School Secretary Dreading Return to School

[bingandflop]

Hi all

I work as a PT school secretary and am absolutely dreading going back to work next week.

My colleague who was also in the school office left last October and they did find a replacement but the replacement was not employed for as many hours as previous colleague.

The workload since then has been completely untenable, I am PT but work many, many hours unpaid overtime. I find the stress and responsibility levels really high for the pay rate.

At the end of the last school year the HT and my office colleague left.

I am stressed by the workload, and will undoubtedly make a catastrophic mistake at some point as theres not enough time. I check work emails from home, wake in the middle of the might worrying about things.

Drove past the school the other day and my stomach turned over. I dont think that's normal... we could survive on my OH salary but wouldn't have any niceties.

I totally appreciate having a term time only job as I have young children, everyone thinks my job is really cushy, maybe u just need to pull myself together!

I am seriously debating whether to just quit and retrain. Have been job seeking for months but can never find anything remotely suitable. Have applied for a few but hear nothing back,except one interview which I did not get.

Sorry for the whinge, just need a sounding burglars I think.

Many thanks to anyone who has taken the time to read this!

Name change, 6 & 8. That's very kind, I begin to think it's not worth it, no. There aren't many suitable part time roles where I live, after school childcare is limited and expensive which is a big part of my issue in terms of finding something else

The worst that can happen? I don’t think most people realise the incredibly serious things that go through most school offices. It’s often the small things that get picked up by admin staff that can change the course of children’s lives. Neglect, DV, abuse, medical conditions, liaison with police, social services, child protection. All the forgotten kits, lunches, musical instruments. The separated parents who don’t speak, the absent parent with a court order trying to pick up a child. The children who’ve wet themselves, those waiting to be collected because they’re ill. That’s before all the trip arrangements, the registers, club letters, the photocopying, the HT’s diary, the governors meeting, parents evening, assemblies, census, transition days, newsletters etc etc etc.

I've worked in a school office. And in a classroom. I'm trained in safeguarding. None of things you mention mean that someone has to work unpaid hours.

OP simply cannot manage the workload so it's reasonable to not expect her to. Just priortise within your working hours OP and do what you can. The senior managers are paid to deal with the fallout, not you.

No I agree, those hours should absolutely be paid for. The OP is paid part-time hours for what sounds like a full time role.

You need to woman up and work only the hours you are paid for. Tell the HT that the workload is impossible and you need the HT to tell you what is to be prioritised and what is to be left undone. Take a lunch break, go home when your paid hours end and don't read emails at home. Otherwise you will (continue to be) taken advantage of.

@bingandflop

Hope it goes OK for you

@bingandflop

And yes it is such a stressful job - I previously worked in an accounts dept - call centre & tele sales dept & none of those were as bad

people wouldn't be paid overtime on time, census would not be done on time, SAT results would not be sent to gvt on time

This sentence really stood out to me. Why, as a secretary, do you think you are responsible for making sure any of those things get done on time? I can understand that the Head might request you do the work, which is fair enough, if you have time, but the ultimate responsibility as to whether those jobs get done, is for the Head to worry about not you - they get paid an awful lot more money that you, and most of that money is to worry about these very things

I know it's hard, but decide to start afresh with the new Head, and be very firm about only working your hours and always taking a lunch break. If you don't have time to do stuff, tell the Head in good time, and leave them to sort the problem out. If they get arsey, be strong and ignore it! They are not a good Head, if they're trying to push their responsibilities onto you.

OP you need to stick to your hours. Do the most important jobs and if stuff doesn't get done that isn't your burden to bear. Nothing will change if you keep working for free.

People will only value your time if you stop handing it out for free.

Thanks everyone. I am not a very confident person, but will spea to the new head on my return.

Thank you all for replying, I was prepared to be told I am being silly, but you have made me feel more confident and affirmed what I thought, that my situation isn't normal or sustainable. I honestly feel less alone due to this thread

On another note, please excuse my numerous typos... you must think I am the worst school sec in the world based on my mobile phone typing abilities 😂🙈

*people wouldn't be paid overtime on time, census would not be done on time, SAT results would not be sent to gvt on time

This sentence really stood out to me. Why, as a secretary, do you think you are responsible for making sure any of those things get done on time?*

Those things are definitely admin tasks, headteachers in my experience don’t deal with overtime returns. BUT I agree that OP shouldn’t be doing unpaid overtime. I work an average of an hour per day unpaid because I arrive early and don’t often get to have lunch but any extra on top of that I get paid for.

@BuggerOffAndGoodDayToYou Those things are definitely admin tasks

I know they are, and as I said in my previous post, the secretary i.e. the OP should be doing it, not the Head, obviously! However, she is not RESPONSIBLE for whether those jobs actually get done or not - that's for the Head to worry about. On a secretary pay, her responsibility is to work as hard as she can on the stuff the Head tells her to do. Then, if she doesn't have time to finish, she is also responsible for telling the Head in good time. But from that point on, it's the Head's job to have sleeplessness nights over who is going to do those jobs if the OP has run out of time.

Isn't overtime stuff, i.e. stuff to do with pay ultimately down to the bursar? Is there a bursar at your school?

I think it is easier to say don’t do the extra stuff until you’re in that position. I am a teacher and I am dreading going back too, always takes over my whole life, never enough time for my own kids and always doing extra stuff although I am part time I am actually full time. The pressure is crazy but yet again I can’t find other part time hours and find it so difficult to say no. So I understand where you’re coming from OP. I think people think working in schools is easy but it’s high stress level and literally anything happens within a second.

