Much of the stress for supply teachers begins before they reach the classroom.  In this series of articles looking at top tips for supply teaching, we look at practical ways to reduce this stress. By Sharon Wood

Always leave the classroom tidy.  The attention to detail may not be noticed, but if a classroom is left in a mess, this will be noticed and noted.  Make an effort to check floors, surfaces and tables.

Leave the teacher’s desk tidy too.  Leave orderly piles of notes, marked work, and your handover sheet.  Don’t have a handover sheet?  Give mine a whirl, and let me know what you think, I’d love feedback!  Think how nice it is to come downstairs and into the kitchen in a morning to be greeted by a clear worktop… and apply that to the teacher’s desk!  Don’t fuss over what was left on there by the teacher, make sure your notes are obvious, but that if they walk in with something to put down, there is a space for it other than on top of your notes.

Enjoyed your day?  Tell any staff you can find about your day and thank them for welcoming you into their school.  If you’d like to return, let it be known: a quick ‘hope to see you again soon’ may prompt an investigation into possible dates in the school diary.

My first TA has been a close friend for 19 years now!  Take time to get to know the TA, even after school has finished.  You may be back there one day and s/he could be your greatest ally!

Have you cracked it? Do you get as much work as you want, in the schools you want to be in?  Let us know your top tips for supply teaching woes below, on Facebook, or on Twitter!

Where next? There’s a great quick read here on Tips for Supply Teachers – Improvisation. Check out our resources area here too.

Much of the stress for supply teachers begins before they reach the classroom.  In this series of articles looking at top tips for supply teaching, we look at practical ways to reduce this stress.  by Sharon Wood

Stock up your freezer!  There’s little time to make salad and sandwiches when you have to be at a school across town this morning, and the call came halfway through their assembly! Have ready to go food in your freezer for last minute call-outs. From your freezer you can grab yoghurt, a slice of malt loaf, a sausage roll or mini Cornish pasty, a pot of frozen berries, little pots of hummus and pitta breads. Grab and go! Of course, there are other foods that you can grab and go with, like porridge oats (think small containers, zip and lock bags etc.!) and other cereals, cans of or cup-a-soups, and my favourite: a baked-on-Sunday-wrapped-in-foil jacket potato!

Need a proper brew at break time?  Then keep a good stock of teabags, coffee sachets and silver coins in your supply bag.  Do not assume that you will be brought the latest flavoured offering from the coffee shop round the corner!

Have you ever sat in someone’s chair in the staffroom?  You may need to check before you sit I’m afraid.  This is quite a common phenomenon – even in my house.  I understand that visitors don’t know that it’s my chair, but I don’t take lightly to anyone sitting in it that has visited twice before!

Try to take time out of marking to visit the staffroom and have a chat.  It’s tempting to spend the whole lunch break in the classroom, making sure that morning’s work is marked and that you’re fully prepped for the afternoon, but honestly, if you like the school treat it as an interview day… Go into the staffroom and make a great impression!

Have you cracked it? Do you get as much work as you want, in the schools you want to be in?  Let us know your top tips for supply teaching woes below, on Facebook, or on Twitter!

Where next? There’s a great quick read here on Top Supply Teacher Tips: Active Professional Development. Check out our resources area here too.

Featured Article kindly Submitted by Genie Education

The UK operates a Pay as You Earn (PAYE) system for candidates employed by a recruitment agency or umbrella company.  Your UK employer will make the relevant tax deductions from each salary payment they make to you and pay it directly to Her Majesty Revenue and Customs (HMRC)

The HMRC is the equivalent of the ATO in Australia, the IRD in New Zealand, and the CRA in Canada.

The UK Tax Year runs each year from the 6th April to the 5^th April of the following year.

It is not compulsory for you to complete a UK Tax Return.

This guide will give you a basic overview of the typical deductions that are deducted via the UK PAYE system.

Income Tax

Income Tax is deducted from the gross salary paid to you.

2014-15 Income Tax deductions

Personal Tax Allowance

Not all of your salary is subject to income tax as nearly every UK resident employee will receive a personal tax free allowance.

The standard Personal Tax allowance for 2014/2015 is £10,000.  The tax code you are given by HMRC will dictate your personal tax allowance (see section below on how to obtain a personal tax allowance)

Your personal tax allowance is divided weekly over the tax year so each salary payment will have a proportion of income not subject to tax.

For the tax year 2014/2015 the standard weekly income tax free allowance will be £192 per week.  If this is your first job in the UK, this tax free allowance is back dated to 6 April 2014, so you may find you pay little or no income tax on your first few salary payments.

If you’re planning to undertake supply teaching work via more than one agency, then it’s advisable that you try to use one umbrella company to employ you on all your assignments. This will ensure the most tax efficient use of your personal allowance.

