Has any one got two labbies?

[linotas]

Fibreweb WOW! I thought our old labs were bad that I had to walk up two small flights of stairs and had two separate prep rooms, but that is ridiculous! How the hell do you get your work done? I have a huge backlog of admin to do over the holidays as well as the annual cleaning of all equipment. Granted, we have had a lot of extra work with our big move, but we have a service factor of 0.6 and run ok on that but my new labs are in a square with my prep room inbetween.

[sunray18]

I have 6 labs. 4 are on the top floor of one building with a Prep room between each pair. I have one lab I call 'The Outer Hebrides' which is in a demountable on the other side of the school - you need to take a packed lunch with you to visit it, especially now when you have to walk through a construction site to get to it [they are building Trade centre kitchens and Technics buildings between the main set of labs and the demountables!].
I then have 'The inner hebrides' which is on ground floor in another building, which is at a lower level again, and is a few hunderd metres away from the main block. I have 12 teachers to look after. A couple of those are more maths than science, but still need pampering!
The staff room and admin building are at the bottom of a hill, and all the science rooms are uphill. Staff room is 110 footsteps from my main labs, and if the photocopiers play up, jam, or whatever part of my job is to 'run' down there and fix them.
I have no idea why I am not fitter!

[lizzieb]

The workplace conditions that Fibreweb and Sunray have to deal with on a daily basis sound incredible, and I often wonder what can be done to raise awareness with a view to improving their situations.

In an ideal world, a workplace would provide a second labbie in these situations, even if only for a few hours weekly, and mainly to fetch & carry between distant labs. I know, I know, don’t laugh!! The cynical side of me says ‘Yeah right, Liz!’ ….

But there’s a positive side of me too, that says ‘how do you know what you can achieve unless you give it a try?’

Now that we have this wonderful resource in chemtalk, giving us the ability to access and compare different workplace situations across the nation, we also have an opportunity to let people know the enormity of the jobs these two women do for their schools, comparative to others.

Thanks to Smeee and her new NSW labbie’s organisiation, there is now another way to start this process. I hope that both of you filled out the recent survey, giving comprehensive details of your daily duties, so that your voices can be heard.

[linotas]

Liz, you are spot on. How "management" cannot appreciate, when put on paper in front of them, the incredibly difficult circumstances some labbies work under, is beyond me. It needs a collective voice to get the message heard and I can only hope that the NSW labbies particularly, can get changes happening to rectify soem of these appauling work conditions and recognition for the amazing jobs they do.

[pinky]

I have been through a few of the posts and still cant find if there is a correct formula for the amount of science hours i should get. It is only a small school with two labs.

[RosalieM]

I don't think there is a 'set formula' used anywhere in NSW but there is a 'recommended formula' put forward by someone in the UK I think. That's what labbies have used previously on here to calculate hours. I will try to find it and link it for you.
Rosalie

[RosalieM]

Pinky, I hope this helps.

[Labbie]

this may help you Ian

[tuesday]

I'm on my own with 800 students and I only do science, but at my old school we had 1260 students with two of us lab techs everyday. Otherwise the work doesn't get done , pracs don't get out and it's amazing how loud the Science Teachers yell when this starts happening. It worked in my favor.

[Merilyn1]

Wow. At my last school we had nearly 1100 students and only me and I wasn't even full time. No wonder there were days when I felt like curling up in a ball and hoping it would all go away!

[daterata]

There are two Lab Assistants at my school which has an enrolment in excess of 1300 . I am permanent full-time and the other assistant works four days.
Even with two of us we'll still be struggling to accomplish all our goals on our school Performance and Development Plan...(and that's another story)

[linotas]

We have 2 full time labbies and a part time (1-2 days) across two campuses. We have total, just over 1200 students from k-12. I have around 300-400 yr 11/12 and there are probably around 500-600 at the highschool with the remainder in primary.