Letters

Reassuring support

Can I congratulate ASCL on an excellent service for your members. Having been a member for a relatively short period of time I have been most impressed.

Recently I had cause to use the hotline and found it to be prompt and informative; in particular I would like to commend David Chamberlain for his rapid response and sound advice.

As an acting headteacher with little experience, this type of service is invaluable. I hope I don't have to use it too often for difficult situations but it is of great comfort to know it is there.
 
Acting headteacher, Northwest

Apples with apples?

I am glad to see ASCL taking a robust response to single status implementation - it is not only ASCL members directly affected by job evaluation who are feeling the impact.

A big issue for many of us is that the wording of job descriptions and salaries weighted by the circumstances of the school are being taken out of the control of heads and governing bodies. In the recent round of job evaluations in Manchester, lunchtime organisers and senior lunchtime organisers originally came out at the same salary.

However, the job of SLO in a small primary school has been deemed to be the same as in a large secondary, which doesn't seem to reflect the differences. In effect we are being forced to accept the job evaluation because the local authority will not bear the cost of claims if we don't.
Basically, the anomaly lies in legislation concerning support staff appointments which contradicts the principle of delegation to schools.

David Watchorn, Branch Secretary and Head of Abraham Moss High School, Manchester

Editor's note: ASCL is working on behalf on members in several local authorities who have run into similar situations. If your school is experiencing difficulty with the single status agreement, please call the hotline on 0116 299 1122.