How to obtain a Personal Tax allowance

If this is your first job in the UK, it is essential to complete a starter declaration form (P46) which your recruitment agency or umbrella company will provide you with.  Completing the P46 form will provide you with a temporary tax code and therefore the appropriate personal tax free allowance.  You may be able to complete the starter declaration form (P46) electronically as part of your employment registration with the recruitment agency or umbrella company.

Employee National Insurance

You pay National Insurance contributions to build up your entitlement to certain state benefits.

As an employee you pay Class 1 National Insurance contributions. The rates are:

• if you earn more than £153 a week and up to £805 a week, you pay 12% of the amount you earn between £153 and £805
• if you earn more than £805 a week, you also pay 2 per cent of all your earnings over £805

These Employee National Insurance contributions are automatically deducted via the PAYE system so you don’t have to worry about completing a tax return.

How to obtain a National Insurance number

You will need to phone Job Centre Plus on 0845 6000 643.  They will send you an application form for you to complete and return to them.  The standard turnaround for you to receive a National Insurance number is 7 – 10 working days.

Featured Article kindly Submitted by Genie Education

Where next? There’s a great quick read here on paperwork for a job application. Check out our resources area here too.

By Sharon Wood

Much of the stress for supply teachers begins before they reach the classroom.  In this series of articles looking at top tips for supply teaching, we look at practical ways to reduce this stress.

In an ideal world (for most supply teachers!) all assignments would be pre-booked, and in the schools where we actually want to work, and they would be bountiful!

It can take some time to build up a relationship with a school to the point where they ask for you by name on pre-booked assignments, but there are things you can do to ensure this happens.  Here are my top 4 ideas, but do you have others?  Let me know!

Don’t be a recluse, and don’t think that in a school, there is anyone not worth talking to in terms of helping to get you noticed.  Cleaners, caretakers, dinner staff often have a quite different relationship with the Head teacher than the teaching staff!  In many good schools I worked in, the cleaners would have a fantastic, informal relationship with the Head, as they would chat with them about the goings-on in school at the very end of the day, when everyone else had left the building.  Cleaners comment on the state of the classrooms!  ‘Who was in that classroom today?  It looked like a bomb dropped as the children left!’  Was that where you were working?  ‘I met that new supply teacher just now, she’s still here, marking books, such a lovely lady and the tables are clear!’  Thumbs up!

Yard duty.  Should you?  Shouldn’t you?  If you want to work there again, I think you know the answer to that one!

Not your turn to go out onto the playground?  Offer to take a hot drink to those on playground duty while you’re there making your own.  A little touch like this will go a long way.

Be professional in your handover note to the teacher.  Make it comprehensive, but remain professional.  Child X may have had you looking for a brandy by 9.05am, but don’t have a tantrum yourself about it in your note, be factual and honest.

Have you cracked it? Do you get the bookings you want? Let us know your top tips for supply teaching woes below, on Facebook, or on Twitter!

Where next? There’s a great quick read here on tips for supply teachers. Check out our resources area here too.

by Sharon Wood

When I started supply teaching, it wasn’t through an agency.  I knocked on doors and hand-delivered my CV.  I felt I had no professional support.  I once contacted my (then) union about an issue, but unfortunately, unprofessionally, the concern fell on deaf (for deaf, read ‘friend of the accused / small world’) ears.  So, I turned to online support.  Don’t get me wrong, I was doing well, but I wanted to share my stories of how the day had gone, with someone who understood!  My partner isn’t a teacher, and I was new to the area.  I joined the TES forum.  It works for some, but it didn’t work for me.  There was an air of negativity about it.  About supply teaching.  And I was loving my work, I just had questions, queries, and suggestions to share.

I set up the supply teacher support forum and tried to lure other supply teachers to it by adding my suggestions and ideas to it!  It worked, and within a few short months it had become very popular!  In fact, in 2010, we even had a lovely weekend get-together here in the Lakes!

As we know though, supply teaching is a transitory profession for many, and very few of those lovely people we met here are still on supply.  I took time out with my newborn, and the forum fell quiet.

Here I am again however, like a bad penny!  Trying to create a wider sense of community for supply teachers.  I know the vast majority of supply teachers now work through agencies, I know some supply teachers don’t want to mix with other supply teachers, or feel they need to, but I still remember when I did… And I want to feel that I’m trying everything I can to help out anyone else who feels like that.  So we have the forum, the Supply Teacher Network on Facebook, I’m on Twitter, I’m on LinkedIn, I’m on Facebook, I’m on Google+, I have boards on PInterest, and I can be contacted by email… Get in touch, help grow, and feel part of the wider community!