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!!

@ILoveLeopard245 I do not recognise that model in England. 1 teacher and an emergency, you would have to close the school and, in an emergency, you could of course use a TA equivalent! In England it’s fairly normal to do this or the Head knows a supply teacher. Lots of small schools know several supply teachers who can come in. This is what they do if there’s sickness. It’s not easy to manage but they do and they don’t get loads of emergencies either!

Yes @MeetMeOnTheCorner I find it really interesting hearing the differences across parts of the UK. It sounds like there’s perhaps a wee bit more infrastructure/staffing availability in some areas than what I experienced out in the back of beyond here. All the joys of rural life I suppose! Brilliant when things are going smoothly, a bit more complicated at other times perhaps.

@ILoveLeopard245I think truly remote schools being unique challenges. Most rural schools have a network for help. The heads know each other and there’s certainly a community surrounding the schools.

My DCs school is in a federation with one other school (used to be two but one got taken one by a MAT). In our federation the schools are separate - they have their own governors & PTAs. Our Head is the executive head of the other school. So that’s not how our federation works. I’m chair of the PTA & we don’t share or are responsible for the other school; but the schools do often go on trips together & share SENCO & admin resources.
Whilst we only have two classes (split by KS) with one teacher in each we do have 2 TAs in both classes too (not 1-2-1s) so they can take over in an emergency/PPA time. The Head only teaches when she wants to or really needs too (she did some when one teacher left mid-school year to cover until the supply teacher came).