Is this for all schools including private schools? If DC are going to be tested between 4 and 11 January where will this be? Or will it happen after 11 jan when they are back at school? Generally confused...

Parents and staff received an email from the head this afternoon, full of caveats that things rapidly change.

The plan at the moment is that only Y11 and 13 come in for lessons in the first week, and any Y12 with exams come in just for the exam.

Our inset day on the 4th will be given over to staff and volunteer training.

I'm confused by this pay talk. I don't understand why some people think being promoted would result in less holiday - as in why would a head have less holiday than SLT. I don't think that's how it works with other employers

It is in my experience. My friends on 100k are basically available to their employer all the time. That's not to say they work all the time but it is not rare for them to work evenings and weekends and sometimes even on holiday.

My friends on 25k definitely would not put up with that.

There is a reason it's called compensation.

But heads are literally being required to contact trace til Christmas Eve and now to organise volunteers and a space for mass swabbing programme in zero schools days OP. The government is supposed to ahve put billions into these things.

Is that how you want schools to operate?

Is that how you want schools to operate?

I don't quite understand the question. Is the contact tracing emailing parents if there is a report of a case from this week? Or is it something else?

I do think that mass testing is a good idea if it's done well. Cambridge university to have done an amazing job and I wish the govt would copy them as far as possible.

We have been through this on another thread.

...seems to have done....

@MPolsted

Our school won’t be doing any tests. They don’t have the time to sort out the logistics. I fully support them. We got a letter today.

That is fair enough depending on the cases in your area.

In my area it would be reckless. Our school has had home test kits to hand out to staff already. The school knows it doesn't matter who does the kids as much as the fact they need doing. That doesn't mean whoever that it should be the staff but if they want the school to stay open no choice.

In my sisters area that is green leafy and full of sheep however they have barely any cases. Therefore it is more acceptable to say we won't organise this.

@ineedaholidaynow

I’m going 11pm on 3rd for the latest guidance, and then someone in DfE will spot an error in the guidance and will issue a revised one at 9.30am on the 4th

And realise at 10am that it wasn’t an error after all and recall the revised version, subsequently sending out Brexit-related Customs guidance by mistake.

it seems the mean ranges from 79k to 101k depending on how old you are. I would guess from this that quite a lot are on over 100k

That’s a weird conclusion to draw from the data.

Ranges for Headteachers

GROUP RANGE OF SPINE POINTS
SALARY RANGE
(1 SEPT 2019 TO 31 AUG 2020)
SALARY RANGE
(1 SEPT 2020 TO 31 AUG 2021)
1 L6 – L18 £46,457 - £61,808 £47,735 - ££63,508
2 L8 – L21 £48,808 - £66,517 £50,151 - £68,347
3 L11 – L24 £52,643 - £71,590 £54,091 - £73,559
4 L14 – L27 £56,579 - £77,048 £58,135 - £79,167
5 L18 – L31 £62,426 - £84,976 £64,143 - £87,313
6 L21 – L35 £67,183 - £93,732 £69,031 - £96,310
7 L24 – L39 £72,306 - £103,334 £74295 - £106,176
8 L28 – L43 £79,748 - £114,060 £81,942 - £117,197

(source: www.nasuwt.org.uk/advice/pay-pensions/pay-scales/england-pay-scales.html)

OP, what year are your DC? And is it state or private?
State secondary here, tier 2. I’ve got email from DD’s school that we only need report positive tests up to Tuesday 22nd.
Year 11 and 13, key workers DC and vulnerable DC are back as planned. All others (years 7,8,9,10,12) are back on 11th.
The email says they are going to set up testing of contacts but not details yet, it focuses on details about online learning.

I’ve got feeling from the guidance that schools are encouraged to do mass testing on return back but could opt not to do this. So I wonder if our school decided not to.

And I don’t know our head’s salary but she’s heavily underpaid this year, it’s for certain.

It is in my experience. My friends on 100k are basically available to their employer all the time. That's not to say they work all the time but it is not rare for them to work evenings and weekends and sometimes even on holiday.

It's not rare for any teachers to work during evenings, weekends and holidays, but they're not 'available to their employer' then, because school is closed. Schools do not operate in the same way as most other workplaces. But I'm sure there are also lots of other jobs where people get paid largish salaries without being available to their employers 24/7, 365 days a year. It sounds almost as though you're suggesting that headteachers don't deserve their salary unless they are.

@bornatXmastobequiet

I was quoting the spreadsheet which gives mean salaries per age range. The information you quoted is not from actual data

But I'm sure there are also lots of other jobs where people get paid largish salaries without being available to their employers 24/7, 365 days a year. It sounds almost as though you're suggesting that headteachers don't deserve their salary unless they are.

There may be, I don’t know. But yes I am suggesting that if you are paid a lot of money you should expect not to follow a strict 9-5 work day.

And I don’t know our head’s salary but she’s heavily underpaid this year, it’s for certain.

Primary or secondary?

I’ve got feeling from the guidance that schools are encouraged to do mass testing on return back but could opt not to do this. So I wonder if our school decided not to.

We got an email from DCs secondary head saying they would email on December 29 with information about what they will do. I think they just don’t know currently.

No teacher works a 9-5 day. Not one. How difficult is it to grasp that most people in leadership haven't had a break since February Half term.
More to the point this is not on. Schools are hearing about these things from 'leaks' to the press. This is no way to govern a country at the best of times let alone now.
This hasn't taken them by surprise they have been trialing it. And they knew the impact of Christmas easing would be increased cases.
Well, I say that but Dido Harding didn't seem to grasp that September's return would lead to more cases.
But more to the point why the heck are schools being asked to do this for no money when the DfE's own staff are being offered £1k bonuses to work on the same project over Christmas!

The Head at secondary mist certainly deserves £100k plus hope he’s on it. I could also sense the weariness in last email. Feel for him a lot. So tough

I feel so sorry for headteachers who have pretty much been working non-stop since March to accommodate the Govt's endless 11-hour decrees. My DC's old primary head (mine moved to secondary in Sept) worked all through Easter, all through May half term and through most of the summer. Now they've got to deal with this, announced at the end of a week where the DfE had threatened to sue schools for trying to do this exact thing they now have to do in Jan.

Anyhow, new school has emailed to say there is an inset day on Jan 4 and then the kids will be home learning for four days, then returning physically on Jan 11.

11th-hour, I meant!

[quote notevenat20]@bornatXmastobequiet

I was quoting the spreadsheet which gives mean salaries per age range. The information you quoted is not from actual data[/quote]
It’s actual pay scales, you numpty.

And it’s clear that you don’t understand the concept of mean average.

@MarshaBradyo teacher pay scales
www.nasuwt.org.uk/advice/pay-pensions/pay-scales/england-pay-scales.html#Ranges%20for%20Headteachers

No teacher works a 9-5 day. Not one. How difficult is it to grasp that most people in leadership haven't had a break since February Half term

Yes I know! And for those on 20k or 30k that's really tough.

That’s a really bizarre attitude. It’s tough for everyone who works those sort of hours and shouldn’t be ok in any industry.

But yes I am suggesting that if you are paid a lot of money you should expect not to follow a strict 9-5 work day. Do you think Heads will be at peak performance if they have been working long days with no holidays since February?

NHS staff are getting paid loads of overtime and still having days off, I know as DIL and DS have told me they have never been so well off.

I think there is some sort of agenda for how schools and teachers are being treated, on the one hand they are so essential but on the other they just don't matter.