May be offered a perm position at a teaching job from September but it’s a 55 mins drive each way

One factor to consider is the availability of childcare to cover that commute. You're okay if your partner can do the morning drop-off, but otherwise you would need somewhere that opens by 7.30. The other possibility is to use a nursery near the school, but then that works less well if your partner needs to pick up (eg if child is ill, or you have parents' evening going beyond the opening times), and of course it means the child has all the travelling too.

You must be paid less than minimum wage working all those hours? Interesting mix of responses from other teachers as well.

As it says.

Leaving at 3.30 at a good school would make this a yes for me. I have done supply. This combination is rare in my experience.

I've been in a few schools. It's standard. You are VERY lucky if you only work until 5. That is the exception. It's why we're haemorrhaging existing teachers and can't recruit enough trainees.

It the expectation that we should work these hours that have got the system into its current state. I spent too long working like that and now have a life long chronic illness and am struggling to conceive a baby.
OP- I think if you are confident they will be able to provide you with those part time hours then you should take it. Best of luck to you and your husband.

I would say it’s too far. You can’t use the drive for anything other than thinking/decompressing or, at most, listening to books/podcasts. You’ll still have your prep work to do when you get home, or you’ll be home pretty late and will need to leave home pretty early as standard.

It is doable if you really like the school (and if their schemes of work and resources are already in point) but if you have doubts or there will be a lot of daily planning involved, I wouldn’t commit to that length of a commute.

There are always schools that would be worth it, of course. If it’s amazing, then do it. If it’s just okay, you can probably find okay nearer home.

This makes me laugh. Yes I work in education. No I have never had a commute as short as 55 mins! Obviously it's you job and your life. There's no law saying you cannot refuse a job based on how far away it is. So do whatever you want, but if you are wanting opinions, there's mine: don't reject a job for it's long commute when it has a short commute!

I teach a mixed year group class so arguably higher planning load and don't do anything like this. If this is genuinely what your school expects you need to consider whether they need you more than you need them and if so cut back on what you're doing, or if not leave for somewhere more sensible.

It's too far long term (I know lots of people do it but it's a waste of a life and completely unnecessary in primary teaching when there are primaries all over the place) but in your situation I'd do it for the mat pay etc and reassess once you've done your 12 weeks back. I suspect you will find it much too far when you have a baby.

It’s not too bad. I commute to Frankfurt once a month and words cannot describe the level of hatred I have for this self imposed commitment (It’s my business and I set this contract up personally so only have myself to blame) 😂.

Is it 55 mins on a clear day or can it get much longer with traffic? I’d be fine with 1 hour each way as a daily commute but if it was turning into 2 due to frequent traffic jams it would start to piss me off. I do frequent long journeys for work and don’t mind, I stick a pod cast on and buy car snacks but I get to choose as and when so appreciate it’s different when you’re committed full time.

It’s not the longest commute OP and worth it for a school you actually like.

What are your other options? Are there viable schools closer to you who are hiring? If you don’t take this opportunity is there a chance you will be left jobless?

Mine is 35 mins driving which isn't much but it equates to 52 miles on the car each day. That soon adds up in fuel, mileage depreciation on my car, extra insurance costs due to the mileage and also looking at 2 services on the car each year due to the mileage instead of one. I love the me time,radio and podcasts on my drive but I'd rather spend my money on something else.

You must be doing teaching wrong then! I never get in to school before 8 and leave at half four at the latest. Do a couple of hours on a Sunday.
Why do you put this nonsense on every thread about teaching. It’s untrue and puts people off a rewarding job.

If I were in your position OP, I would find 55 minutes drive too far. There's too much potential for traffic delays in that long a journey and you can't be late. Maternity pay is all very well but are you going to want to do a 55 minute journey in each direction when you go back to work after the baby is born?

You're being sarcastic obviously. But I don't believe what your friends allegedly say.

Lots of people would find a 55 minute commute each way too far. 4 or 5 hours a day commute is insane imo. All that time sitting in a car, either side of presumably hours of sitting in an office (for most of those people). Christ - what a way to live. No wonder people are unhealthy and burnt out.

At least in teaching we are mostly standing up and moving around a bit. My 30 min commute is enough for me, but I guess if it were a choice of a nice school and all the nearby ones were awful, maybe I'd consider a longer commute. Sounds like your school is only ok though, OP?

If there’s a chance you may need Universal Credit as support when you’re on maternity leave, bear in mind that government maternity pay is deducted pound for pound, but company maternity pay is not, so you tend to be a lot better off.

ClawsandEffect After school clubs? Planning? When do you do everything? I'm a teacher and I'm in school from 7am to 6pm. I get home and work until 9 or 10pm and usually work all Sunday too.

These are crazy hours. So glad I work in a reasonable school. No wonder so many teachers are leaving. I never work at weekends and work until 4.30 or 5 each day. All this detailed planning, assessment and micromanaging of teachers and classroom time, no wonder teachers want to leave and kids now hate school

@Trovindia - you must introduce me to your teacher friends. Mine are on their knees.

It is for loads of people. Most of the people who live in my town, for a start, hundreds are commuting into London daily which takes two hours door to door. And that happens in towns all around the south east. Plus around other big cities in the UK. It's not unusual at all.

I didn't say it was a walk in the park, but there are plenty of jobs that are just as hard, and an hour commute is totally normal.

Plus the OP herself is saying she finishes by 4pm! So she's home by 5 - I didn't even used to finish work at that time and most people don't.

I did it. I used to quite like my commute time as I had time to listen to Radio 4 and the news and have some headspace to myself. Used to plan my lessons in my head too!

The worst days were when I'd had no sleep if DC had been up in the night - it was a long blooming drive then.

Working 3 days is a different balance to the relentlessness of a 5 day teaching week. You're still exhausted but you are more of a master of your own destiny 4/7 days of the week. Well, kind of...

You also work differently when you go back from mat leave e.g. when I had full class set reports to do after having DD, I absolutely fired through them at every available minute in school because I knew I couldn't spend all evening at home doing them in front of the TV with a cup of tea.