What are my chances of being allowed to go part time? And how do I go about asking?

[MissFire]

I haven't been in post for long but I would like to go from 1.0 to 0.8 FTE.

It's a small school so there isn't much precedent for part time working.
I accepted the job on a 1.0 basis but I have had a bad bout of illness, including hospitalisation, recently which will mean I have to attend further Drs and hospital appointments.

I'm back at school but still recovering from illness and they know this, it would be useful to me to have one day a week to be able to book appointments and generally focus on getting well again.

DH and I have worked out the numbers and we can afford to do it.
I've never asked for a reduction in hours before and I don't know how to go about it.

Can anyone offer advice or experience, please?

Ask informally at first, see if there's any chance of it, and then you need to request a formal reduction in working hours, in writing. They have to reply within 28 days. From the informal discussion you may find that eg. it's not doable this academic year, but could be a possibility in September.

I'm not completely up on it all, so it would be worth googling around, and especially looking on your union website.

Primary or secondary?

Secondary noble.
Do you think that's likely to make a difference?

Depends on the school really! Can be easier to shuffle around a timetable at secondary whereas at primary they need a teacher to teach the full day you are off. If any teachers are under timetable they can pick up lessons.
But it can also mean split classes at secondary and some schools avoid that by having part time teachers in every day, just teaching random hours.

I'd informally swing it by your HOD and see what they think your chances are.

To be fair if you ask informally and get turned down I wouldn't let that be an end of it - to refuse you formally will require more of an explanation from them. Wherever your policies are stored you will find a flexible working policy. You could ask your union rep for help with the request if you wanted.

At our (secondary) school if you ask for PT then you get it - and whatever amount you wish for, 0.8, 0.65, 0.33, pretty much whatever works for you, and they will only spread it out over more days than is necessary if that's what you want. But we have loads of PT teachers so it's quite normal.

I've negotiated a reduction of hours during gained time due to exam classes leaving (basically worked FT Sept-Apr then PT Apr or May-July) in both my previous schools. It's worth asking - it's the right time of year for it.

I think it could be worth asking your union for advice also, as I feel this could come under the heading of a reasonable adjustment due to your illness, rather than simply asking for less hours.