In a tiny primary school how many days should a headteacher teach?

[Swift1234]

My children's primary school now only has 50 children. Was 75+ when my eldest started but due to low birth rate and the head teacher upsetting lots of families it has gone down over the last 4 years after she started. She only teaches for 1.5 days a week. When I was a child in a school larger than this my headteacher had her own class. I'm trying to find out how many days headteachers teach in your children's small schools? There is talk of the school reducing to 2 classes to save money but if she was teaching more instead of getting other teachers in to cover etc the school would save lots! Id be really grateful if you could let me know how many kids at the school? How many days the head teaches? And if possible the name of the primary school. Thankyou!!

Headteachers have a much wider remit of responsibilities these days, even for a school of 50 children it will be a heavy role.

I’ve never heard of a headteacher teaching, is it that commonplace?

I've been a TA in a few different primary schools, including one small village school. I've never known or heard from colleagues of headteachers teaching unless it was last minute cover for a couple of hours. In small schools they might end up being SENCO or DSL or both so don't have time alongside their role. Also been in two SEN schools with less than 50 kids and headteachers don't teach at all.

Quite common around here for heads of small country schools to teach 2-3 days a week. It's an awfully heavy load though and I don't envy them.

My local primary school has 65 children on roll. The Head teaches French to each year group one morning a week. She is the Senco, DSL, covers all dinner duties, English and Maths leads. She’s a friend of mine and is on her knees.
The school I work in has 400+ children on roll and we have a Head, 2 Deputies and an Assistant Head, none of whom teach.

If a headteacher has 300 or 30 kids in their school they will still have the same amount of paperwork.

It’s pretty rare for heads to teach, even in very small schools. She shouldn’t be teaching more.

75 at mine and headteacher doesn’t teach. She does some SATS maths coaching for chn that need more help. She is DSL also.

I teach a small mixed age class in a primary with around 65 children.
We share a head with another school. He covers in an emergency. We also have a deputy head who covers all Ppa across both schools, is maths and phonics lead and they share the DSL role.
I lead 2 subjects across both schools. My colleague is English lead across both schools and all other teachers are part time.
We are chronically overworked, underfunded, we all go above and beyond every day, however I would never want to be a head!

There's a small school near me, around 80 children. The head doesn't teach.

What’s more important to you? A headteacher that manages the school effectively or saving money?

Your head is already teaching far too much.

It is very unusual to have a Headteacher that teaches on a regular basis due to the amount of paperwork and other duties they have.
When I started school 30+ years ago the Head taught 4 days a week in a school of 90 pupils by the time I got to Year 5 she didn't teach at all.
My DCs previous school of 200 pupils had a Head, deputy and SENCO none of whom taught unless it was a last minute cover.
Their current private school of 90 pupils the Head is also the SENCO and she will only occasionally teach if a teacher is out for training etc.

In my experience head teachers don’t teach. They cover when needed but they don’t have a regular class

I've worked in a number of primaries, and I would say the workload for a Head in a small school isn't just the same as in a big school - it's more. In a tiny school, there's often no SLT to help with the vast amount of paperwork, strategy, parental whinges etc - just no slack. In the smallest school I worked in (still bigger than yours), literally the only adults in the building who weren't tied to a classroom all day were the Head and one office manager. That meant that whatever happened during the day - from plumbing problem to child lobbing a chair round the classroom - the Head needed to deal with, in between trying to manage a staff, keep up with endless Ofsted/Local Authority demands, deliver School Improvement and generally educate children. It's relentless, and people have absolutely no idea what a massive workload it is.

Oir village school has 32 kids.....the HT does not teach. She is split between us and another rural school. I dont even recall her stepping in when a teacher was off tbh.

My children go to a bigger school, 300+ children but ever since my eldest started (now in y6) I’ve never known the head teacher to have a class, they only cover if necessary / if a supply teacher not available

When I was a child in a school larger than this my headteacher had her own class.

When you were at primary school, the job of the headteacher was very different, with the local authority fielding much of the work. But those areas have now been devolved to the headteacher. And it's very onerous stuff.

If you're making a meal from scratch, the labour isn't much different whether your making enough for one, or enough for six. The same tasks need doing. It's pretty much the same for the headteacher of a small school. Whether you have six classes or two, the work is the same. And if you're a head of a two or three class school, you have the extra stress involved in desperately trying to keep the school viable and in existence.

You make very good points, which I should have included, too.

My dc’s first primary had 110 kids and the head didn’t teach beyond emergency cover, the neighbouring school had 50 kids and the head covered each classroom for prep non teaching time for the class teachers approx 2 hours per class plus were the senco

This seems like a really bizarre thing to be concerning yourself with?! My kids are in a junior school (so years 3 to 6 only) with a 3 form entry. Neither the headteacher nor the deputy headteacher have their own class, but they cover when needed. Maybe it’s different in a smaller school? I struggle to believe a headteacher in a school of 50 pupils has the same amount to do than in our school of 360 pupils - surely logic tells you more issues arise when you have more children?!

In Scotland head teachers seem to get responsibility for two small rural school rather than teaching. When I was young I went to a very small school 10 when I joined and the head was the only teacher, even when the role stretched to 40 the head still taught half the school full time.

My dc went to a very small school and there have been 2 heads in our time there. Neither has taught regularly, only novelty type sessions such as forest school or French.

Few years ago, but 80 (max) pupils across 2 schools. Head teacher never taught at all as far as I'm aware.

But I bet your kids school also has deputes, SENCO etc to help manage the extra issues head teachers in small school will potentially do all this.

All the small rural schools near me, of which their are many, have moved to shared non-teaching heads. Teaching head positions are unpopular and in practice not very workable. Agree with pps that running a small school is a colossal workload - I'd far rather lead one school of 240 pupils than two 60 pupil primaries. I don't think you can send your child to a small school and then be surprised if they collapse classes. Class sizes would still be smaller than many state schools.