Thinking of going it alone!!

[Ivans]

Hi

I've been a supply teacher now for about 5 years now (on and off) and have been considering working for myself meaning that I would be prospecting the schools directly and foregoing the agencies that I work through.

I've been self-employed before (albeit in a different industry) so am not a newbie when it come to paying my own tax and NI. I have also developed quite a good rapport with most of the schools that I do regular work through, this includes some schools even requesting me by name. I do strongly feel that with my extensive experience on supply as well as making some efforts to research how angencies work, I do feel that this is something I could pull off.

Is there anyone else who does this already or is this just a crazy
To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 1 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
that I have and nt worth my while getting involved in.

Ivans

[janeb]

I definitely think you should work with schools directly!

I use 2 agencies but also do work directly - I get much more money working directly and really resent having to give so much of my daily pay to my agencies (especially when I've just been asked to do a month's cover at one school but we're having to do so through an agency as I did the first day supply through them - therefore, they want to still give me the same daily rate but I'll have to do planning etc and they'll have nothing to do
To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 1 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
- I've asked for this to be reviewed urgently!!)

Why not hang onto the agency for a while until you have a regular amount of work from schools direct? (or are these the same schools you've worked at through the agency so you're worried about conflict?)

Go for it Ivans!

[Ivans]

I feel that I have a good enough rapport witha few schools that I work with to be able to do a lot of my hours directly through them but I'm very unsure of the steps to get it all off the ground.

I'm not too worried about conflict with other agencies I'm just not sure of the protocal for approaching a school regarding booking me directly.

I was approached by the head teacher of one of the schools I teach at on a regular basis to cover ICT from September to December this year. The head said that he wanted to book me now before any other agency snapped me up (his words) but I do wonder now how much I'm going to be losing out.

The teacher I'm replacing during this time is the current head of ICT where I currently work 2 days per week covering Geography. He's taking a job as deputy head at another school and has indicated to me that, once settled, he wants to continue using me at his new school (where the need arises).
I feel that if I could set myself up in time I could capitalise on this but as mentioned, I don'f feel I have the knowledge just yet to do this now.

This is why I'm seeking advice from here.

Ivans