Staff Room!!!

Can I say Hello too? I teach 'A' levels at a large FE college.

Just noticed scary teacher wants to do an MA - is that in RE? What's the course like? I have got my MA in education, but now fancy doing one in Philosophy. I did fancy the one at Heythrop, but its too far for me to travel... so now thinking I might try to do something distance learning?

And in answer to your question, I didn't find my MA too difficult - but not sure if that was because the institution or the subject was perhaps less academic than my first degree.

Whizz- yeah I get that just am speaking from SN side

I teach A-level and GCSE chemistry, GCSE science and applied science and a tiny bit of KS3 science. I also work as a consultant for Manchester University Physical Sciences. Full time, large co-ed bog standard comp in a deprived area.

Nymphadora - I must point out we do have to cover classes on our own too

Hi Juanitad. I'm also an MFL teacher - in a large comp in North lancs. I returned to work for the rest of the school year (11 weeks) after having my DS. It was the worst 11 wks of my life & I found it exrememly difficult. I now work pt and do feel that I have the best of both worlds although at times school can so easily take over. I don't want to increase my hours any more now til DS starts school. However, a good friens of mine was Head of History, and has now had 2 kids & is back full time HOD again. She says she needs the challenge of her job and feels she is a better Mum tha she would be if she were at home all the time. What I'm trying to say is tht you just don't know how you are going to feel until you have that baby.

Good luck!

Our school prefers TAs covering as the teachers don't 'get' the kids and we have to explain every detail and routine. If we have a TA supply & regular TA taking charge it runs much smoother.

I know Whizzz. Some cover teachers are so rubbish and lazy and disinterested. I get teachers at school begging me (Cover Supervisor) to agree do their classes when they're off, rather than a supply teacher who gets paid 3x as much as me

ARGH just want to yell at the cover teachers who get paid to TEACH COVER classes & all they do is read out an instruction & then sit down and read a book, leaving the TA (me!) to run round the class explaining everything to everyone and teaching re-explaining things they don't understand. GRRRR

ooh nymph, hope you're downing a few glasses of wine tonight - sounds like you deserve it. I think TAs who support ASD kids are amazing - it requires a huge amount of patience and tolerance.

Happy Friday everyone!

Had an interesting afternoon today, we had a joint performance with our school at local MS secondary. I shared 3 boys with ASD with another TA and we both have come back covered in bruises , I have a swollen lip and she has hurt her shoulder because they took it in turns to kick off. Before anyone jumps on us for the 'why did you bother' they DID REALLY ENJOY their bits and some of the bits in between , just not the waiting!(and in 1 case the trip back to school!)

Thanks moomin, some v good advice there. Think you are right about not planning too much in advance!

It's a tough one isn't it? In me expereience tough, I made ttc number 2 a whole lot harder than it should have been by constantly putting things off 'because I be pregnant by then' (not so much to do with promotion at the time but still fairly big life things). I was living for the chance of getting pg instead of living life the way I should have. As a consequence, I'm fairly sure the stress I put myself under delayed getting pg. When I got pg with dd1 I was already acting HoD, working f/t and busy as hell concentrating on work. It took us 4 months to conceive dd1 (including one early miscarriage). When we were ttc dd2 I was working p/t, on responsibility points for other stuff by then but it took me 2 years to conceive! It was a very stressful time fr all involved, with dh ready to give up trying on several occasions.

What I'm trying to say is you should do what's best for you right now. If you feel motivated about work and excited at the prospect of promotion, then go for it and carry on ttc. If you get the promotion and then get pg, it's the school's headache really. They will just have to build a year's break (in effect) for you into the scheme of things. If you feel that you should be going for promotion but in your heart of hearts you really want to out ttc first, then forget the promotion for now, maybe. Remember as well that within a few years you may well want baby number 2, so think about how that might affect things.

I have colleagues that have returned f/t to teaching and posts of responsibility after baby number 1, and it's hard for them. Yes, they cope but teaching is fairly relentless so you need to be prepared for that. I also have colleagues who have returned p/t and gradually built up their hours over a number of years. Like I said in my earlier post, it's taken me 5-6 years to get really switched on and motivated about work enough to increase my hours. We have been really skint since dd2 was born, and that's improving now, but it was a sacrifice we decided to make at the time; it just felt right. and fwiw, I don't think you ought to make any huge decisions about p/t, f/t and juggling childcare etc until you have the baby. Whatever you carefully plan for before and during pregnancy has a habit of turning on its head once the baby shows up!

