Email to head teacher... suggestions??

[PartTimeTeacher]

For context, I applied (informally to reduce my hours from 3 to 2 days per week). My Head denied this. I then received an email to say the school would be changing my working days to include a Thursday.

I've spoken to my union and upon their advice drafted the following email to respond to the changes:

Good afternoon XXX,

I am writing to you in response to the outlined changes to my contracted working pattern.

I would of course like to accommodate the needs of the school and appreciate the reasons for the proposed restructuring of my hours. However, the additional hours on a Thursday aren't convenient for my family needs and childcare requirements. In addition to this, I think that the additional working day would cause added stress and also anxiety about my child's well-being as a result of losing this morning with him. As my current contractual days are Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, I hope to keep these as my working days upon my return from maternity leave. If this is not possible, I would like to request a consultation to discuss the matter further.

I would also like to take this opportunity to assure you that I am a dedicated member of staff at XXXX Primary School and that I am committed to raising standards across school and within the UKS2 unit. I am looking forward to returning to my position in the coming months and continuing my role alongside the other hard-working staff at XXXX.

It is therefore my aim to come up with a solution that fits around my new and and increased childcare responsibilities and costs while continuing to support the the school. I would, for that reason, like to propose the folllowing solution with the previously made considerations in mind.

I propose the following working pattern, which would maintain the integrity of the core subjects:
Monday 8:30-12:30 4hrs
Tuesday 8:30-12:30 4hrs
Wednesday 8:30-3:00 5.5hrs
This would equate to 13.5hrs in total. I would be happy to negotiate an additional 15 minutes of directed time to increase this to 50% (0.5) equivalent.

I would like to confirm that both my previous and current requests are informal and I have not yet made statutory flexible working request in line with Flexible Working Policy.

I am hoping we can come to an agreement before I return to work on 20th May because, as always, I am dedicated to ensuring that the the needs of the school are being maintained.

Thank you for your consideration in this matter.

XXX

Government guidance.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/flexible-working-in-schools/flexible-working-in-schools--2

Your emails (informal) seem to have gained you a response as to what the school requires.

Follow the school/trust policy.

A formal request will give you an answer within a timescale.

This guidance is written by the government as a response to a staffing crisis in schools. This gives, in my experience, a much more positive view of flexible working, than the actual practicalities in real life, in real schools.

@AnnieLane, my inital contact with my head was just an email requesting a meeting to discuss the possibility. Within education, its obviously important to get a head's backing before you apply (or at least this is my understanding, at least).

This request hasn't been sent and I'm simply trying to see if the school are willing to negotiate my hours. My union suggested not making a formal application at this stage as you only get one per year.

@OneFrenchEgg, a teachers contract is determined by 'directed time' which simply put are you main duties in school and pretty much only covers the hours spent teaching.

A normal pupil week in my school is 27.5hrs so 0.6 is 16.5hrs.

Yes, I know…I hold a senior role in education…

Oh thank you that is helpful. I think I would cut the proposed letter down and try to bullet point the history a little and current situation?

Unless you have specified days in your contract they can do this. Mine said 0.6 and was swapped most years from mon tues and weds to wed thurs fri. It was a nightmare with nursery but my union said they could so I had to change my days. We always had to work Wednesdays for staff meeting after school. Does the hours you've given cover the 1265 (pro rata) directed time? Don't you have to attend a staff meeting?

In decision making this is the key phrase from the guidance.

‘We encourage the employer and employee to work together to establish an arrangement which works for both the employee’s need and the school’s, in particular to ensure consistently high-quality provision for pupils.’

Does your change of days help or hinder the school to provide a consistently high quality provision for pupils? Leaders seem to require you to work on a Thursday to meet curriculum needs/provision.

My comment about the formal - you will get a response rather than an informal, where you are saying the HT has not responded ( but you do have information about the need to work a Thursday).

