Open evening at secondary

[thehungryteacher]

What are your school's (or schools') plans for this?

Do you get free period and kids sent home early? or food - we don't and have to work 8am-8.30pm

I won't get home till gone 9 and will be knackered! Can't leave either to get food.

Should we be fed or bring our own dinner?

Everywhere I’ve ever worked, it’s been a VERY long day. 8am-8.30 minimum. E do usually get fed though. Wear comfy shoes!

Always a very long day and back to teaching the following one, but never not been fed ( though often a fairly beige and ropey offering) .

What type of school. LAs school have to
provide food or a meal allowance. Check your authority policies

We have ours next week. For me as a Headteacher, I’m in school that day from 6.30am (time I usually get in anyway) until at least 9pm.

The open evening is usually 6:30 - 8:30pm - School always closes at 2pm on this day, we allow staff to go home at that time and then come back for 6pm. We do put food in the staff room (a buffet) for those who decide to stay in school.

Never had food provided. No concessions like kids dismissed earlier, not even a cup of tea provided. I used to schedule a 15 break to stuff down a pot noodle. Always too tired to eat when I got home past 9pm.

Food has always been provided, yes. From a beige buffet to takeaway pizzas.

But there is hardly ever time to go home in my subject. However, I have never worked beyond 8pm.

No free/kids going home early for us.

The school day finishes at 2.45pm.
If people have co-curricular, it finishes at 3.30pm.
Luckily, I don't have Co curricular that day ‐ I did last year and as a science HoD it was a nightmare.

The evening runs 4-7pm. By the time we clear up, it will be 7.30pm -7.45pm when we finish.
Our kids start at 8.10am.

It's a very long day and we are on our feet all day.

We do get food - a sandwich and a biscuit/cake but it's a massive rush to actually eat it and also get set up on time.

It's MAT. Although I previously worked for a LA i don't remember being fed it was a loooong time ago

Why is it policy in LA school?

I'm sure lots of people regularly work 13 hours and don't get a meal Included?

So part of me feels unreasonable for asking for it!

Open evenings should count towards your directed time within your 1265 hours. The Working Time Directive means that you are entitled to a rest break of 11 consecutive hours within a 24 hour period, so you should not be expected back at work before 7.30am the next morning. I'm afraid that travel time between your home and place of work isn't counted within this.

I have usually been offered food on open evenings but this is a convention and a courtesy rather than an expectation or right.

I'm interested to know your source on this, please. In my experience schools often provide food as a courtesy but not an entitlement.

@ThanksItHasPockets It’s LA policy. Check your LA policy. I’m in a large LA and very few people knew about it. Now we always gets meals provided because that is cheaper that lots of meal allowance claims and also a nice social meal to lighten the load on otherwise long and hard days as these tend to be.

@Newrumpus I work across schools in three local authorities in the West Midlands and it is not LA policy here. I'd be interested to know your source that it is a national policy. As mentioned, in my experience food is offered as a courtesy.

@ThanksItHasPockets see my previous answer. I’m not sure how to help you without revealing my LA and I’m not prepared to do that.

I completely respect your right to privacy @Newrumpus. Contrary to your initial post on this thread I don’t, however, think you can extrapolate national policy from the local policies that you and your colleagues enjoy. That’s all. I was curious to know if there was little-known national policy which had passed me by. All the best to you.

We had ours this week. No early finish but the event always starts at 5 and we get a meal at 4. This year they introduced a late start the next morning so yay