OP you're definitely not alone. I covered a term in our school office last year and was in tears most nights. It's a VERY high stress job for little pay.

Glad you're going to speak to the new head- I would advise (although it's a pain) having a notepad and detailing in bullet point every job you do on a daily/weekly basis so you can show evidence that there's too much to fit into the hours.

I was definitely expected to do more, put in free hours, take on extra responsibilities. Not only 'expected' but actually asked. I said no. Guess what? They hired extra staff.

If it's important and it needs doing, they will pay someone to do it. But not if you are already doing it for free. Get your smart head on OP and don't work for nothing.

Hello OP, I have so much sympathy. Until quite recently I was you - school secretary and SBM rolled into one. The way you describe your job and the fact that you report direct to the HT suggests that you work in a fairly small school, as did I. The pressure in this kind of environment is huge, and to be honest (as lots of others here have said) I don't think many people really understand it. In smaller schools there is almost no middle management or SLT structure, so the Head is usually firefighting on a daily basis to deal with the stuff that comes up - because they are the only member of staff (apart from you!) who's not actually in a classroom in front of a class. That means that a massive amount falls to admin staff - not only the stuff that admin staff should do, but a lot of things that a Head should do, plus a lot of things that a caretaker should do, plus a lot of things that a SBM should do - etc etc etc. People say that you should just refuse to work the extra hours - but you know what the consequences of saying no would be, and you know that there is simply no money to pay for extra staff. In my last role I was effectively school secretary plus Head's PA plus SBM plus caretaker plus pretty much deputy head rolled into one - but paid little more than a TA. I worked countless, countless unpaid hours over my contract - because I cared passionately about the school - and I could never switch off from work.

In the end - and it took a very long time to work myself up to do it - I left - because I simply didn't want that level of responsibility and stress (particularly at this stage in my life while my children are still primary age). It was - and still is - very hard to walk away, but it's the best thing I ever did. I now work in a much larger school, and the difference is massive. I'm now in a much more specific admin role - the scope of what I'm doing, in spite of the hours being the same, is so much more defined that it still makes my mind boggle. I spent the first few weeks marvelling at the number of things that were no longer my job. Not only because there are lots of admin staff - but also because there's a whole management structure in place which means that senior staff can get on with doing the jobs they're actually supposed to do. At the end of the day I walk out of the door and, by and large, I don't think about work again until it's time to go in the next day. Nobody ever emails me at night, or texts me at home, or bothers me in the holidays. I'm still busy - but I not only go to the loo when I like but I sometimes even take a lunch break.

I don't like being pessimistic OP, but I think it will be hard to redefine your role while staying in the same school. Particularly if you are a bit of a perfectionist and someone who finds it hard to say no, which it sounds like you are (I am too). Getting a new Head obviously does give you that opportunity, but it could potentially go the other way. If the new Head is inexperienced then it's likely that they will rely on you even more - a lot of the tasks that are technically their responsibility may well be things they know almost nothing about, but you do - and you will also be the one that knows the school inside out. You may find yourself more indispensable, not less. On the other hand, you may get an experienced Head in which case things might be different.

If I were in your shoes, I would give it a few months (to give the new Head time to settle in) and see how it goes in that time. If you manage to reset expectations of your role, then fantastic. If that proves too difficult - then I would seriously consider walking away.

How big is your school? Isn’t there a data manager to look after SIMS, school census, reports etc. and a finance person for payroll, overtime etc or are you working in a primary school where you’re Expected to do everything? Either way if you don’t have enough hours in the day you have to draw a line in the sand and just do what you can do. If you keep saying yes to everything and putting in all the extra hours you will never get the help you need. Good luck

I am PT but work many, many hours unpaid overtime

Why? Just don't do it.

I would also say find a position in a larger school, saved my sanity. It's impossible to do your job well. The school will suck up all the extra free hours you are putting in. You are not on a teachers salary and should not work the extra time.

Reallylongstory obviously the OP can speak for herself, but in my old school, the answer would have been no. No data manager, no finance manager, no premises manager. No FLO, a Senco who only works one day a week. Anything that wasn't teaching was done by the Head or by me. I know that sounds crazy to people working in larger primaries and secondaries, but it's not all that unusual in small primaries. I had to fight hard to get an admin assistant, so that at least I wasn't having to answer every phone call. It's easy to say 'don't do the hours', but it's v hard when you can see how desperately short of money the school is, when you've got kids with serious SEN who desperately need classroom support, and when you can't see how you're going to balance the budget for the next three years. There is just no money.

Thanks all. Namechange has hit the nail on the head, its is a small school. There is no business manager, bursar, data manager etc. We do have a senco but she is only 2 days a week. Deputy head teaches. I will try to be optimistic and speak to the new head, she might be amazing. She has not been a HT before, doesn't know the children or the school etc so if I'm honest in my heart of hearts I think things will get worse rather than better. I will get my head down and get on with it but in all honesty I think I've had enough and am definitely going to continue to look for something else. At the end of the day, there is nothing I (or indeed the HT) can do about budget cuts xx

The trouble is that the more people work for free, the more they perpetuate the problem. If you stop doing it OP, the school will fail, Ofsted will step in and changes will be made.

But as long as you carry on the thankless task of making yourself ill for no reason at all, the government will sit back and say 'see, everything is fine, schools are managing with cut budgets no problem'.

You see? It's not up to the little guys like us to carry the weight, we have a rich government who can and will sort it out if they have to.