Directed time is 1265/195 days is approx 6.5 directed hours per day for a full timer. Full time weekly hours are 32 so 0.6 would be 19.5 hours. Are you sure you have included enough hours? My previous school (I no longer teach) wouldn't have allowed a half day. They were good with letting teachers work part time but only full days as the staff meeting was really important (safeguarding training etc)

A flexible working request is considered on business needs only. It doesn't matter if you want to work flexibly to look after your children or just take days off to go on a bender, the business (or school) can either accommodate your request or not. Please read the link to the gov.uk that someone has posted above.

A normal teachers directed time week is not the same as the childs direct teaching. It is 1265 hours divided by 39 weeks so around 32 hours per week. Your 0.6 needs to include staff meetings etc
Depending on your school timtable this might not include up the 8:30 -9:00 or 12:00 to 12:30 if they are not direct contact - lunch breaks are not usually counted as directed time.

To avoid repetition, I agree with the PP re updating the thread you had on this yesterday. Otherwise you are going to be in more of a muddle.

I know they can ask you to work whenever it suits them but they also need to be realistic about childcare. I've always told my head I'll change my day if asked but need plenty of notice because nurseries are booked months in advance. Ultimately there's a teacher shortage and it's going to be a bigger issue for the school than it is for me if I'm not there to teach my class.

But you're not trying to find a solution, you're simply demanding what you want without any give or compromise. Why do you feel they should accommodate your request?

As an aside, please remove the stuff about your child being anxious if he didn't see you on a Thursday morning

I’m sorry this is causing you so much stress. Returning to work is hard enough.

From reading your posts, it does seem like there is inherent conflict between what you feel you need and what the school needs from you. How long have you been teaching? If you’re at the upper end of the pay scale, i imagine they want maximum value from your contract. And they deem that value would be you taking ownership of maths and English groups from Mon-Thursday. I’m guessing the way they are planning the week is so that on Friday morning, they don’t need that continuity. Is it possible Friday mornings could be PE, a big write in English, music or something that would be done whole class?

Im also surprised at your calculations of your hours. As @Meceme says, teachers contracts aren’t based on the hours children are in school. Before this maternity leave, were you only working 16.5 hours over Mon-Weds?

@Dippydinosaurus my contract states:

The pupil week for the school is 27 hours and 30 minutes and your working time will be 16 hours 30 minutes including an allowance for duties other than teaching pupils but excluding directed time.
Your working days are Monday - Wednesday
The school reserves the right to alter your working pattern as necessary on reasonable notice for the proper performance of your duties.

My teaching day is 8:30-3:00 so works out at 5.5hrs a day not including lunch (16.5 hrs over 3 days). I attend 60% of staff meetings, which is on a Wednesday. The half days they’re suggesting over the week would mean I’d have to be available on these days for meetings too (including parents evenings etc.). I’m not sure how that would work exactly, given that I’d finish my day either at 12 or 12:30pm.

@MrsMikeHeck and @Meceme , see above. I was paid for 16.5hrs but worked well over this taking into account after school and evenings.

Are you assuming they want you in the same team- or have they confirmed this?

TBH I won't consider less than 3 days full time equivalent as it simply doesnt work with PPA, CPD, staff meetings etc

It doesn't mean that you area available for late meetings on those days- directed time applies- so the time would need to be part of that

@DoorPath , I’m sorry that it comes across as me being demanding. I’m really just struggling with the addition of a Thursday and it’s creating a lot of stress and anxiety for me. I’ve not been sleeping and I’m surprised this is happening and it’s a lot to worry about while on maternity.

There is another PT in school who works 0.4FTE in the same way that I do but within a different unit. I was hoping the school would view our roles independently (not as a jobshare given that we don’t share responsibility for a class) and could offer me the same terms as her. Obviously that’s not happened and I wanted to explore some other possibilities with my employer. As I didn’t have a consultation, I’ve not really had a chance to discuss any of this in person.

@Octopuslethargy, they have confirmed that they want me in the same unit (UKS2) as before my maternity leave.

