What’s normal?

[twolittleboysonetiredmum]

I’m asking as I think I’ve lost perspective. Or so my husband thinks.
We are both full time, experienced primary teachers. Both year 6 and I’m on SLT. We have three young children who are in bed by 7:30. We both then work until approx 10pm each night except fri and Saturday. This is fairly normal right?
My husband is under a lot of pressure at work currently and is becoming resentful of the extra and says it isn’t normal to have no free time during the week.
I’m honestly not sure. Surely it isn’t just teaching that requires additional hours? (He’s talking about a different job. No idea what)
Would appreciate other primary teachers thoughts.

are the clubs paid hours

No! In our school, we are not expected to run a club all year though.

Sounds like you are running 3 clubs? Don’t. Do one. As SLT you shouldn’t be setting an example that 3 is a reasonable expectation.

Cut your marking- plan so stuff can be easily marked themselves, mark in class as you go, use stamps.

Plan minimally, use existing resources. Are you actually having to learn new material (eg maths or history)? If not, set a time (eg 2 hours), do all your planning in that time, you will get faster!

Give staff a set time you will deal with IT issues- eg Monday lunchtime, wed 3-4 (don’t use all your ppa time).

I don't think what you're doing is unusual for the first year back full time, with a (new?) SLT responsibility and a new course to teach. Next year should be better if you can keep the same responsibilities. Your DH's state of mind sounds more worrying and the whole shebang relying on getting 3 kids to sleep by 7.30 is a risk. My DD is 6 and there are nights DH is wrangling her and I'm not getting a lot done before 8. I need to get up at 6 so I can only do 1.5 hours in the evening really. I have deliberately dodged extra responsibility though! You need to think long term or you will both burn out. Learn to say no and strategically ignore. I don't necessarily agree with the advice to not take lunch and avoid social contact as those are in short supply when you have young DC. I go to choir once a week and move heaven and earth to be up to date enough to do it as it boosts my mood. I have usually made more than half the rehearsals even working 60 or 70 hours. Good luck.

OP I know this is an old thread but how is your work life balance now?

I’m not primary but I am a teacher. Your life is a mirror of mine. I do exactly the same hours and usually a Sunday night too.

That is CRAZY!! Primary school teacher here (in Ireland admittedly) I arrive in school for 8.45 (children start at 9) children finish at 2.40 and we are gone at half 3!! Sometimes I do a bit at home but it’s only about an hour max twice a week!!!

How does that work then rules - do you do all your planning and marking during the day - is there allocated time for it? Sounds amazing.

Yes rules, how does it work?

@Phineyj marking policy’s are no where near the same, we mark as we go and in class, so ✅ and it’s done! Most work is done in workbooks so not as much faffing creating worksheets for lessons etc!!
Planning, well of course we have planning, yearly planning, and term planning obvs and then we do fortnightlys. We also have monthly progress summary’s. But it’s a third of an A4 page journal per day and bulleted points for lessons per day. Our day is shorter because we only have a 10min morning break and half hour lunch.

I NEED a job in Ireland!

That sounds crazy. I am in Y6 and I work hard but not to that extreme. I do some planning on a Sunday and maybe a set of books and maybe one night during the week. I also however use twinkle and other teacher resource stuff if I need new resources and tweak accordingly. I think you need to change your mind set a little.

It shows how schools vary in expectations. I'm 3 days and work each of those 3 nights for a couple of hours. In addition I work one of my days off so I can have a free weekend.