New TA job, no breaktime.

[somedaftbugger]

New job as 1-1 TA, mainstream school. Been told today that I will be out on playground duty every morning with my 1-1 pupil, someone will bring me out a hot drink and if I need to go to the loo someone will cover me for a couple of minutes. I don't get a breaktime in lieu and am a bit disappointed as I'm mornings only and will not get to know staff if I'm never in the staffroom. Not my first job in a school by a looonggg way. Been out of schools as a sahm and I know teachers are often too busy to have a full breaktime, but no break from 9am until 12.00? Really?

Most support staff only have half an hour break at lunch time whether they are admin or TA or the caretaker or a technician role.

Good grief, as a parent of a child who requires a 1:1 I despair at the thought of someone being employed who thinks like this, mainly because it makes you sound rather inexperienced.

Have to agree with everyone else, I wouldn't expect anyone working just 3 hours to have a break from work.

Great suggestion upthread that if you are really concerned about getting to know other staff, then you could stay after you finish your paid hours - that said, no-one ever sits in the staff romm in any of the schools I've worked in, apart from the last 10mins or so of lunch break, so you'd probably have to wait.

Have you done 1:1 before? I'm amazed that you'd think that the child who needs support throughout the morning will suddenly be OK at break time

3 hours is hardly a big deal. In my new job I'll be doing 12 hour shifts with a 30 minute unpaid lunch and 1 or two 15 minute tea/loo breaks.

The job isn't designed around your social life and making sure you make friends quickly!

Yes that is perfectly standard. We don't get a break at my workplace until you have worked 4 hours. You don't need a break in a three hour shift especially if you are getting a drink brought out to you.

You don't seem to understand how important a child's 1:1 support is at unstructured times such as break.
3 hours after years as a SAHM? There are probably people ready to fill that gap if you can't manage, and who may prioritise the child over having a break. Can you really not manage all that time?
Yes, if you want to socialise then stay for lunch. Turn up a bit earlier and liaise with the class teacher about your child and the other children. It's a job, not a coffe morning.

There won't be anyone in the staff room at break anyway. You'll be more likely to have someone to chat to in the playground.

This is why I am so glad that my DD is at special school. Every moment of the school day is geared towards maximising learning opportunities. Break times are teaching times (staff go and model play skills with children and engage them in constructive play). Lunch time is teaching time (half the staff have lunch while the other half serve the children, help them with their food, encourage knife and fork skills or whatever skill they're learning. Then the other half of the staff man the playground while the first half have their lunch).

It's really not helpful to take a job where you begrudge a key part of it.

Ds's TA who worked all day with ds used to do every lunch and break with ds because really they are times when support is most needed. For lunch she would have 30 minutes after the school lunch hour when ds would be covered by another TA for those thirty minutes but she worked from 8.45 until 3.15. Obviously it was better that in the playground ds got the support of the person that knew him best and the cover TA did registration and the early afternoon when ds was in the classroom with his teacher present.
For three hours you must be joking if you think you are entitled to a break tbh. Even working 6 hours your break would have to fit the child's needs rather than your desire to socialise.

Is this your first job....of any kind?
Wondering where you got breaks before that make you so horrified at having to work for three hours.

i worked 6 hours today. no break. i did manage a quick piddle and someone brought me a tea. i didn't have time to drink it though.

but that's my job.

3 hours? why would you need a break?

lougle pretty much all schools that I have worked in have only allowed staff half an hour break at lunch time. Any socialising is done outside school hours.

When I did IT support the teachers' lunchtime was my busiest time. It was a time when teachers came to me with problems and the classrooms were empty for fixing issues. I used to have my lunch either at 11.30 or 2pm. I had an seven and hour day so legally was entitled to a break. There were some days when I had no lunch break which did cause me to faint once when I was pregnant. It is physically very hard working in a school and being on your feet all day.

Breaks for a TA will be unpaid. Yes, I agree with everyone else that it's unreasonable to expect a break if only working 3 hours, but 1:1 work with a really challenging child is fucking hard work and I don't blame the OP for being taken aback tbh. OP, wait until you are on your knees from your first month and someone brings you the magnifying glass you will need to see your pay.

Many TAs end up doing lot of unpaid over time. Often they are on contracts and never made permament. Its a mug's game working in a school.