There are some changes being made to the requirements for flexible working requests, from the 6th of April I think you should be able to make 2 requests in a 12 month period. Check with your union rep.

OK so you currently work Mon to Wed full days and wished to drop one of those days. The school responded to say they actually now also need you on a Thursday - or is this instead of another day, therefore still 3 days? You say that won't work as you need to see your child on a Thursday to avoid anxiety. So you proposed Mon to Wed short days? There's no way you can do Tues to Thurs to work with the school? I do think you're being quite inflexible here.

If school governors/trustees need to change your days, they need to follow the school policy on notice time. Have you read the policy.

Your contract already says that they can change your working pattern, with notice. You have already accepted this.

‘Your working days are Monday - Wednesday
The school reserves the right to alter your working pattern as necessary on reasonable notice for the proper performance of your duties.’

Adding, that when I worked part time and later had staff who did, we either had staff meeting day with an afternoon of joint PPA in school (This cost school more as the PPA time meant three or four staff all in for that afternoon and contracted paid time was more than full time when combined across staff) or staff went home and returned for staff meeting.

In my case, when I worked five days, mornings only, I had to return for staff meetings pro rata. We had two different meetings per week ( one teaching and learning, one admin/management). I had to be there for half of each of those, one Tuesday, one Wednesday.
As my childcare couldn’t cover the afternoons, I had a 90 minute round trip to collect my children at 1.30 to return to school for 3.30 staff meeting. My little ones would play in school until the end of the meeting at 5.00pm. ( then fall asleep in the car on the 45 minute journey home, then not sleep🤯)

I had to leave my teaching post and change schools, when my eldest started school. As well as collecting the youngest, I had to pick my eldest up early from her school, to drive back, 45 minutes, in time for my staff meeting.

A difficult period of change.

@FUPAgirl, no, the school are introducing an additional day to my work schedule. They now only require me to Monday and Tuesday am and will 'bank' those hours saved to be used on a Thursday morning. My contracted days (written explicitly in my contract) are Monday-Wednesday so I'm not sure why it's unreasonable that I want to keep them as this?

I haven't proposed any other flexibile working requests (including the one I mentioned here) yet. I will be contacting ACAS for support in regards to contractual changes being imposed.

My thoughts were though, if they are acting unreasonably by changing my contracted days and they are agreeable to me keeping my current Mon-Wed working pattern, I'd be open to reducing my hours if they really don't need me on the afternoons like they've said.

From what I can tell, I'll have a strong case to fight the changes and found this information:

The Maternity Leave, Adoption Leave and Shared Parental Leave (Amendment) Regulations 2024 will extend the current protection so that it applies to women from the point they tell their employer they are pregnant and for an additional protected period following their return to work (calculated from the first day of the expected week of childbirth for a period of 18 months).
This means that, if an employee takes their full 12 months of statutory maternity leave, they’ll receive an extra six months of protection following their return to work.
New parents returning to work from adoption or shared parental leave will also be protected for a similar additional period.
The new right will come into force on 6 April 2024.

The thing that jumped out at me was this change reduces class size. How are you going to refute this as time that is the school's strongest point.

The individual wants v the student needs will be where the decision hinges. The contract does state the schedule may change so from a neutral position they appear to be well covered.

The wellbeing and your child's needs will be balanced I imagine to their collective students needs.

I think you have 2 separate issues here.

• I don’t think that they can vary your core hours and times during your mat leave and the 6 months protected following it. So they can try but would probably fail to get you to split your hours over 4 days. This isn’t a flexible working request to refuse the Thursday but a request to stick to your contracted hours.
• you actually seem to want to reduce your hours - this is what the flexible working request would be for. They can ultimately refuse this if they can make a business case for it.

This may not ultimately be resolved in a manner that fits for you and whilst I would continue to make the requests and follow the process, I would also dust off my cv and start looking at current roles that do fit for you. Easter is resignation time when new roles in teaching become available.