The Twelfth Republic - push and glide to the summer break

[StaffAssociationRepresentative]

You are most welcome to this school staff support thread to get us through stressful times. It is meant for school staff. Baiters and bashers can jog on somewhere else.

If you are NOT staff and just have a general education query please start your own thread.

You can play here only if you are a member of one the following groups-

-ABBA - anti bashers and baiting association
-SWAB - school workers against bashers
-SWOT - school workers opposing teacherbashers
-STARS - schoolworkers together against ranting + slurs

Other requirements for staff room entry include the ability to find the staff room, the ability to find a clean mug in the staff room, knowledge of the photocopier codes, and the ability to sniff out where the toffee vodka is hidden.

If you are fed up with cakes and biscuits there is now a cheeseboard on offer

If you come with a stick to beat us with then please do so elsewhere and not in the staffroom

Surely that can't be legal, motherrunner? I thought it was 20 minutes per four hours that people tend to lump together. And as our lunch hour 35 minutes is unpaid anyway, where are they taking back the time? Are you having no meetings?

I haven't hiptight, but that's because they are too busy sorting out a trust merger.

trust merger

As if there weren’t enough to deal with already!

I know, and definitely more of a takeover! New head and deputy as well!

@tadjennyp Employees are entitled to a 20 minute break id they work over 6 hours. I checked. Perfectly legal but makes me feel ill at the thought of this will be my working life come Sept. I will need to go from 8am-12.40 without a toilet/drink/snack break. All I’ve done since I found at 3.30 yesterday is cry. My own children deserve better from me but I just can’t seem to pull myself together. I know I sound pathetic just writing that.

Good luck tad!

Still having meetings. Think they have been reduced in number though.

I know I sound pathetic just writing that.

Not pathetic at all. It sounds horrible.

No, it’s not pathetic at all. I used to work in factories when I was a student and even though break was 20 mins per shift at least we got to go for a wee when we needed to! There were set times, because if you were on the line you couldn’t just up and go and leave your section rolling along on its own, but you knew there was one coming up.
To think that professional staff, any staff are risking UTIs and all sorts is disgusting.

@HipTightOnions

Has anyone else heard nothing at all from their school? No timetable, RA or even this-is-roughly-how-it-will-work?

Nope. Don’t know when my hours will be, what they will be or what I will be doing in them. Considering it’s 4 days til the end of term that’s pretty shitty tbh. Apparently it’s all been sorted out, they are just not telling us yet.

I thought our contact was 6 1/2 hours per day? That's what supply teachers get paid? So between 8.30 and 3.30 you have a half hour unpaid. What are your unions saying? I couldn't personally manage 8-12.40 without going to the toilet, particularly not when I have my period. Do you normally start at 8? They can't change the length of your working day without consultation. Feel for you, I would also be devastated.

Thank you both for indulging my pity party. I’m concerned about the toilet break as not to go into TMI I am peri-menopausal and although my periods are erratic when I do have them I am prone to flooding. The thought of not being able to change for hours worries me. Guess I need to develop a ‘can do’ attitude.

We start at 9am. Lessons are still starting at 9am but we will be required to man a classroom each morning as pupils are allowed on site from 8 (they travel from all distances). This has always been the case but pre-Covid they would have milled in general congregational areas, not supervised. Now they will require supervision to ensure the ‘bubbles’ are kept apart.

Not a word from unions but we were provided with a breakdown of directed hours allocation and we’re under.

Thanks hiptight!

Are you secondary or primary motherrunner? Is there someone in your department/phase that could keep an eye on your class for five minutes if you went to the loo? We always did that if someone had to go. Otherwise, you might have to take a day or two off and explain on your back to work interview that you can't go that long. Does it say on your contact what time you have to be there? That's what they can't change without consulting you.

Secondary.

I’ll have to find my contract. Pre-Covid we were told we needed to be on-site for 8.50am. Those 10 minutes each day before school were factored into our directed time allocation.

We are also having a day extended as we will be required to walk students outside of school class year groups by year group. We usually finish at 3.45 but now our direction time is allocated to 4pm.

Thank you for the advice. My DH actually said I should take time off in Sept and on a RTW interview explain why I have been offer and cite unreasonable conditions. Not sure I’m brave enough to do that though without fear of reprisal.