Thanks for the welcomes, it is interesting to hear how other people have managed. I know there might be an opportunity coming up at work soon for a promotion to Assistant Head, but am thinking it would not be the right thing to go for it. I could get pg any time and if they gave me the promotion, then the school wouldn't be getting a very good deal if I went off on maternity leave just a few months after taking the job. Also, the workload would be even bigger, and it would be hard to go back to work and try to balance that with a baby. But then there is always the possibility that TTC could take a long time for me, you just never know. So should I put my life on hold while I wait and see?? I know there are no right or wrong answers. Sometimes I think it would be so much easier being a man - they don't have any of these dilemmas!

Hello Juanitad! I don't post on this thread so often but noticed that you are a MFL teacher( me too!)then nosied on your profile and saw that you are in Yorkshire (me too!)
I'm part time at the moment and have been through the whole family/career angst before finally being happy! It is hard work whatever decision you make, but supportive family and colleagues make all the difference. Once I decide that you don't know me and me old school I can tell you a whole range of horror stories but then tell you all the fab things that my current school do for me!
I have always been determined that I will do as little work at home at the weekends, so i make sure that it is done before I finish for the week. I guess if you decide to keep on some responsibility then it's a different work load altogether, but for me I'm afraid that if something has to give, it will be a pile of marking rather than time with my Dses.

Well done happilyconfused

Hey and WOW happily!!! Bet you feel wonderful now. Well done!

Hi juanitad
Have got very mixed experiences of kids and promotions in teaching, but I'd say you've done things the right way round in some ways - it's easier to maintain a position of responsibility after having children than attain promotion afterwards, unless you've very determined and you work full time, I think.

And it depends on your school and your Head and how they support parents with flexible working. I had a hideous experience with one Head just last year and it made me realise how prejudiced some people can still be against part-timers especially. But that elad me to the job I've got now and the Head couldn;t be more supportive and things are picking up again, in a direction I never would have considered previously, so that's good.

I'd also say take your time and follow your instincts as far as balancing work and babies goes. When I first had dd1 and was trying for dd2 work became much less important and I loved being at home more. Now the dds are 6 and 2 and I really feel like I've got my mojo back, as far as work goes. I'm working harder now than I have for years but really enjoying it. I'm 3 days pw now, increasing to 4 days from Sept and then we'll see what happens. I still think at least one day off a week with a young family is about right for me for now.

oooh, well done you....have a large glass of wine tonight.

Lots of military precision planning - have some relatives close by who can help with pick ups and sick days, have a group of friendly mums who may be willing to help (you pay back during holidays etc), have a partner who can take cherubs to school and who can take days off, and be prepared to go private if you really need the extended day.

.... and have a timetable that enables you to escape early a couple of days a week so you can pick up kids from their school and they can have friends for tea.

OFSTED will soon be gone - guess who go an outstanding...

Hi there,

Not been an MNetter for long, and have just found this thread, so thought I would drop in and say hello. I'm currently HOD of MFL in a farily big comprehensive. No kids as yet - currently TTC so hope I will have soon. I was always really career-minded, had big ambitions to get to the top, but have now started to wonder how that could happen with kids. At the moment, I feel like having kids is more important to me than career, but at the same time I am the main breadwinner and think I would probably need to go back to work full time, so don't know how that would be. Seems like lots of you on here have kids, so what is everyone else's experiences? Obviously, none of this is a reality for me at the moment, as I am TTC #1, but if all goes to plan, these are dilemmas I will have to deal with some time soon, so would be really interested to know how everyone else dealt with the whole work/family thing.

Bye for now

Bloody Hell!!!!!!! Inspector walked into a French lesson and the teacher did not have a lesson plan. Inspector was there for three minutes and left when he could not have the plan. Hells bells .... it just reflects badly on the rest of us - SMT absolutley furious - seems as though OFSTED are now actively seeking out anything that might be weak.

Any language teachers - look out for the advert for a vacancy in Sept as I will be trying to run the offender over in the car park.

must dash can not be late for duty today....

being ofsteded on monday for 2 days
only 2 days I week grrrr

HC we had OFSTED in I think Jan 06, and they didn't look at loads of people/stuff. I taught Hums and they only wanted to see the Head of Area teach, not any of the rest of us, and they didn't come near the RE dept..bargain. It's all supposed be this light touch isn't it, and they look more at the paperwork and the SMT paperwork, than at anything else.

It was funny though how all the kids stopped wearing white trainers for OFSTED week, and then went back to them afterwards!