Showing posts with label working pattern. Show all posts
Showing posts with label working pattern. Show all posts

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Money, money, money ...

Title refers to the Finance & Premises Committee, meeting this evening. However, this is the school blog, not the school governor blog, so what has Daughter been up to? She had a proper afterschool playdate, where I picked up both her and her friend. They played, they had tea, friend was collected (and threw a huge paddy because she didn't want to go home - am perversely flattered by this). She had school photos taken - whole school one day, and individual the next. They're very nice. I have a soft copy of the individual one, and need to order a copy of the whole school one. She went on a field trip. To a field. They had to take wellies in, named wellies, pegged together, in a named bag. I guess they have problems with wellie loss. I put her initials on the clothes peg I used to peg the wellies together, just to be on the safe side. And this afternoon she went on a reciprocal playdate, which also went very well, except at the end when her friend had a tantrum which I'm expected to see replicated at home any time soon (according to Husband it involved some new and innovative ways of misbehaving that Daugher won't have previously been aware of).

I wasn't there because I was Financing and Premising instead. We approved spending some money on some fun things (play equipment and books) and some dull things (insulation and checking out what needs doing with the roof). I was handed a FMSiS document in which I have to record my governor competencies. Obviously having got myself through the heavy-handed promotion process at work in May, and now being partway through converting my old-style (experienced-based) professional logbook in the new style (competency based) I am delighted to be doing this. Not. I think I can consider myself competent in 'understands finance and budgeting' and 'has numeric and analysis skills' and that's about it. Most of the rest is quite school-specific. Ah well.

Oh yes, Daughter had a half term as well, obviously. Husband took the whole week off, and I decided on the Tuesday that I could do enough hours Monday to Wednesday, plus the following Monday (when my parents had Daughter overnight) to add to a little flexi credit I already had ... and not work Thursday as well as Friday. So that was pretty good, especially as I wasn't very keen on cycling to work four days in a row (and on the Tuesday he didn't even take the car out, I am so furious!) She seems quite happy to be back at school, so all is well.

Sunday, August 3, 2008

The Basics

Us:
Daughter - 4 years old at the time of writing, hence off to school in September. Born pretty much half-way through the school year, so she'll be neither the youngest nor the oldest. Education to date - been at nursery since she was six months old.
Me - 30-*mumble* years old at the time of writing, and not getting any younger. Sigh. I work in the public sector, currently three days a week. Education to date: first year to do GCSEs (that dates me), four A-levels (took three years to achieve), one 2.1 degree from a redbrick university, professional qualifications.
Husband - 30-*mumble* PLUS ONE MONTH ha ha. Same public sector employer as me. Does stuff with computers. Education to date: ditto on the GCSEs, A-levels of some description, first-class degree in hard subject from slightly comic university.

The school:
Location: approximately two minutes' walk away. Yay! Urban/suburban location on the edge of a major town; fairly affluent middle-class catchment (not that it actually has a catchment area of course).
Status: voluntary controlled (this is the slightly less alarming incarnation of the faith school, where the LEA is responsible for admissions criteria and funding, and employs the staff); it's a CofE school with no religious entry criteria.
Ofsted think: it's outstanding.

The plan:
I'm switching my contract to term-time only at the start of September, i.e. I will only be paid for 42.2 weeks out of the 52.2 in the year, but the pay will be spread evenly over the year. I'll be 'unpaid' for the long school holidays, and take half-terms as annual leave.
I will work approximately 08.30 to 14.30, with Husband taking Daughter to school and me collecting her.

The back-up plan:
The doting grandparents (my parents) twenty minutes up the road.

The philosophy:
I wanted minimal dependencies when Daughter starts school - no reciprocal arrangements with friends, no breakfast club, no after-school club, no relying on the grandparents, etc. Just Husband (school drop-off), and my (our) remarkably accommodating employer (term-time contract). That way it can only get better as Daughter acquires friends, and is a more appropriate age for before/after school activities - can't it?