Staff Meetings

[flowlow]

Hi all

 

wanted some advice really, although these seem strange questions need ammunition in the form of what other settings do!

 

would be grateful for some comments on a few questions:

 

How many times do you all call staff meetings? do you pay for this time? what sort of things do you cover and how long do they last? do you separate internal training and planning from staff meetings?

 

I know these seem basic questions but really need to see if I am being unreasonable

 

many thanks

[Guest]

I have staff meetings every month; have tried doing them less frequently but I didnt like that!

 

One month we will have a short meeting, i.e no longer than an hour as I am very mindful that my staff have already done a long day; during this meeting we will discuss a few issues, spend time in rooms etc, but def no longer than an hour

 

The following month we do training and my staff know this will be longer; however no longer than 2 hours.

 

Staff are given time back for this time or paid if time back is accumulating.

 

Hope this helps!

[trekker]

Hi

We are a small committee run preschool and after many years of requesting paid time for staff we now have weekly 'planning' meetings lasting 1 hr max during which we discuss and evaluate the weeks activities, consider childrens responses, needs and interests and consider some possibilities (resources / activities/ obs focus) for the next week.

This is basically all we can get done in one hour and it is paid for and all staff expected to attend.

Since our planning is very much 'short term' week to week, day to day we feel we need to meet weekly to keep up with all the changes needed - That and the fact that our 5 a year inset ws just not enough staff ' together' time!

 

5 times a year we also have a 'INSET' day which basically covers a range of things eg staff training, disucssion of new ideas, research, feedback from courses, admin, planning special events, improvement planning, decluttering and if lucky some extra time for updating files...these days last about 5 hours and also paid and all expected to attend.

[Inge]

All really very dependant on circumstances.. staff and interaction and all sorts.. we were a well established experienced team so could pass information between us very efficiently and found formal staff meetings were not always needed.

but when we did I did feel all staff meetings should be paid time, and we tried to hold one longer session a term of about 2 hours but did find we had a brief meeting almost everyday for 15 mins to discuss issues and children etc with staff on that day.. and once a week we had all staff present for about half hour meeting.

 

By doing this we often found the longer one was not needed... but we did have 5 days for coming in and doing essentials together.. half day meeting and half day declutter, tidy, clean or whatever was needed.

[mrsbat]

We have a 2hr one on the first Tuesday of every month (This is set so all staff know exactly when they are) In this meeting we discuss any training needs/feedback, health and safety needs/problems etc, upcoming events, any staff issues, planning etc things like that really or anything else that crops up near the time.

 

We don't pay staff mainly because we can't afford to - with 11 staff you're talking over £100 per meeting!!

 

We then have mini informal meetings which generally last half an hour each week where any urgent things get discussed or if a planning opportunity arises etc

[Devondaisy]

We have 1 hour paid each month, although the meeting always lasts longer, usually 2 hours. As all staff except me work part-time, this is the only time we all get together as a team, so it is vital. We discuss everything including planning, although we also discuss planning and individual children's needs daily as well.

 

I would love to have a weekly meeting, but this would be difficult due to staff hours, (they all work different days), and we couldn't afford to pay anyway!

[finleysmaid]

i do 1 hour paid per week for staff meeting . Our next steps are done on a fortnightly basis so one week is setting next steps and the next is review and evaluation. If anyone has been on a training course they cascade this information at this time. We never stick to the hour but my staff love the time that we spend together ....some weeks it just ends up as a catch up but i would not give it up for anything,,,it unites us as a team We also have clear up days and set up days during the year...some of this time will be used to plan long term or discuss sen needs/resources etc etc etc

[flowlow]

Hi all

 

thank you all so much for your replies. We are a small pre-school and to be honest I think everyone is suffering a little from doing a lot on just good will alone. I know this is how most of us work but some of the staff are beginning to feel a little resentful and some of the committee are so concerned with running things like a business and don't seem to have any notion of the kind of hours and work we all put in for nothing. The staff don't believe me when I say that other places run just like we do! I am in the process of trying to reach compromises which will suit everyone and allow me to run the pre-school effectively. I fought and got the planning paid for but only half hour per staff per week and feel this is important to do together although we do add and change on a daily basis around the children's needs/wants/interests etc... but at the moment there is no official time for staff meetings and no money to have them. We do have some days across the year (about four/five) which is supposed to be for training but we are told we cant use these for admin, or sorting/clearing/cleaning, toy maintenance, discussions, staff meetings or planning they have to be for training and training as a team. It is hard though as each member of the team needs internal training on different things depending on experience and role. Most of the staff feel these days would be better used as catch up time for admin (with about 10 children each it would be handy).

 

I have tried not planning together and using this time as staff meetings, which were informal, but didn't work out so well and I think I may have to start making them more formal and writing minuets etc. as one member of staff doesn't always turn up although to be fair she is very good with everything else, and another staff member needs some extra help!

 

thank you so much again for all your responses it has been really helpful in learning what everyone else does

 

xx