@echt . Omg - 60 pages is the dfe trying to cover their backsides! Trying to prevent any failure of health & safety at work claims

I think you have to stick up for yourself somehow. Our contacted hours are actually 5.5. Plus meetings of course but contract says 27.5 hrs a week.

That is 5hrs of teaching, 20mins form time and the ten minutes spare is clawed back through duties and pre school hours briefings. Breaks are unpaid.

On top of those contracted hours we have one after school meeting/parents evening etc per week and INSET. Usually that brings it up to the directed time limit.

Have you actually called your union? It’s discrimination albeit unintended against women who have greater needs for toilet access also. What it’s called? Inequal impact or something. You need to be asking how are pregnant, menstruating women or those with bladder issues (also disproportionately effecting women) accommodated in this? They need to be doing a proper equality impact report and risk assessment for these changes and it needs pointing out. I’d do it by email and spell out your issues and how you will be impacted.

You have a written record then of them ignoring impact.

I'm secondary and my head seems to have gone a bit further than it seems most others here have and is confining staff in year group bubbles as well. So instead of racing around the school all day we'll deliver the same lesson to at least 4 different groups for us core teachers, twice that if we're the only member of our department in that year group! That will still mean people could be under-committed and those people will end up teaching outside of specialism at KS3.

At KS4/5 it will be a bit different as the smaller departments will put their staff there for exam classes and there will be breaking of bubbles for options and they will move rooms when needed. Staff will not be confined to one year group if they teach A level.

KS3 teachers are going to be under-committed so may have to do some lunchtime supervision/.extra duties. At KS4 we probably won't be under-committed but will have far less planning to do so could still do some extra duties to make up for that. If we're allowed to do it, which surely we must somehow, Y11 teachers are going to have a fuckton of marking to do though!

I feel reassured BUT there are lots of unanswered questions still- staggered starts, finishes and lunches have been mentioned but without detail. I'm happy with the year group I'll be in and will have a good departmental buddy with me but anxious about the rest of my department spread far and wide. Delivering the same lesson over and over - well, I'll be bloody good at it by the 4th go I suppose. I feel bad for the KS3 kids who will miss out on some specialist teaching and use of facilities. Think they'll only move rooms for PE!

And whatever happens I really really want masks to be worn.

@TheHoneyBadger I will email my rep but I won’t hold any hope for a positive outcome. Last year the two union reps allowed the proposal for lunchtime duties to do through so have been doing that weekly already.

I think it’s the head you need to email and make clear your concerns and state how it will effect you bluntly. Say you have a weak bladder and can’t cope with one toilet break a day (when women will be queuing for the loo and unable to get food) and that you have incredibly heavy periods and couldn’t manage them under the proposed new day. Spell out that you wonder if they’ve undertaken an equalities impact assessment as it seems these changes will have high adverse effects on women.

Yes polite and nice tone but making it clear that what they’re doing is not ok and some women, like yourself, will need to take time off when menstruating and others who have bladder issues or are prone to utis will also likely be adversely affected to the point of constructive dismissal.

Seriously. Don’t just roll over on this.

mother - try your regional reps if your school ones aren't any use?

I'm really anxious about sep and it's nowhere near as bad as yours

Form starts 15min earlier, no morning break and lunch split in two, half of which we supervise eating. But we're teaching in our normal rooms so not running around like blue-arsed flies.

There's no way I can go 4 hours without a toilet break unless I don't drink at all in the morning so I'll have to run the risk of a UTI (being menopausal increases the risk)

What makes me so angry is that all these measures will be completely ineffective as our bubbles are so big they're effectively useless. I'd prefer we were back as normal

Regional rep also useless! I contacted them twice over Lockdown over other matters and their advice was to ‘speak to my head’.

I’ll email my head. I’m worries that I’m ‘getting a name’ as have raised issues over Lockdown such a love teaching to a full timetable and doing parents evenings whilst essentially neglecting my own children. I was told to take an unpaid leave of absence I’d things were getting too much.

If I am not allowed to go to the loo, I will have to not drink and therefore end up losing my voice. It's an awful situation for you, motherrunner .

Just realised my last post has so many typos! Hopefully you can work out what I was saying!

Thank you for the sympathies @tadjennyp. Just all seems so bleak. Hopefully the reality will be better then what I’m imagining?