Head leaving at 4pm every day

[CeciliaMars]

I'm a teacher myself of 15 years, so know generally how schools work. My children are at a local state primary that has had a new headteacher for a year after the long-term head retired. It's the first headship for the new head and they have a young child. Several of my friends work out at the school and are feeling disgruntled as she leaves at 4pm every day to pick up her child. Apparently, she often just walks out, not checking who else is in school to be in charge if there were to be a safeguarding issue.
I am all for work-life balance, but even when I was just a class teacher, I would have expected to be in school until at least 5pm every day. I also question why someone who wants such a relaxed work-life balance would take a headship. Would this bother you as a teacher or as a parent?

No.

Not a problem, she'll be working from home. I have a young child and leave when I want - it's never questioned because I get the work done. Also I'm the DSL along with the head and don't necessarily know whether she's in the building. If there was an issue I'd check if they were there and if not deal with it myself. There is no requirement to have a DSL on site when the children have gone home anyway.

As long as everyone else is allowed to leave at that time then no problem.

Absolutely not: I think it's fantastic!

A healthy work/life balance is a difficult thing to achieve but also one of the most important things you can do as a teacher. The job will consume you if you allow it to and this is especially true when you are early on in your career, just look at the burnout rates. The fact that this head is setting the example and reinforcing to other staff that teaching is your job and not your life is something that should be applauded.

It would be way more worrying if they were setting the expectation that all staff should do an additional 3 hours a day in the building (one before school from 8ish, two after until 5ish) and then work from home as well. That shit is toxic.

Nope. What a brilliant example she is modelling to her staff. If the job gets done, it doesn’t matter when.

No it wouldn't bother me at all. If the head leaves then other staff are presumably free to leave too. Our head regularly leaves early and she's happy for people to leave at whatever time their work is done, which does help with work/life balance. She does probably do a significant amount at home too.
The only thing would be if children aren't collected or if clubs are running and staff don't feel prepared to deal with emergencies. If that were the case then it would be a conversation for staff and head to have but nobody else's business.

I’d have loved it. My fist school had a head who didn’t care if you left at 3:30, as long as everything was done. I spent 7 happy years there before being introduced to the culture of staying just because you ‘should’. I was a better teacher for it, having less stress.
Take the opportunity to copy her.

Thanks for all your answers - that's really interesting that it doesn't bother anyone else. I think maybe as the school is going downhill in many other ways and it felt that maybe this was one of the reasons. The rest of the staff are not all able to leave at 4 as there are clubs etc and there have been safeguarding issues with no-one senior left in charge. But thanks for all your replies.

The rest of the staff are not all able to leave at 4 as there are clubs etc

Surely this only applies to staff who are volunteering to run a club or are paid to do so. In which case, they are choosing to be there, no?

there have been safeguarding issues with no-one senior left in charge

There doesn't need to be a DSL on site after normal school hours (senior doesn't matter: they'd need to be a DSL). In the event of a safeguarding incident, I'm sure it would be easy enough to call one of the school safeguarding leads or, if they are unavailable, contact the LADO. There are clear procedures for when safeguarding leads aren't contactable, during the day or not, and all staff should understand them.

I think maybe as the school is going downhill in many other ways and it felt that maybe this was one of the reasons.

I would say be careful with this though as if you are looking for things to support an existing viewpoint, you'll find them, objectively real or not. It's common, when a new head takes post, for parents and staff to go through a period of dislike and thinking everything is getting worse. Usually, it's just because it's a period of change and, generally, people dislike change.

Yes this would bother me. I head who is even perceived as being lazy can have a big knock on effect on the other staff.

I think this is great, and a good role model of how the job shouldn't take over your life.

She doesn't need to be in school to be working, and there's no requirement for the head to be on site just because others are.

This. Do you know who the DSL is, maybe they’re on site? But even if not, as @Iamnotthe1 said, there’s clear procedures as to what happens if the DSL isn’t available. But I agree they’re very likely to be working from home, so unless they’ve told all their staff they must stay beyond 4pm whilst they shoot off home, they’re not doing anything wrong at all IMO. It’s ever even occurred to me that the Head should still be in the school building whilst I run an afterschool club. As the teacher in charge of the club, I’m responsible, and have no problem with that. I know what to do should there be an emergency/safeguarding incident. It’s helpful to have another member of staff around just in case, but it really doesn’t need to be the Head. There will likely be other teachers who stay because they just prefer to work at school rather than at home, so in the unlikely event they’re needed in an emergency that base is covered. Its a positive IMO that the Head does have young children. It can be good to work for a Head who knows what being a parent and a teacher is like vs one without a clue sometimes (and I say this from experience).

This wouldn’t bother me. I’m SLT and we have a rota of late nights (we are all DSL trained) to cover clubs in case of any issues.

I have two young children and often leave early on other days. I work when they have gone to bed as this is the best way for me to manage my work and life.

At my school, lots of teachers leave at around 4pm. There’s no expectation to be present on site, everyone works in a pattern that works for them.

As a Headteacher, I think it is really important not to model the martyrdom that working all hours is essential to doing a 'good' job, and to almost give staff the permission to go when they need to as long as they are fulfilling their role effectively.
However, I have to say that I would find leaving at 4pm every day difficult as there are meetings and times when staff want to talk things through with you. If children are at clubs, then it is important that someone is there to ensure they are safely collected and there are no issues if there is an accident (yes, I know it is not the teachers' responsibility but those running the club, but if a child broke their arm at an after school club, I would rather one of the SLT was there at the time). I have governors and parents sometimes coming in for meetings....there are lots of occasions when being there after school nips some things in the bud that can easily be a problem later, whether that is supporting a teacher or dealing with a premises issue.
If I am not there until, say 5pm, I would usually arrange it so other SLT will be and, in all honesty, I think it would be noted and not seen in the best light by parents and by colleagues if I had left by 4pm every day.

Thanks for your answer Butteredtoast55. I think this is it - I believe in work life balance but I think leaving EVERY DAY at 4pm in your first year as a head does not make the right impression. Nearly every staff member resigned at the end of last year, so 80% of the staff are now brand new. I find it hard to see how an all new can have meetings, get to know each other, solve any problems that crop up and get what needs to be done in school each day if everyone is leaving by 4pm.
Many other commenters seem to disagree with me though, so I'm going to sit tight and hope everything goes well at the school!

I know others have said it, but what's to say she isn't working until the early hours? My dh is a deputy and works until 11pm/12am most nights. If he leaves early for a pick up, people don't see that.

What do you think are reasonable working hours for a head or any member of school staff? A normal job would be 9 to 5 so is 8 to 4 reasonable?

You seem very critical. Presumably your old allies have left if most people resigned.