Guest Posted February 26, 2006 Share Posted February 26, 2006 Just wanted to find out how others find the use of PPA Time. All our PPA time is afternoons, teaching assistants cover all of it across the school, and there is no space to work except staff room, where your constantly interrupted. Just wondered what others did, whether you can go home, etc. The time flies, I would never get all planning done, try to get Literacy done, but the rest is done across a weekend. Does this apply to others? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 26, 2006 Share Posted February 26, 2006 In our school, there is a mix of mornings and afternoon. I had morning last week and managed to up date the Profiles, book a trip in the summer and do something else (forgotten). I try to set small jobs so that I feel I have achieved something by the end of it. We can go home, but there is SO much to carry - files etc. Depending on what needs doing, I sometimes choose to work from home, but mostly stay at school. The interruption problem is a valid one, as is lack of space. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 26, 2006 Share Posted February 26, 2006 Our ppa time changes every half term. We alternate by having half a term in the morning and the next half term in the afternoon. Mornings tend to be longer and you can get much more done. I have a year group partner and one week I will do the literacy planning and she will do numeracy vice versa. We then plan the topic led sessions together after school. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michaelle Posted February 26, 2006 Share Posted February 26, 2006 My PPA time is through thursday morning because it gives me some management time as well (am school senco). I usually work from home as I can begin work at 8.00 rather than spending an hour in traffic! Usually get a good 4 hours work done with the odd cuppa along the way. It really has freed up a lot of my weekends giving me even more time on here! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marion Posted February 26, 2006 Share Posted February 26, 2006 I've just started to get PPA time (yes I know I should have been getting it from September but.....) We are lucky we have a reform room that has just been kitted out (much smarter than the staffroom) I get joint PPA with the nursery teacher so we can work together on policy/planning etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
basilbrush Posted February 26, 2006 Share Posted February 26, 2006 we have a ppa room, which means much less interruptions, both year group teachers have ppa at the same time which means we can get all the planning done, and teaching assistants also come to it...... its good, but means that although classroom has a teacher in it, very little support for them Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 26, 2006 Share Posted February 26, 2006 Can I ask a question to those of you that have PPA time in a morning? I've always had mine in the afternoon and I know that I get 2 hours and 5 mins, but my colleague who has PPA in the morning gets 2 hours and 20 mins and insists that playtime isn't included in PPA time and the person covering her class does her playground duty. (Hope you're all following this). How much time are you actually supposed to have? I tend to find I only have time to get planning typed up for the following week and maybe a couple of resources got together. Our Staff room is a nightmare to try to work, people are always walking in and out, radios always on....anyway enough of that! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Really Posted February 26, 2006 Share Posted February 26, 2006 I get an afternoon a week and we do have a room we can go to without being interrupted. If I get my head down I usually do my Lit/Num for the following week along with a few other things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 26, 2006 Share Posted February 26, 2006 We get a day a fortnight & most people work from home. I always work from home as I live 30 miles from school, so it means making sure I have a plan of what I want to get done, so I can take all the necessary with me. I do planning, parent letters and prepare resources mostly, although next one will be spent writing mini-reports for parents evening. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 26, 2006 Share Posted February 26, 2006 My PPA time is every Tuesday afternoon. TAs cover my class and the other Y1/2 teacher, teaching art and PE (alternate classes). We have to sit in the library (back of the hall) insurance purposes (making sure we're covered just in case - not sure whether that is necessary though). We plan our afternoon subjects together in our PPA time, although I often feel I'd get on better without somebody else to distract me... we always seem to end up discussing other things. I tend to do my Lit/Num at the weekend so I have my week nights to try and relax (and do all the other things that seem to be added to my list before leaving school!).... never happens! Do find PPA time very useful, just a shame I always seem to have to put my classroom back to rights after art has been taught in there all afternoon and the work is left all over the floor to dry! Spam Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 27, 2006 Share Posted February 27, 2006 Our head calculated exactly how many hours and minutes we were entitled to and that is why we are only allowed PPA in the afternoon. I think if we could go home we would get more done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susan Posted February 27, 2006 Share Posted February 27, 2006 Officially PPA time is at least 10% of teaching time. So 1 session in a full week possibly! But of course mornings are usually longer than afternoons so some schools swop around or give 1 day every other week, or so it seems. Ive just been given some PPA cover time as the cover teacher which will be an afternoon, the theory in that school being that the afternoon is not broken by assembly or playtime! