Ideas for staff well-being

[Dontreadtoomuchintothis]

As our staff governor, I've been asked to work with a committee to look at staff well-being.
Our marking policy has recently been evaluated and teachers are pretty happy with the result. Does anyone have any other initiatives that have worked in their school? Or anything they would have on a well-being wish list? Thank you 😊

Emails were getting hard to keep up with at our school. At one point we were getting 20-30 a day. This massively effected workload and wellbeing now we have a weekly update with these emails being sent on one document each week. Obviously anything urgent is still sent but it has massively helped us that people are aware of the email situation and considerate about sending none urgent emails.
My school doesn't expect written plans (we have ltp and mtp) but not having to do them in detail helps. I know some schools still expect a lot of planning but ofsted won't ask for it.
We've had 1 training day that was used as a wellbeing day that we were actually given off. I know of other schools who have had pamper type activities and exercise sessions available on a wellbeing day.
Our SLT often don't know what is causing us stress/taking time/affecting wellbeing so by actually asking us they have been able to solve a lot of our issues.

Agree not having to have detailed planning makes a huge difference to workload.

Thank you for the replies, planning seems a good place to start. Have a good week

The thing is, well-being ideas won't work unless you ask your staff what is making them feel unhappy or stressed in the first place.
There's actually nothing worse than SLT skipping around offering sausage sandwiches and yoga sessions if the shit communication and inflexible management are making everybody miserable.
I'm not saying that this is you particularly it's just an example.
I'd say stop looking for a fancy initiative that looks good on paper and start talking to staff about what the main downsides of their job are...then find away to alleviate that.

Consulting with staff is definitely the first step. I was just interested in what other schools have discovered and what they have done to alleviate those stresses. As a TA, I know that behaviour management is an issue for me but thought looking to other schools would open my eyes.

@WlNDMlLL

Agree not having to have detailed planning makes a huge difference to workload.

Absolutely! I haven't written an individual lesson plan in what's coming up to 6 years now and I would never go back into a school that expected them. Unless you are new to the year group / teaching / the subject, detailed plans are an entire waste of time.

Nothing compulsory like yoga or mindfulness. I want that time to plan and mark!

A published calendar at the start of the year with all parents evenings, meetings etc on.

Eliminate staff hoops to jump through and written evidence of everything. CPD should be developmental not another meeting.

@Partyatnumber10
The thing is, well-being ideas won't work unless you ask your staff what is making them feel unhappy or stressed in the first place.
There's actually nothing worse than SLT skipping around offering sausage sandwiches and yoga sessions if the shit communication and inflexible management are making everybody miserable.
I'm not saying that this is you particularly it's just an example.
I'd say stop looking for a fancy initiative that looks good on paper and start talking to staff about what the main downsides of their job are...then find away to alleviate that.

You have explained it perfectly! New SLT member has taken over our well being working party and suggested we need a theme of the week which would be uplifting - think 'hold a door open for someone' type ideas. They totally didn't get that we're not 5 yrs old and are actually quite nice to each other already, but sinking under marking and stupid initiatives.
If the wellbeing ideas don't give us time back, then they are not helping.

100% what @Partyatnumber10 said.

OP It does sound like your approach is right.

The ludicrous writing out of pages of lesson plans for each day that schools got into the habit of was incredibly draining. If you are still doing that, then stop.
The micro-managing of tiny details of the way X or Y is taught - nightmare
Obviously lack of support for staff where there is aggressive or challenging behaviour (from pupils or parents) - I hope that goes without saying. Fortunately I've never worked in a school like that, but we know it does happen.

But, overwhelmingly, ask your staff, and, if you genuinely want to make a difference, ask them in a way that they feel they can be honest - be that a meeting without management present and someone able to feed back "the meeting felt that...." or be it genuinely anon survey type things. If you have a poor culture in the school, then many staff won't feel they can be honest otherwise. Obviously, if there is a positive culture in the school, then there won't be as many issues to resolve

In my first job, the school did a great thing - a couple of INSET days each term where you were just trusted to get on with what you needed to do for the new term. Brilliant! I now work in a private school that is much better managed and resourced than that school, but my god, I miss those days. Oh and release staff from parts of meetings that don't concern them. I only teach sixth form. The hours I've wasted listening to stuff about KS3 and KS4...

Also consider allowing a tiny bit of flexibility for staff with their own small kids. It is no picnic getting to school for an early start when most childcare doesn't start early enough. I used to have a headache all the time after the stress I'd built up by 7am and it was only luck I never crashed the car.

