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!

'The school will fail...'. And there you have it. That's why we keep doing the hours. A school that fails has a huge impact on individual children (perhaps your children, or your friends' children) and on the wider local community. I did leave my school in the end, but it was a hard decision and I gave a very long notice period (and did even more overtime during and after it) to ease the transition. I did also say very clearly what I thought needed to change in the administration of the school. But I was desperate for it not to fail.

That's why we keep doing the hours.

But you didn't. You left.

And OP shouldn't be expected to either work for free or leave.

No-one should.

The school has to fail in order to get it some help.

Yes, fair point, I did leave. Though only after six years. And I agree that OP shouldn't have to work for free, which is why I suggested she see if it's possible to change expectations with her new Head. But unfortunately, where I disagree with you, is that allowing the school to 'fail' would magically get it some more help. The school I used to work at didn't need help - it just needed money. And there isn't any. Which is why I would consider leaving if I were OP, though she shouldn't 'have' to.

Sadly, my experience has made me seriously question the validity of small schools in the current climate. So much admin is now devolved to schools from the LA; the implications of educating children with SEN and/or social/behavioural difficulties increase all the time; and budgets have not increased to match. All schools face these challenges, but in smaller schools the workload is simply too great - in so many areas of admin, the workload in a school of 100 kids is simply not six times less than in a school of 600 kids - so many of the tasks are essentially the same. Academisation was partly designed to alleviate this issue, but in my (relatively limited) experience it doesn't very much. Partnership working is great, but can only take you so far.

So I suspect that if OP stays where she is, the situation may well not change, however much it 'should'. I don't know what the answer is (apart from a massive increase in funding). Out of interest, the Staffroom board is stuffed full of teachers bemoaning their crazy workloads, but there seems to be a general acceptance that this is the way it is - you don't usually get posters replying that they should just work to rule and let their school fail. Yes, they get paid more than admin staff, but not always that much more. Interesting to know why the difference in attitude?

Schools survive on goodwill which is not sustainable in the long term.
More & more is expected when grades are reduced (Pay protected 3 years) and hours trimmed wherever possible.
The majority of schools are self governed, so although you may have a standard JD for your post from your LA, ultimately your duties are what’s expected by the Govs & HT for your school, so could be A LOT MORE than the school Secretary up the road in a similar size school under the same LA.

OP I think your new HT will need a lot of hand holding in their first year especially but probably year 2 also, and you may feel obliged to do more hours not less. Grab your chance to have your paid hours increase before they get the wake up call of having to balance their 3 year forecasts for the first time. Failing that (or even with it) Id be looking to swop to a Secondary school this side of Xmas.

Just wanted to say you are not alone! I work in an admin role at a secondary school and feel just the same about returning to work. I lost a lot of sleep and expended a lot of energy worrying about work last year and unfortunately looking at the intake we have this year and the staff we have lost I can't see this year being any better. It is really a 37 hours a week full time role but only paid term time so have spent the summer fretting about how much I could have been doing and instead will be starting the new term frantically trying to catch up, which will be impossible.

I hear what people are saying about work to rule but when you are working with vulnerable children it just doesn't feel right. The reality is that everyone working in schools is overworked and everyone pushing back on each other doesn't fix it.

Due to location and family commitments I am a bit stuck and can't leave so it is what it is - just need to get my head down and try to compartmentalise better, do the job, go home, forget it, be grateful that I have a job!

bing good luck tomorrow. Report back by the end of the week and let us know how you go on.

caitlyn that’s the problem for me, it was always about those kids who needed a bit of extra care and attention, they would be the ones to suffer if I had worked to rule.

I’ve never worked anywhere else where I would be working on a document one minute and cleaning up a vomitty six year old the next.

Yes, the variety is hilarious. Setting the three year budget interrupted by shoving your hand down the loo...

That’s so weird namechange I thought of that example first...

School sec here👋🏻 I always leave on time. Always take my lunch break.

That way the head sees there aren’t enough hours in the working day, but she wont increase it. I don't earn enough money to stay longer there. I leave on time and that is that. The staff also see that i have a lot to do.

A friend of mine did the job at another school and after working lots of overtime and doing way too much she left, and its the best thing she did. They didn’t realise how much she did. And im not gonna turn into that secretary.

Purple - how do you choose what to not do? Which things do you leave not done? I am snowed under and working hours for free every day but i truly can’t see anything that I am doing that could be ignored. All that sort of stuff has already been ditched.