SLT working hours

[voxnihili]

Just a question for anyone on SLT - what hours are you expected to be in the school building on a regular basis (not including parents’ evenings)?

Are your SLT meetings after school? How often are they? What time do they finish?

I’m asking because I’m SLT and struggling to fit childcare around regular demands of the school. Not so much parents’ evenings but the general week to week to week stuff. I have wraparound care from 7.30-6 but it doesn’t seem like enough. DP does his fair share of pick ups (more than me) but there are some weeks he can’t get her (shift work) and I can’t leave early enough if we have a meeting. I have no issue whatsoever with working in the evenings at home if needed.

I’m feeling like I’m going to have to resign for the end of this term which I don’t want to do as I love my job but I can’t see another way. Just wondering what the expectations are in other schools so I can work out if it is the job or just the school.

Thanks all

Our SLT meet at 8am on two days and until 5pm on a third. I know a local school where SLT meet until 6 on a Friday!!!

I’m in school by 7.45 most days and leave between 5pm and 6pm. SLT meeting is once per week and goes until 5.30 but sometimes runs over, it also sometimes finishes early. I’m a safeguarding lead so there have been occasions where I’ve been at the hospital or police station with a student until ridiculously late, but that is thankfully rare. There were two instances this year, one where I was at the hospital until 8pm and one at the police station until 10pm.

When I was SLT every morning there was a meeting at 7.45am and one late meeting until about 5pm maybe 5.30pm -6pm
One SLT member always left at 5.30pm regardless if the meeting was finished due to childcare pick up.

I think it’s a problem with the school if you’re expected to be on site until 6pm or later everyday.

@voxnihili how far are you from pick up? You just need to make clear that you need to leave at a certain time for pick up as you have no choice - but you will always get the work done.

One meeting per week, finishes no later than 5.30.

I’m only approx 25 minutes away from pick up so a 5.30 finish wouldn’t be a problem. Our meetings often go on longer. To date, I’ve just gone at 5.30 but it’s been made clear I can no longer do that.

Just trying to weigh up if what I’m requesting is unreasonable. I will try to suggest a solution before I resign, but something that works for everyone rather than me getting special treatment which I know won’t go down well. I know everyone would be happy with an earlier finish but no one else will speak up.

I think it’s extremely unreasonable for a school and HT to have meetings every night or multiple nights that go on past 5.30pm
Is this the culture of the school? To work long hours on and off site?

I worked in a special measures school and I put the hours in 7–7pm when the school was open but I had no children and it wasn’t the expectations of meetings every night.

Look for another SLT post? They can’t sack you for not being at the meeting.

I would just say that you cannot stay this late because of childcare - whatever actions you have from the meeting will always get done.

They literally cannot force you to stay for the meeting or sack you. And then they can’t even give you a bad reference as many jobs now will just ask for period of employment!

@voxnihili and probably better to stick to this and look for something else instead of resigning from the SLT position as you might still get lumbered with the work.

We meet until 5 once a week and sometimes twice. In your circumstances, there would be no problem leaving the meeting early for child care reasons.I think your school is being unreasonable.

That's totally unreasonable of them. Most childcare is closed 6pm

Many thanks for the responses. I was expecting to be told that most places finish much later. It has given me a bit of confidence that my requests aren’t unreasonable, and that if I can’t be accommodated I should be able to find something elsewhere!

"It's been made clear you can no longer do that"- what do they propose in terms of childcare, then? If they're making the job impossible for anyone with caring responsibilities, it could arguably be a discrimination issue.

I'd try to discuss the situation with them, but perhaps long term the answer is to look for another post?

The solutions are for DP to do it (which he can about half the time) or ask if she can go home with one of her friends until I can get her. I can’t see anyone wanting to do that (especially as I can’t reciprocate) and I don’t really think it’s fair on my child. Even when DP can do it I don’t want to still be in school until 6.30 as I’d like a bit of time at home before bath and bed.

The point about discrimination is an interesting one as the expected hours do essentially exclude anyone who has any kind of responsibility outside of school.

Long term I will look for something else but in the meantime I’ll push for the 5.30 finish (working later at home where needed).

This is ridiculous. How many days have after school meetings that go on beyond 5:30? How many SLT are present and what on Earth are you discussing?
If there are 5 of you meeting that probably costs a minimum of £300 per hour to the school. Could your and your colleagues’ time not be used more efficiently?
The school should be keen to keep senior staff

This sounds like really poor organisation from your HT. SLT meet daily at 7.45 to discuss daily priorities and there is one SLT meeting per week. We run our SLT and governing body meetings with a pre-determined 'hard stop' and it is the responsibility of the person chairing the meeting to enforce this - we rotate the chair role around the team so that everyone shares the responsibility. It takes assertive skill to keep the discussion on track and on time. No AOBs are permitted and if something urgent comes up after the agenda is published then we often have to bump something else.

We have one meeting a week, until 4.45. I get up and walk out at 4.45.

We have one at midday until 3.30pm. Classes are covered. We also have one at 8am but very brief and back in time for class.

We have an 8am meeting once a week and we finish at 4.45 once a week

I love our head

At my school SLT meet at 8.30 each morning. No meetings after school except the whole-school ones. They do parents evenings etc on a rotation.

I’m applying for SLT at another school and if I get an interview, this is my priority to find out before I accept!

Thanks again for all the messages. They really aren’t what I was expecting (although I’m certain there’s plenty of schools as bonkers as mine). It has given me some food for thought.

We have one meeting a week during the afternoon, the one afternoon of the week where no one has a teaching commitment. We would only meet after school if something major was upcoming.

Our HT has fairly young children herself. I have a 5 year old and an 8 year old and try to leave by 4.30pm every day (don’t always manage it). I’m trusted to complete my work whenever it’s best for me and work in the evenings after the children are in bed.