Yep...micromanaging is killing teachers!! In my school (primary) we are micromanaged to such a degree, I'm surprised that there isn't a detailed lesson plan with success criteria and retrieval practice for going to the loo 😰

Examples of this include (but are not limited to...because it would take way too long) are:

Every board in every classroom has to look the same! We have 'display board criteria' folders on our school planning drive, with explicit guidelines for each board...including photographs of what they have to look like!! So all English boards need x,y, z in this font/that colour...and so on for all subjects 😨 We get told off if we add or remove anything.

Maths boards are a REAL pain, as they have to be updated almost daily with the current learning (these include concrete examples of what we are teaching that day!!) This updating takes me about 30 minutes every night after school...30 minutes where I COULD be marking books! Instead I'm changing a sodding display that the children never look at! (They used to love our display boards and use them all the time, before this new policy came in!! Now, they find them too confusing...as do we!!)

Our timetables have to be enlarged and stuck on our classroom doors...with daily learning intentions for every lesson written on them (this is so SLT can check what we are doing every second of every day when they patrol past...they stand and read the LIs then come into the class to see if it matches and if we are teaching 'on time').

God forbid that we ever run over in a lesson...if we haven't finished writing at 11.30 as per the timetable...tough! We have to start our music lesson and leave it unfinished! There is NO wriggle room.

We can't choose our own books to read as a class (the 'reading for pleasure' book). Each half term we are told what book to read to our class. This is timetabled...'Class Read'. Some of the books chosen are ok I guess, but others are just not right for our children (as a class teacher, you know your class and what they would enjoy listening to). We've battled with this for two years now...to the point where I actually hate reading to my class...which is madness!! If SLT really can't trust teachers to choose suitable (enjoyable!!) fiction to read to their class, then education is truly broken 😞

My list goes on...I'm saddened that teaching has come to this!

If SLT TRULY care about well being, they need to take a HUGE step back and start seeing how demoralised their staff have become.

As a professional of many years, I know how to teach...but I no longer enjoy it. I'm lucky in that I can retire in 2 years...but I'm not sure I'll last that long 😰😢

That is ridiculous, Spring. They are treating you like a factory. I don't want my child educated in a factory .

@Phineyj I think an awful lot of schools are now factories...maybe not 'all schools', but certainly the vast majority. The school website will be all 'children first' etc, but in reality, they are data driven, soulless places that are destroying creative, hard-working professional teachers, who have given their all to the job. Children are just scores on the data spreadsheet...and if the scores don't say what SLT want them to say, then harsh measures are put in place.

Eg I'm in Y2 currently and of course, our data is not what it would have been without Covid. So we are hothousing the children for SATs right now (and have been since January!!). There is NO 'non-core' subjects in our timetable until after SATs. It's horrendous! All we do, all day, is maths, reading and writing. Plus intensive interventions for groups of children who are deemed (by SLT) to need them in order to pass the SATs. Same in Year 6.

Our children are being forced to sit these tests when they have missed SO much of the content...and there are absolutely 'no excuses' allowed, apparently, as to why they are not going to be 'test ready'.

I am beyond angry at how this has been handled. If we are forced to hothouse 6 year olds in this way in order to pass a test, then something is seriously wrong with the system.

@SpringIntoChaos that sounds terrible, I often wonder what makes SLT think that this would make a good school. It can't be working for anybody.
You need to look for a new school though because they're not all like that!!

In my school, if you run a club for 10 weeks a term (that is if full time, so pro-rata'd equivalent for part-time) then you get a "well-being" day off in lieu during term time.

Run a club every term and you could end up with 3 "well-being" days off in lieu across the year!

But staff were consulted on what they'd like before it was brought in.

Before you go looking at what to improve, made sure you are doing all the basics well.

So if you say teachers can use callout and a member of SLT will come, this absolutely needs to be the case.

When it's not, no-one believes things will get better and what you're doing is seen a a timewasting tick box exercise.

If you're interested in Ta's well being check the hours they are paid for and the hours they are actually doing. Check what they are doing, are they taking their breaks? Eating? How much work are they doing at home etc.

Oh yes, AthenaWhite!
TA hours often don't fit with the support needed and many do more to support teachers, etc.
Accepted by SLT but also ignored and no thanks or acknowledgment.
For pay given, expectations in some schools are not conducive to good wellbeing. Unpaid lunchbreaks and no time to go to the toilet ,etc.

Birthday off!

