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!!

My DC attend a very small rural primary with a current role of just under 50 - it’s a 2 class school split by KS. The head does not teach unless in an emergency, & the head is also executive head of our sister school so doesn’t have the time to teach.

oh & whilst there is a falling birth rate nationally, it’s not evenly spread. We’ve had 5 new students start in different year groups over the past couple of months. Lots of new houses have been & continue to be built locally & some other local primaries are now oversubscribed.

Head teachers are up to their eyes in paperwork stats, meetings etc. It is rare for them to also teach a class.

Agree.

Op wanted us all to name the schools we are referring to. I assume @Swift1234 you want to complain for some reason and go in with a list of schools where head teachers all teach to justify your opinion. Good luck.

Why don’t you name the school you’re talking about if that’s what you are expecting posters who reply to you to do, @Swift1234!?

I wonder if the head of your school could guess who you are without you doing so though 😂

Oh I bet they could. This op is beyond THAT parent. God forbid little Tarquin has to share a classroom with that commoner Annabelle next term - the head should be working 90 hour weeks to ensure precious T can continue the tiny class size he’s been privileged to have so far.

I wouldn't have thought it was a headteacher's job to teach. I mean sometimes it can be sure.
I don't think my child's headteacher taught no.

When I was young our headmaster (they were rarely women) never taught. He wouldn't even cover in an emergency but got supply or expected my mother to give up her SEN pupils to cover. He rarely left his office but went to the Rotary Club lunch every Monday and never came back in the afternoon.

These days there's a lot of paperwork being a head - safeguarding, behavioural issues, SEN.. our head was more like a social worker..

I think it depends what else the head is taking on. E.g. is the a SENCo or does that fall to head too?

That said, IME, even in larger schools, heads are doing some teaching these days - and the best ones do it because they enjoy it.

I work with the boards of five schools. One tiny primary where the head doesn't teach because she literally does everything else, there are no other staff except an admin and the class teachers. 2 medium sized primaries where the heads both teach 2 days, a 800 pupil secondary where the head teaches 2 classes, and a large secondary where the head doesn't teach, but has "executive" responsibilities at other schools.

A non teaching head with only 50 dc is a total luxury! Of course 50 must be only 2 classes - how can they afford 3 teachers and a head? Just not possible. Conversely it very normal for deputy heads and assistant heads to teach in a schooL of 400 dc. I’ve never seen one with 4 non teaching SLT. Some schools must be rolling in it. That’s probably £300,000 worth of management!

In most schools the head doesn’t teach at all. Obviously a 50 child school is different but I think should want them to be teaching as little as possible.

I went to 3 primary schools about 1000 years ago - head didn’t teach
The school my dc went to more recently (youngest is Y9 now) - head didn’t teach
The school SiL teaches in - head didn’t teach

Our school is under 50 kids, 2 classes and the head teaches a few lessons a week so the other teachers can plan and get ontop of admin. The head teaching won’t stop the school going to 2 classes if the numbers are below 50 for sustained periods. It’s also not that bad if you’ve got teachers used to teaching composite classes. Change is hard but it’ll be ok

When heads in tiny schools don’t teach, a vast amount of budget is spent on staff. It’s about time these tiny schools federated with one head. The cost is huge and contributes to lack of money in all schools. How can a head of only 50 dc just be a head all day? They simply don’t have the volume of work other heads do!

And what are you intending to do with the information about other schools' operational logistics? It won't change anything at yours and nor should it. You sound like a trouble-maker and you wouldn't be allowed within a country mile of my school to become a spy "helping parent."

Well, this one isn’t head 5 days a week for a start-they are already teaching 1.5 of that.

It also wouldn’t surprise me if they are also SENCo, in charge of teaching and learning, assessment, trips, DSL, students, ECT mentor, literacy and phonics coordinator as well, as they are out of class. All of these roles would be shared out amongst other staff members in a bigger school.

@Shinyandnew1Even in a small school, the head doesn’t have to do all of that. Often job shares are engaged and responsibility is shared as far as possible. Of course the other aspect is far fewer dc needing SENDCO expertise. However my strong view is that far more schools should federate. I’ve seen this work amazingly well but this should now be a requirement to save money. The minimum head receives is nearly £60,000 plus on costs. There are huge savings available if small schools federate.

Our village infants has around 50 on roll (16 in reception) and HT has her own class. I thought this was normal for village schools? Seems to be around here.

@FernandoSor It is in some areas - or head is teaching part time. You can see the huge cost attached to not teaching. If I was a parent at a 50 roll school and being continually asked for money because the school cannot make ends meet, I would truly want to see benchmarking and the finance details! I would expect urgent action taken.

we have 65 at our school but the head teacher doesn’t teach at all, not even if another teacher is unexpectedly absent.

Right, there are 4 teachers (including the HT), 3 TAs, 2 dinner ladies and a caretaker. That's the total staff for the school so hardly a heavy management workload that would necessitate a non-teaching head.

OP seems clear she dislikes this head and is obviously looking for further ammunition to criticise her.

You clearly have no idea of what the headteacher role is. It's not just managing the staff. In fact that's probably one of the things that takes the smallest proportion of her time.

The focus is the kids, the parents, the curriculum, attainment, responsibility for a subject or SEND, but most of all, the budget, including salaries, building, maintenance, resources, utilities and reporting to government and OFSTED, and governance. Most of those things were the responsibility of the LA back when headteachers taught. Or, like OFSTED, simply weren't there as responsibilities.

It's pretty shocking to find that there's someone out there who thinks that the head's sole job is to manage their staff.

@FernandoSor As others have said, the workload is far more than managing staff. However there’s a huge cost to staff and the head does not do much regarding salaries. They are dictated by agreements and staff appointed on salary points. The vast majority of expenditure is staffing. With 50 dc, 3 full time staff is a luxury. That’s private school size classes. 2 Ftes would make more sense. It’s not easy being a small school head but it’s ludicrous these schools are managed as they are - economies of scale would be sensible and provide more money for educating dc.

Wowsers times have changed. When I was at primary school in the 80s my school had approx 750 pupils in 8 year groups. Two head teachers (who didn’t teach) two deputies who both taught a class full time. And very few teaching assistants. I don’t recall more than about 5 TA’s at anytime across the whole school tbh. Different times!