Not sure what the right word is for holidays you take when you want to?

Daughter came home from school on Thursday saying her class teacher was going to be off the next day because ‘her sister was having a baby’.

Do teachers have additional leave on top of school holidays that they can take as they wish, or is there likely to be a bit more to the story than was told to a class of 7 year olds?

it can vary, depending on school policy.
it’s just discretionary though, as far as I know, on the part of the employer – you can’t just take leave when it suits. compassionate leave is normally stipulated and is immediate family.
not sure that someone’s sister having a baby should qualify for leave though.

You can take unpaid leave or get compasionate leave in some circumstances. Heads discretion and all that.

too slow

Ta. I wondered whether for teachers annual leave entitlement was school holidays plus x days to be taken whenever.
I’ll assume there was a bit more to it then, since it seems it wouldn’t have been normal leave.

For us it’s got to be someone pretty close who has died to get the day off for their funeral. Perhaps your girl’s teacher is rarely off or perhaps her sister has had “complications” before.

It’s pretty unusual. My wife didn’t get a day off when we moved into our house. Just part of their terms and conditions.

My place is pretty good – quite flexible. I got the day off when my sister gave birth (early) on the day she was also moving house(late) so I could help out. Quite a stressful day all up – don’t recommend it! They were also ace when my dad died earlier this year and in the run up to it.

Sad sight recently was a good friend who is a primary teacher turning up in tears just as the wake/reception for a mutual friend’s funeral (in her 30s) was finishing. They had been really, really close friends and she had been at the hospital looking after her friend’s little girl when she passed away. Her head point blank refused to let her go to the funeral (even as unpaid leave -she even offered to pay for the cover teacher) and she went along with it – personally I’d have told him to swivel and taken the consequences (or appeal to the governors). Unfortunately there is no “making the time up” for teachers and people don’t conveniently choose to die or give birth in our excessive holidays.

Convert thats awful. I got time off for a friends funeral. Was also off for two weeks when my brother died. Happend in the easter hols, emailed the head to say i was off to nz and didnt know when i’d be back. He just said see you when you get back. Some people are just idiots though i suppose.

Moving house and your own child being born are allowed for in the contract

the rest is discretionary. With without pay again at the discretion of…

At my place if you are required to work results day (I am) then you get a day off in compensation. But you can only take that day when there is no teaching if you just want a day off. But it is often used by negotiation for kids graduations etc.

Family member’s child could be quite complex, too- could be there’s concerns or complications that take it beyond “It’d be nice to be involved”.

Pretty good in my place but for a day it usually has to be pretty serious or a day where you have no contact eg when exam leave is.. Saying that the Christmas draw has a Friday afternoon off as top prize.

It’s really down to the head or depute. I can’t imagine how bad the staff/ smt relationship would have to be not to get time off for these circumstances.

At the end of the day a school is still a place of work, sometimes that gets lost in the ‘oh but what about the little children’ as such employees need a bit of give and take to fit work round people’s lives. Most employers know this and understand that. Very few don’t, and they are best avoided working for.

convert – Member
Sad sight recently was a good friend who is a primary teacher turning up in tears just as the wake/reception for a mutual friend’s funeral (in her 30s) was finishing. They had been really, really close friends and she had been at the hospital looking after her friend’s little girl when she passed away. Her head point blank refused to let her go to the funeral (even as unpaid leave -she even offered to pay for the cover teacher) and she went along with it – personally I’d have told him to swivel and taken the consequences (or appeal to the governors). Unfortunately there is no “making the time up” for teachers and people don’t conveniently choose to die or give birth in our excessive holidays.

That head is unfit to manage people.

My brother and his GF who’s a primary teacher went off to Australia for a year’s travelling 2yrs ago, she got leave from her work and straight back into her job that was held for her when she returned – cushty eh?.

CptJ +1

I remember my maths teacher sitting in our class in tears, barely able to speak as he’d just been told that someone close to him had unexpectedly died. We weren’t really sure what to do as he was a bit of a state and we were 14. I remember thinking then, that if I was ever a manager and a member of staff was in his position I’d send them home/ where ever they needed to be. not only must it have been horrific for him, but it was also quite upsetting for 30 teenagers to see a grown man in pieces like that for an hour.

somafunk – Member
– cushty eh?.

Funktard

It seems to vary massively from School to School, as it is basically desided locally by the head.
The head at my wifes last school allowed people 1 house move per year (the thinking was that you don’t get much say over when you complete) however he was a total arse over funerals, and my Mrs had to go sick to get a day off for her Nans funeral.
The head at her current school is pretty reasonable about ‘time off’ provided it can be covered internally (preferably within your dept)
As mentioned above (and common to all walks of life) there are some complete C**ts in charge of some schools, who aren’t fit to manage a corner shop, however there are a few good ones aswell…
It is also more difficult in small primary schools where there are less ‘spare bodies’ to cover other peoples lessons..

funktard

If that was a snide remark in response to my

cushty eh?

then it would be preferable if you raised your objection using a cohesive sentence next time, the education standards these days are really slipping….Tsk…Tsk.

Oh, BTW – we take the piss out of claire (bro’s gf) all the time for taking a year off, you see it’s a good way to wind her up as she’s usually working every hour of the day for her kids – she’s a bloody good teacher who loves her job but i still consider it

cushty

that she could take a year off and walk straight back into her job one day after arriving back from a year away.

Double funktard

That’s better, you’re getting the hang of it now.

Tomorrow we will work on our punctuation and grammar.

that she could take a year off and walk straight back into her job one day after arriving back from a year away.

amazing given what an easy and well paid job it is and thats before the gold plated pension is considered!