Handing notice in (term time role)…

[Highlandcows]

I work at a school in a term time only role (non teaching staff). Been there for 15 years.

i’ve been offered a job at a different school, again a term time only non teaching role, but better hours/pay.

The new role is to start from the new academic year in September. if I decide to accept when should I give my notice in?

I am required to give a month.

do I hand it in straight away and say my last day with them would be the date before I start the new role. This then gives them the most time to recruit a replacement. Or do I wait and hand my notice in literally a month before the new role would begin?

im not sure how it works with being pro rata. I don’t work a day in August yet I get paid a normal months pay as my annual pay is worked out to be spread equally across 12 months.

if I handed my notice in now but said my end date was effectively 1st September for example, is that even allowed?

thanks

I once handed my notice in at Easter (I was in a temper) but said that my last day would be the 1st September because I wanted to be paid through the summer. To be fair to your present school, hand your notice in after half term but state very clearly that your last day will be 1st September. That way they have time to find a replacement. Enjoy your new job

Teaching staff would have to hand notice on the last day of May before half term. They are contracted for 1/2 a term though if you only need to give 1 month you could hand notice in after half term.

It would depend on wether they would allow you to hand in your notice now with a leaving date of the day before your new role starts. This would allow them the time to find a replacement. If they don't allow this, you hand your notice in four weeks before you're due to start your new role otherwise you'll lose out on money.
Are you in the position to be able to speak with your current employer?

Talk to your HT and let them know what's going on. We always pay up until 31st August if resigning in summer term as holiday is already calculated and paid as part of salary. Most term time contracts state that holiday periods aren't included as part of notice periods to avoid people resigning in August and leaving the school without the opportunity to recruit for September.

Did you start your role at the beginning of September all those years ago? If so, you should be paid until the end of August regardless of how soon you give notice.

In that case just say giving notice with effect from 1 September, my last day of employment will be 31 August and my last day of attendance will be (insert last day of term).

If you don’t work a full 12 month cycle as a TTO employee, they will need to calculate your leaving pay. You could either owe or be owing.

Assume your Head knows as they would have been asked for references? Could you have a conversation with them?

Thank you for all your replies so far.

I’ve not yet had conversations with anyone at my current school so the HT isn’t yet aware.

I don’t want to leave them in the lurch and want to give them as much time as possible to recruit my position, whilst at the same time obviously not doing myself out of pay for august.

when I started my job 15 years ago I started at the beginning of the school year so would have been something like 3rd September.

My immediate line manager is also someone I consider a friend and I think would understand my leaving. So I think they’d try to be helpful and find out when my notice should go in. think I’m going to have to just be honest and let them know next week that I’ll be handing my notice in. I suppose I’ll just ask how best to do it to ensure I still receive my August pay as normal.

thank you all. Scared and nervous, but excited too.

Even if you finished employment in July, you should still get the equivalent of August’s pay paid out as leaving pay. You would have accrued entitlement to it from the last September as you would have done all the ‘actual working weeks’ for the 12 month period.

Good luck with your new job!

Yep last day 31st Aug. 1st day of new 1sept.
I left school job over summer term and gave in notice on last day of term in July stating my last day would be 31st aug.
A colleague email 4weeks notice during summer hols.
Depends on how you want to end it I guess.

Hand it in/email it 30 days before you start at the new school. That way, you keep length of service for pension - and the current school doesn't end up deducting money from your last pay because you haven't worked a whole year, so you end up with no money at the end of August.

im not sure I’ll be able to hold out handing my notice in until the end of the term in July. The new school will reach out for a reference any day so even without me saying anything, they’ll figure out what’s going on. And I don’t want to leave on bad terms. I’ve loved every minute of my job and the people I work with so don’t want to leave them in a rubbish position with not much time to recruit.

if I was to hand my notice in after half term, and state that my final day of employment will be the day before my new job starts, and that therefore my final day in work would be the last day of term in July, then surely by that point I’ve worked all my contracted hours anyway and already earnt Augusts pay? That’s what I’m hoping anyway.

thank you for the good luck wishes!