Sick children, stressed teachers and nativity casting

Unwell children

December is the season for carols, nativities…and passing round stomach bugs along with the usual coughs and colds.

But how does your school deal with absence due to sickness or diarrhoea? The NHS recommends to stay home from school for 48-hours following sickness or diarrhoea, but this is just a recommendation – and schools can choose whether or not to adopt it.

More primaries follow the 48-hour rule for students AND staff compared to secondary schools (59% vs 40%), and more primaries follow the rule just for students compared to secondary schools (34% vs 18%).

There were differences in whether schools followed the 48-hour sickness rule, depending on their levels of Free School Meals (FSM) eligibility.

Schools in the most deprived areas were much less likely to follow the 48-hour rule compared to those in the least deprived areas.

In primary schools, the most affluent areas were more likely to have the 48-hour rule for both students and staff when compared to the most deprived areas (62% vs 51%).

Similarly the most affluent secondary schools were more likely to have the 48-hour rule for both students and staff (43% vs 22% for FSM Q4).

Independent (private) schools were the most likely to follow the 48-hour rule. 71% of primary and 67% of secondary independent schools applying it for both students and staff.

Unwell children in the classroom

It’s an event no teacher wants: the slightly pale-looking child who raises their hand and asks to go to the medical room. For the fortunate – they reach their destination without projectile vomiting everywhere. For the unfortunate…🤢

How many classroom teachers had to send children out of class last week? Half of all teachers (50%) reported sending at least one child to the medical room, and 23% of those had to send more than one.

Things didn’t change when accounting for primary vs secondary splits – but they DID change when taking into account levels of deprivation.

This time, the most affluent areas were slightly less likely to have a child ask to be sent out of class, compared to schools in the most disadvantaged areas (48% vs 55%).

School nurses

🏥 However, the member of staff who assesses those children being sent out of class is unlikely to be a school nurse.

Just under half of secondaries (47%) have a school nurse, compared to 16% of primaries.

Hop across the pond, and things seem to be very different; Teacher Tapp USA recently found out 97% of schools have a school nurse.

Causes of stress

With the dark days, the rush for the end of term PLUS all the germs that circulate at this time of year – is December, rather than April the cruellest month? Or at least, the first two and a half weeks of it? 🤪

Comparing causes of stress in December to other months, it is possible to see a pattern emerging…

The top cause of stress in December is…student behaviour. However – it is usually student behaviour! It’s just sometimes more strongly student behaviour than others 😳. This month, 52% reported student behaviour as a cause of stress (up from 45% in September).

Accountability is the cause of stress for just 30% in December – but in May last year, it was 38%.

Marking has had the biggest rise since September – growing to 34% from 19% at the start of the year…there is probably a direct correlation here to the size of the marking pile increase too…

It isn’t just time of year that changes what is stressful in school – student behaviour is a source of stress for 59% of classroom teachers, but just 39% of senior leaders including headteachers.

Senior leaders and headteachers have worries of their own: relationships with colleagues is more of a concern for senior leaders compared to classroom teachers (35% vs 23%), as are relationships with parents (34% vs 22%).

How does December 2024 compare to previous years?

In December 2018, 38% of headteachers and senior leaders reported accountability as a source of stress, and again in 2023 a similarly high percentage, 41%. This December, however, it has dropped to 27%.

The number of classroom teachers reporting student behaviour as a source of stress has remained broadly unchanged from last year: 58% and 59%.

Primary school teachers who are finding parental relationships to be a source of stress is slightly lower compared to last December, but still higher than pre-pandemic: 2018 17%, 2023 36% and 2024 28%.

Social play time in primary

Over the years the amount of social play time children have at school has been cut back – but do teachers feel like their pupils would benefit from more time to play?

Classroom teachers feel more strongly that children would benefit from more social play time compared to senior leaders (34% vs 22%).