Absence Protocols

[Jamstones]

From September, if teaching staff are too ill for work, they will have to report so at least an hour before directed time is due to begin.

This is a change from half an hour ahead, which allowed the cover manager (who is contracted for work at this time) to assign cover staff.

Is this about right and quite normal to give more notice and ring SLT so early or is it another unreasonable ask on top of the fact that we're expected to leave suitable work for every class in these circumstances?

Edited to add: The arrangements haven't changed for support staff, so there's now a difference between what different roles must do.

We have to ring SLT by 7am if we are ill. Pretty sure it's the same for all staff.
Our children come in at 8:35.

An hour sounds very reasonable. I wouldn't dream of calling in sick half an hour before I'm due to start work. To be honest I'm not even sure what our policy is as, if I'm sick, that call has been made by 7am. If you're unwell you still wake up normal time on a work day, assess the situation, and decide then and there whether you need to ring in sick or not. Nobody is only just getting up half an hour before they're due to start work, sick or not, so I don't see why needing to give an hour's notice is a problem? You know an hour before work whether you're going to be able to go in or not.

As for setting work, surely the work is already planned any therefore is what should be picked up by cover? If the cover isn't able to effectively teach the lesson (I have a feeling you're talking about secondary rather than primary, where a science class may be covered by a history teacher on a free, for example?) then I would expect SLT to arrange what they want the cover teacher to 'babysit' them with. It's absolutely not acceptable to expect a sick teacher to re-plan their own lessons. If they're well enough to do that they may as well drag themselves in to teach from the original plan anyway! Which I fear is what may end up doing if that's what the expectation is. That's definitely not on.

Yes I think this is reasonable. I wouldn’t dream of leaving it only half an hour before the ch come in. Our ch start at 8.50am so that would be ringing at 8.20… no way! I’d usually have called by 7.15 at the latest because by then Im awake/up and fully aware whether or not I can make it in that day.

As for leaving work etc, I personally am “one of those” that can’t leave the night before unless everything is done. All my resources/sheets etc are laid out on top of a cabinet at the front of the room, in order of when Im teaching them. I don’t do this on the off chance I’ll be off, I do it because I like to walk in every morning knowing my day is already set up. But it’s a bonus because if I do happen to be unexpectedly off, it’s very easy for whoever is covering to just pick up and get on with.

Sounds like it's quite reasonable in terms of timings then and I do agree, you'd know by then.

I guess it's just in terms of the change and the culture up until this point. People would normally call around 8, so that you're not calling SLT at home or in the car. And TAs/admin etc. can still do so. And 30 mins before directed time is more than that before the students arrive.*

Maybe it's more the way you're expected to plan cover that's making it seem like they want everything when you're ill! I do mean secondary, (and it shouldn't be a teacher of another subject on their PPA or non contact time being used) and usually the lesson already planned isn't suitable for an external teacher who can't access your resources or actually lead the lesson in the way you would. We're supposed to set something else linked to that point in the curriculum that the kids can do independently, with ready made explanations, examples and answers for cover staff, sent straight to the cover manager and uploaded where kids can access.

And 30 mins before directed time is more than that before the students arrive.*

Oo I’m intrigued by this- when does your directed time start- do you have a specific time? We don’t at our school, not that I’ve ever been made aware of anyway (in 11 years there)! Out of curiosity, how much time before the ch status is your official directed time? Thanks!

DT is from 8:30, with registration in period 1 starting at 09:00. We use it as CPD time, so teachers are normally still in earlier to get themselves ready for the day, and absence calls would come in by 8, when the office staff arrive.

Maybe it's to do with it becoming the norm to leave it as close to the deadline as possible. I suppose I don't know if people were actually ending up missing the cut off.

The timings sound reasonable to me too.

As soon as you can call / e-mail is best, out of politeness.

Sounds reasonable to me. We have to call by 7am but do not start teaching until 9am. We have a meeting one morning a week before school so have to be there earlier on that day. It was changed from 7.3 a few years back due to the difficulty finding cover teachers. Other schools were getting them leaving us without anyone.

Ah so our CPD time is different to that, so I think for us our directed time really does start when the ch do.

We have to message SLT as soon as we know we will be too ill to work. So … wake up at 5am vomiting - message SLT. They will get the message when they get up themselves. An hour before you are expected at work seems perfectly reasonable to me - of course you may get I’ll, fall down the stairs etc. just as you are leaving for work but those are exceptional circumstances).

Our bell goes at 8.10am and we have to ring by 7am if we won't be in, which seems fine.

If it is before the phone is manned, we leave a message.

Although not an expectation, most of us also message our line manager as soon as possible so they can start getting sorted.

I'm a HoD and my team will either email/WhatsApp as soon as they know they won't be in - I do appreciate this as it means I have more time to organise cover work.

I've been teaching for nearly twenty years and in every school I've worked in it has been an expectation to ring the absence line by 7 am. I would say that your school has been unusual up until now.

If you want to have a hope of securing external supply for the same day you generally have to get hold of the agencies by 7.30.

We have to ring by 8 and leave a message for the cover manager. We don't send her the cover though - that's the department's responsibility to sort.

Our directed time starts at 8.40

I'm secondary and we've always had to replan our own lessons (MFL). Luckily my new department has some video lessons that we can use in a pinch for cover which is a godsend. Though I also suppose we are allowed to say we're too ill to set cover ourselves and it becomes a HOD responsibility but it depends on school culture how much teachers will feel able to actually do this.

Definitely agree about calling in an hour prior - in one school I worked in, teaching staff were usually under timetable and used for cover, though I imagine in most schools they'd need to get supply in.

7am for an 8.20 start here.
We send work in to the HoD.
If I’m feeling crap the night before and know I’m v unlikely to be in, I leave a message on the cover line, send work to HoD and have a lie in.