Random inset day - no childcare

[Allthecoolnamesaretaken]

I've requested to either use TOIL (our school allows us to build this up if we do revision sessions during term, I have 2 days I've not been allowed to use so far) or take parental leave for a random inset day that my children have coming up.

It's been denied and I've been told instead to bring my children into work with me. They're 8 and 6, I work across 2 separate buildings and on that day I have a full day of lessons.

I have zero childcare, I have tried desperately to sort arrangements with childminders, nurseries etc in the area with no luck. I'm unfortunately estranged from my family and therefore have no familial support.

My husband is their step-dad, but he is also a teacher and therefore cannot book a day off of annual leave.

I was just wondering if anyone knew where I stood here on a legal standing. I will be contacting the union in the morning to discuss with them and seek as much support as possible. I have given the school over 6 weeks notice of this, and they have cited that there is an event on which means I cannot be covered. This event is not in the school calendar or staff bulletin.

I'd really appreciate any advice. I'm not happy at work for a variety of reasons but considering I gave up 8 weekends days this academic year to support DofE, this feels a bit of a kick in the face.

What a horrible situation. I am sorry to sound pedantic but what do you mean by parental leave? Statutory parental leave is very difficult for an employer to refuse and they have to provide a sound business reason why. The catch is that it has to be taken in blocks of one week unless you have a child in receipt of DLA, in which case you can take individual days. Your union will be able to advise but if you could afford to take a week unpaid then you could submit a request for a week's parental leave and as long as you give 21 days' notice it will be very hard for the school to refuse this.

I did mean something along the lines of emergency / compassionate leave or unpaid leave just to ensure I'd be able to cover the time. I'm certain they wouldn't allow the full block of 1 week of parental leave and would use the "business reasons" clause to move it around by six months.

I'm going to contact my union tomorrow to discuss this. The following week a member of staff has been allowed 5 days of TOIL to go to their sister's wedding in Australia. So the application of this is all very sketchy. 🤔

I've only been there 14 months but I feel like this may be the push needed to consider applying for something else as a promotion has come up I may consider applying for in another school.

I don't blame you in the slightest. Good luck with the union. Make sure you have checked the leave policy very carefully regarding dependents' leave and maybe consider keeping the application for statutory parental leave in your back pocket as an option - they might refuse it but you can make it time-consuming and inconvenient for them to do so!