teacher off sick AGAIN

[HeisInfuriating]

Advice please
DD new teacher this year is off sick all week.
This follows a three year pattern of her returning every Sept and then going off sick by half term. Doesn't return at all until following Sept.

Teacher has been moved year group from 6 to 4 this year so I wasn't expecting to suffer this.

In previous years a permanent supply is eventually sought.

What sickness benefits do teachers have? How can this be still happening?

I'm thinking more along the lines of when will the head act and source something permanent?

We had a job share / part time teacher at our primary school who did this. Our head couldn't get rid of the teacher. The teacher left at the end of the academic year, went to a neighbouring school and pulled the same thing again. I would have felt sorry for her if she had been genuinely poorly, but based on her behaviour and attitude it seemed more likely that she just liked being on sick leave.

It was so disruptive and unfair on the children.

Sick benefit depends on how long she has been employed

My friend went off sick at October half term and didn't return until the following September, when she taught until November before going off sick again . The difference is that she didn't return the following September as she was dead. She hadn't intended to go off sick again in the November, but then she hadn't expected the cancer to return.

Spaniel I'm sorry to hear that.
It isn't the case here, but I don't want to divulge too much about this teachers situation.

She is a long term employee of the school, I am guessing ten to fifteen years.
Mrz how does that impact?

Thank you

How do you know what the teacher is off I'll with???

Glacé I know what you mean.
There were no plans at the start of the year, think peg labels or homework folders prepped.

There has been no homework this term, no reading books sent home and this usually reasonably well behaved class has been chaos and naughty since term started. DC lost first golden time in 4 years
(secretly proud, gotta be done). But a well behaved child is joining in the chaos.

There is endless quiet reading in class, DC on 8th book now.

I guess what I mean is, the term didn't even start well planned and organised. So perhaps she had no intention of being around.

It's not been secret at school for last three years.

How do you know what the teacher is off I'll with???

I always find posts like this odd. As if no one can ever know personal details of someone else's life just because they're a teacher, and if they do then they must have got the details wrong.

OP could know the teacher personally for all we know

If it's like other public sector jobs then coming back will reset sick pay.

In the nhs I get six months full pay, six months half pay. Which is maximum allowed and you only get that after working for the nhs for six years.

But I believe if I came back for a bit after a year off sick I would then get another six months full pay, six months half pay if I went off again.

As for when the head will act I guess it varies from head to head.

But if someone has a sick note it's very hard to do anything.

Don't you have to have sick notes off your doctor, wouldn't somebody have done something by now if she wasn't ill?

Damn, why did I not know this before I handed in my resignation?

amaretto yes she could know her personally. But as she doesn't say that, I can't assume, can I?

And if the person doesn't know the teacher, then I don't see how she'd know what the reasons for absence are

The reason for absence is important

Is it stress or depression? The school my sis taught at had teacher who was given a job teaching 7-8 year old. Off sick with stress as couldn't cope by xmas. The next sept was given year 1. Same again. Off sick then gave notice. She then got a job teaching reception at another school and didn't even make it til oct half term!

DS's Y3 teacher went off sick from December till the end of the year. This happened again when she had DD (by then in Y4). It happened pretty much every year. Now DS is in year 11 and friends with DC still in that school say she's still at it! So at least 7 years! When she's there she is a very good teacher but we worked out she was there less than 50% of the time most years. And it's very disruptive for the DC.

It's not been mental anxiety type illness in the previous three years.

How many 'weeks' would needed to be worked before sick pay kicks in again?

I expect she is on a high pay grade meaning six months half in addition to six full would still be a tidy sum compared to a nqt

I really can't see what you aim to get from this thread. We don't know the teacher or why they have been signed off. I can understand taking your concerns about the impact this is having on the class to a meeting with the Head. It's not unreasonable to expect good standards of behaviour and hw set.
FWIW after nearly 20 years the job made me so sick with depression that my eldest child feared I might kill myself. (Happy to say that was never going to happen.) I think if your health prevents you doing the job long term then you should leave. As I had to.

My fils best friend did this.
He was a teacher and was signed off with "stress"
During this time he was on full pay (used to brag about it) and helped his wife set up her own business.
When he couldn't get away with it anymore he took early retirement on a good pension.
Nice work if you can get it.

Wolfe...yes.
My dear friend left teaching in July.
It was the right thing to do, it was making her ill.

Two of my DCs had this with a teacher who had terrible back problems requiring numerous surgeries and recuperation time. Eventually the school found a good sub, on standby. The back problems were finally fixed and all was well for a year and a half. Then same teacher got pregnant, had to go on bedrest, and the school found the previous good sub had got herself a permanent job. So they hired the daughter of the secretary, who had a degree in music education, and the class languished.

What is wrong with the teacher doesn't matter.

What matters is why the school can't find a good sub.

They can redeploy. They can challenge multiple absences over a long period of time as capability. It can be done.

Perhaps there is more going on that you aren't aware of?

I am a teacher. If my child was in a class like you describe, I would be asking to meet the Head in order to know what was happening - what school were doing about it. Whether the teacher is ill or not, ultimately someone should be teaching those children effectively and the school needs that in place.

Who is covering currently?

This is spot on:

What is wrong with the teacher doesn't matter.

What matters is why the school can't find a good sub.

You are entitled to less sick benefit when you first start teaching and it increases with year's employed up to 20 weeks benefit.
As others have said the teacher will need a doctors certificate and after so many weeks (varies slightly ) the teacher will asked to attend a medical.

Why not write to the BofG expressing your concerns?