Disaggregate inset days

[Ewock]

Hi all, I want to check if I'm being a bit difficult here or not.
My head teacher has announced that 2 of our insets this year will be disaggredate, so we do not need to be in those days. However we need to work 3 after school events two of which finish at 7pm.
Are they allowed to do this and make us work till that time?
The reason I ask is I have a health issue which causes fatigue. I've had support outside of school to manage this and haven't had to take time off in over a year. I do find that by the end of a week I am exhausted and sleep a lot at the weekend. My fear is what if I can not manage the evening events, my had as said ur would be recorded as sickness, but if I'm in school and manage my lessons during the day I can't see how this would work.
And is it fair to go down as sick when it's way past working hours?
Does anyone know?
Thanks

I think your best bet would be to speak to HR and ask for an occupational health referral.

Are the school aware of your condition?

I am assuming this is a long term condition so possibly classes as a disability. The school need to make reasonable adjustments.

If your head is reasonable, it may be worth speaking to them about your concerns and what could be done to mitigate. Stress that you want to be able to work effectively and therefore need to think about how to manage things.

Thanks for replying.
It was the head who told me it would count as sickness. She is unfortunately not very reasonable. They are aware and when I was signed off over a year ago they got occ health involved. Who were great hut by the time they were involved I was back at work. They were annoyed at my school at the time as they had done nothing at that point.

I now have weekly well being meetings, which frankly aren't worth anything. If I bring anything up I'm told to speak to the head. I'm going to ring my union this week, which I think is all I can do as we don't have hr.

The reasonable adjustments are rhat I stick to my pt hours and as such only attend the meetings that I should under my contract. Other than that nothing, so laughable really.

Whilst it's a long term, recognised condition it is fairly new and Dr's etc don't know huge amounts. But I am getting support it's mostly about how to manage circumstances and being aware of what is likely to make the fatigue worse. I've even asked if I can work the inset day instead but that was ignored .

I can’t help with any of the sickness/HR issues that come with this, but my school do this a lot, so in answer to your question “are they allowed to do this and make you work until that time” I would say so. As well as a couple of INSETs a year being after school until 7pm, we also have two parents evenings a year until 7pm.

I'd forgotten about parents eve, we have two a year till 7pm as well. It's a minefield.

Is it a state school? Directed time is 1265 hours. Union websites have calculators. You can ask for your 1265 hour budget pro rata. Consult your union. If it lies within the 1265 hours they are allowed to ask you to do it. But presumably they have to make reasonable adjustments for your condition.

Yes it state, I'll have a look at the calculator. Thanks so much.
I've just remembered they said I could reduce hours (and therfore pay) until this is gone. However it's a bit like how long is a piece of string, the consultants etc don't know how long this lasts. It could have been a year, but it's been 2 and a half so far. There's just so much the doctors etc don't know.
I'm trying so hard to manage and ensure I'm not missing work, I don't socialise really anymore as it all takes a toll. But the after school events till 7pm are just too much.
This is the first year they've made them mandatory. I have always attended them before last year. It was the first year that I couldn't due to fatigue.

My worry is that they go down as sickness and then I get called into a meeting to discuss my sickness levels just because of these 3 events.

Disaggregating INSET days as twilight sessions is a normal practice and as long as the total directed contact for the year doesn't exceed 1265 hours the school is in their rights to do them. They are often a popular arrangement as many people prefer to have the full days off on the INSET dates. The Working Time Regulations entitle you to an 11 hour break in a 24 hour period, so as long as you aren't expected in at 6am the next day this is also compliant.

However, given your medical need you have a case for a reasonable adjustment here. You are right to consult your union. Have a think about what reasonable adjustments would make it possible for you to attend these sessions, for example a later start on those days, or being able to take your PPA at home as a block in those weeks.

I've just re-read one of your posts and noticed that you are part time. You would normally only be expected to attend a proportion of INSET to reflect your contracted hours. If, for example, your contract is 0.6, you could potentially make the case that you should be able to leave the session after 0.6 of its duration has elapsed. Your union should be able to advise you on this.