Pregnant teachers- going on day trip

[Gardenspades]

We’re booked to go to a zoo 1 hour away when I’ll be 30 weeks. Is it fair to ask a colleague to swap me?

If you're not up to it, you're not up to it.

It's not just pregnancy that can cause legitimate reasons for people to struggle with an 'unusual' day that would require above and beyond walking without rest, etc. Ignore the posters that think otherwise.

People who are saying you’re unreasonable have most likely never been a primary school teacher on a trip in charge of thirty children. It’s exhausting when you’re not pregnant, there’s no way I would want to run one when I’m thirty weeks pregnant.
it’s not like going with your own children, there are thirty. You cannot sit and take a break, there’s barely any time to go to the toilet. You are on your feet ALL day and a zoo trip will involve an incredible amount of walking.
Perfectly reasonable to ask someone to go in your place and a good SLT would have suggested it before you had to ask!

As a parent I would be concerned for the teacher. I would wonder how she would feel with herding 30 children (even with several other adults) on a full day zoo trip.

And I would be wondering why the school hadn't pulled her and swapped with another teacher for the day.

DD had a trip once where her normal teacher was swapped as she was recovering from a hip replacement and wasn't able to be on her feet without regular rest breaks, something possible in a normal school day but not on a trip.

Absolutely ask. It's definitly not a normal work day. This goes above what can be reasonably expected from a pregnant woman normally.

The extra toilet breaks I would need at that stage would probably make it problematic for a start!

Not unreasonable OP.

I did this with my year 1 class. My class were split, so I actually went two days in a row at 6 months pregnant- it was a lot!

I definitely wouldn't do it now.

Lol at people saying it's no different to going on a day out with your own kids 😂

It’s not like taking your own family to the zoo. You can’t just decide that all 30 are going to sit down on a bench and you can’t take 30 schoolchildren to the toilets with you every time you need to go. I see no issue in asking for a replacement while you continue to teach classes that day. Most schools would be happy to accommodate this.

I wouldn’t have been able to do it at 30 weeks - I could barely walk with the pain at that point! There’s no way my school would have expected it as I could barely walk up and down the corridors 😂
My friend however was still going on 10k walks at that point and was perfectly fine!
Pregnancy is different for everyone. If you don’t feel you can manage it you shouldn’t ask to swap but go to your manager (probably headteacher) and say you can’t do it.

I would have been able to do this no problem. If you genuinely think you can't, then it isn't unreasonable. I would expect you to explain that you can't do it because you're struggling with x in pregnancy...rather than I'm pregnant so I shouldn't. I think that is when people start eye rolling.

Her job is teacher not zoo tour guide.

If it isn't a teachers job to take a class on trips, then why is it even arranged?

I think going to the zoo with your own kids is entirely different to going with a whole class. When I was 30 weeks pregnant I needed a wee every hour- not sure how I’d have coped with that and walking round the zoo with all the pupils. If you have SPD on top of that it will be really hard and tiring

Maybe it was arranged before the OP knew she was pregnant. Maybe it was arranged when the OP was pregnant bit felt fit and well. Maybe the SMT mandates a zoo trip in that year group each year so she's just doing what she's told.

School trips are bloody exhausting. I did one at 18 weeks pregnant and that was so tiring. Now at 32 weeks I wouldn't be that up to it mainly as I have sciatica so I wouldn't be able to cope with the walking.

So depends on how you feel physically. No harm in asking!

@Gardenspades unfortunately mumsnet is home to all the women who claim they could have scaled everest whilst crowning, and who also have absolutely no concept whatsoever of what a teacher's job actually entails, so I'd take a lot of these replies with a pinch of salt.
Yes, it's perfectly reasonable to ask for a swap. It is well outside the remits of a normal day at work, with a lot of walking, limited opportunities for toilet breaks, no ability to take rest breaks when you choose to and actually even a coach trip when heavily pregnant with belts which only go across your stomach. Not to mention the need to mitigate risks of certain animals like farm animals, big cats etc. It's just not worth it imo.

Because you don't always know how you will feel in late pregnancy so she might have thought she'd be fine. Or it could have been booked 7 months ago easily.

Teaching in the third trimester is tough. Trips are the most mentally and physically draining days in my opinion. You are completely reasonable to ask for another adult to go in your place, whether you have PGP or not. SLT should be supportive and there are options if they aren't.

Ignore the people who like to undermine the challenges of pregnancy. I'm sure some women float through until baby arrives but for many pregnancy comes with a lot of extra strain - physically and emotionally. It is totally okay to prioritise the wellbeing of you and your baby. You will still be able to do your job in school but even then reasonable adjustments can always be requested. Work should absolutely be supportive with this.

When my DC were at primary, child to adult ratios were about 6:1. I'd request 5:1 in the event that you need to have a sit down or if anything adverse happens. That, however, should be part of the risk assessment.

My views are mixed on this but it sounds as though it's outside the @Gardenspades comfort zone.

Reasonable and better to ask now than on the day.

I'm a teacher who had two rough/complicated pregnancies. I wouldn't do that trip, no. A school trip is nothing like taking your own kids to the zoo! School trips are exhausting.

Last time I took a class on a trip to the zoo I literally didn’t sit down or pee for the whole day.

I’m also a teacher and have done school trips pregnant, but I get that everyone’s different. In my third pregnancy I had spd and couldn’t have done it at all, but other ones I could have.

What did you do when the class sat down for lunch or when you took them to the loo?

Oh and you could also be out of ratio, ie don’t have your own group but be a “floater”.

There wasn’t enough space for me to sit down and I was running around opening packets etc anyway. When they went to the loo I was outside with the rest of them sending in one at a time and keeping an eye on the other ones that weren’t going to the toilet.

There's no way I would have managed this. Definitely swap if possible.