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 27, 2006 Share Posted February 27, 2006 Officially PPA time is at least 10% of teaching time. So 1 session in a full week possibly! But of course mornings are usually longer than afternoons so some schools swop around or give 1 day every other week, or so it seems.Ive just been given some PPA cover time as the cover teacher which will be an afternoon, the theory in that school being that the afternoon is not broken by assembly or playtime! 49304[/snapback] When ours was first being calculated back in September, we were told it couldn't include registration, play times, snack times or assemblies. I was ready for a fight (but luckily this wasn't necessary) as all these times are part of the children's learning in early years and, in the nursery we don't get breaks when the rest of the school is having playtime anyway. by the reckoning of The Powers that Be, our only taught time was probably the 15 minute carpet time session I do on number work or topic etc. each day, giving me PPA time of 7 1/2 mins a week! However, things soon settled. Ofsted came and went. Everyone chilled a bit. I think it was that they wanted everything on paper correct for the dreaded inspection, and beyond that nobody was too bothered. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest tinkerbell Posted February 27, 2006 Share Posted February 27, 2006 PPA time is calculated at 10%.At first my HT was very much letter of the law and was going to insist we stayed over lunchtime to do the register.Both myself r/yr1 and my collegueyr1/yr2 have PPA time on Friday afternoon.We have a contracted teacher who takes each cohort r,yr1,yr2 for music, a TOPS trained TA who takes each cohort for TOPS and a TA who takes each cohort for table top games. each cohort is 15 children. The children work on a carousel and it all works brilliantly. I dont really go home I prefer to do my work in school. Tinkerbell x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest tinkerbell Posted February 27, 2006 Share Posted February 27, 2006 PPA time is calculated at 10%.At first my HT was very much letter of the law and was going to insist we stayed over lunchtime to do the register.Both myself r/yr1 and my collegueyr1/yr2 have PPA time on Friday afternoon.We have a contracted teacher who takes each cohort r,yr1,yr2 for music, a TOPS trained TA who takes each cohort for TOPS and a TA who takes each cohort for table top games. each cohort is 15 children. The children work on a carousel and it all works brilliantly. I dont really go home I prefer to do my work in school. Tinkerbell x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marion Posted February 27, 2006 Share Posted February 27, 2006 Our morning and afternoon sessions are of equal length and we dont have the option of working at home Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redbase Posted February 27, 2006 Share Posted February 27, 2006 Very interesting reading about PPA time. We have one afternoon a week on a Monday and we have to take registration and say goodbye to children at the end of the day. We also have an half hour slot on a Thursday after lunch. The head takes the whole school for singing. We all have time together so we can discuss problems or ideas with each other. We spend most of the time planning but then it is finished for the week. Never have any time to do my assessment, subject work or resource making so that has to be squeezed in during the week or at weekends. Makes you wonder how you ever had time for it all before ppa. Trudie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 2, 2006 Share Posted March 2, 2006 We have a fab system at our school where every teachre has a day a fortnight - works very well and we can work from home or in 'The teacher workstation' which is actually a cupboard with a computer!! Put it to your head - so much more productive to have a day!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 2, 2006 Share Posted March 2, 2006 Are system is working well but there are problems. I have Friday afternoons off (and always go home) and a TA takes my class. The problems i have found so far are, we tend to have INSET on a Friday so i lose my PPA while the other teachers gain an early afternoon finish. The second is I feel so tired that i can't get focused. Plus one of the teachers has the morning off for PPA and as myself and the Y1/Y2 teacher have worked out, this person gets a longer period of time compare to ourselves. I would prefer a day a fortnight so i could get really into my planning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lorna Posted March 3, 2006 Share Posted March 3, 2006 We currently get one afternoon a week and can go home- but I think that is all about to change Deputy head is writing a PPA policy and we feel that we are going to have to spend our PPa time in school. We get no other time for curriculum areas/ responibilities- this is expected that we do it in our PPA time- How are others fairing on this? I thought we were meant to be getting less stress and a better work life balance- doesn't feel that way at the moment. L Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mundia Posted March 3, 2006 Share Posted March 3, 2006 I agree Lorna. We have a morning a week which works well but then we don't get additional time for phase managing or whatever. We are expected to stay on site to liaise with colleagues. We have a big issue also that we cant get quality cover and the children really dont respond well to the disruption. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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