[quote SpringIntoChaos]@Phineyj I think an awful lot of schools are now factories...maybe not 'all schools', but certainly the vast majority. The school website will be all 'children first' etc, but in reality, they are data driven, soulless places that are destroying creative, hard-working professional teachers, who have given their all to the job. Children are just scores on the data spreadsheet...and if the scores don't say what SLT want them to say, then harsh measures are put in place.

Eg I'm in Y2 currently and of course, our data is not what it would have been without Covid. So we are hothousing the children for SATs right now (and have been since January!!). There is NO 'non-core' subjects in our timetable until after SATs. It's horrendous! All we do, all day, is maths, reading and writing. Plus intensive interventions for groups of children who are deemed (by SLT) to need them in order to pass the SATs. Same in Year 6.

Our children are being forced to sit these tests when they have missed SO much of the content...and there are absolutely 'no excuses' allowed, apparently, as to why they are not going to be 'test ready'.

I am beyond angry at how this has been handled. If we are forced to hothouse 6 year olds in this way in order to pass a test, then something is seriously wrong with the system. [/quote]
This. This. This.

I am 49, in 2nd year of primary teaching after qualifying years ago.

Last year (NQT year) was stressful, but looking back I realise how wonderful it was not to have SATS: we had time for more Art, more stories, more calm. (I taught the bubble in Jan- March lockdown.)

We are a 3 form entry and this year we stream for everything: some children in my class I don’t see from registration at 8.55 until 1.30. Because of streaming, we all have to be doing the right thing at the right time - so I can never think ‘oh, we’ll finish the Art tomorrow’- nope, tomorrow is my day to have the 30 laptops we share amongst 180 year 1s and year 2s.

We shoe horn PE, 2 assemblies, PSHE, computing, science, art, RE, music and sometimes Geography or History into 5 short afternoons… and they are 6/ 7. Why are we making learning so stressful for them?

Now we have SATS. Which will only be reported to the borough, not publicly - but that’s all the next half term will be. And running afternoon interventions for the children that are not meeting the standards, and struggle to engage. Taking them out of the ‘fun’ stuff they can access and boosts their self esteem like PE/ Art/ music to drill them in phonics.

I am so so disillusioned with the whole system, I am going to do one more year while dc3 is at primary and then I need to win the lottery/ find something else.

My SLT did that meeting where they left us to compile what we thought they could do for us. Then essentially treated the messenger like crap for a few weeks!

Things that have worked for us:

Cancelling/postponing staff meetings when things are especially busy. Building in assessment time to staff meetings.
Briefing emails - as a pp said, putting all the information they can into 1 email rather than many.
They have done treats in the staff room occasionally (but that's a tricky one as your part timers may miss out).
Team teaching with you - this is never used for judgement but they come into your class, work with your children and give you pointers etc. This was also useful when I was trying to say what the behaviour is like in my class. They get it now.

One of the best things they did was when I had had a bad weekend of sleep due to DS2 being ill. I'd survived the day at work, but I think one of them asked how I was at the end of the day (you know when you're on the edge and someone is too nice?) They then wouldn't let me leave with the books that still needed marking. They marked them (although I appreciate these are non class based SLT). It just gave me that breathing space and meant I was ready for the rest of the week.

[quote Partyatnumber10]@SpringIntoChaos that sounds terrible, I often wonder what makes SLT think that this would make a good school. It can't be working for anybody.
You need to look for a new school though because they're not all like that!![/quote]
Sounds like we work at same school!

And don’t start countless new initiatives that last a week on the basis we might get inspected soon

@Partyatnumber10

The thing is, well-being ideas won't work unless you ask your staff what is making them feel unhappy or stressed in the first place. There's actually nothing worse than SLT skipping around offering sausage sandwiches and yoga sessions if the shit communication and inflexible management are making everybody miserable. I'm not saying that this is you particularly it's just an example. I'd say stop looking for a fancy initiative that looks good on paper and start talking to staff about what the main downsides of their job are...then find away to alleviate that.

And again but with correct quote.

Sounds like we work at same school!

And don’t start countless new initiatives that last a week on the basis we might get inspected soon

For me the most important thing would be an anonymous survey of current well-being levels that actually is anonymous! We had a survey a few years ago but most people were too scared to fill it in because it wasn’t completely anonymous. Ask the staff what is important to them because every school is unique with different challenges.

@Thiscantbeallowed

For me the most important thing would be an anonymous survey of current well-being levels that actually is anonymous! We had a survey a few years ago but most people were too scared to fill it in because it wasn’t completely anonymous. Ask the staff what is important to them because every school is unique with different challenges.

We did this. They didn't like the feedback they got so have ignored it.