to think this woman has no need to apologise for ending her mat leave when she chooses

[lecce]

I am a teacher and am getting seriously pissed off with the comments from my colleagues about a teacher who has been off for about a year and is coming back to work a week before the six-week holiday. She is doing this, I assume because 5 years ago I did the same, because you are not allowed to say you are returning to work during the 6-week break (because you can't really go back) but if your entitlment runs out during that time you face a few weeks with no pay at all.

I assume that this woman, like me, cannot afford the few weeks with no money coming in but wants to maximise the time she can have off. People I work with are saying what a "nerve" she has etc but surely she is doing what is right for her and her family and is not cheating anyone? After all, it's not her fault that this is how the dates have worked out and that there is a 6-week holiday at this time, is it?

I don't really know why I'm so bothered (except I do because several of the people who go on about it were here when I did more or less the same, so I assume they talked about me in the same nasty way they talk about her but have now forgotten my circs) but it depresses so much that people (and women in particular) are so bitchy about each other and quick to believe the worst.

She is perfectly entitled to do this - I did exactly the same. I believe the rules have been changed now though and you can give a date in the holidays as your return date. Your colleagues should mind their own.

I would point out to them exactly what you have said here. YANBU by the way

YANBU my mum worked in education and HAD to go back for a bit just before the holidays for similar reasons

(she was on sick leave, but the holidays threw up the same issues)

YANBU - why does it even bother them? It's a total non-issue.

She is totally entitled to do this and your colleagues should mind her own business.
I speak as somebody who has had three lots of mat leave but who also has three employees right now who are all on mat leave and am getting grief from my boss who wants me to ignore the law and badger/coerce about a return to work date.

She is protected by law and your colleagues should STFU.

" After all, it's not her fault that this is how the dates have worked out and that there is a 6-week holiday at this time, is it?"

Lots of teachers plan their pregnancies so they can do things like this.

Will it be disruptive for the pupils she teaches or any of her colleagues?

If yes, then obviously she can do as she likes, but she can't expect everyone to like it.

She would be daft to do anything else!

I plan on doing exactly the same thing - it is your right. My line manager even checked to make sure I put my dates correctly to take advantage of the way the holidays fall. It is categorically nobody's business - they obviously have nothing else to think about

FFS, she'll be preparing for the new year anyway!

I went back after the May half term a few years ago and got similar attitude (I only went off at Christmas though!)

With DS1, he was due on the first day of the summer holidays, so I "lost" all that time. It works both ways.

She is perfectly within her rights to do so and her colleagues should not been voicing their disapproval. However, I can understand (as a parent) how some parents must feel when the teacher who has been off all year suddenly reappears for the past week of the year when someone else has done all the hard work of preparing for exams etc. I also wonder whether the school loses out if they have to pay the replacement right through the holiday too. But she is technically doing nothing wrong and I have heard many other teachers do similar

Will it affect the person who's covering for her?

Thank you.

Euphemia Tbh, I think her lack of time-table for the week is one of the things that upsets people. We are secondary so she will be avialable for cover for a week but, in practice, there is very little in the last week, so she will be very under-stretched, shall we say . Basically, people are jealous, but she isn't robbing free-time from anyone else.

When I was in this position, i was told I should feel guilty for causing the supply-teacher who had been covering to lose her summer pay . Yes, I did feel for her, but I felt more for my own family who live off my pay..

athinginyourlife if you come back in the last few days of a term I reckon it is less disruptive actually. You get a few days to find your feet, learn anything new which has happened and ensure that when you are back 6 weeks later you are a fully functioning member of the team. Many of my colleagues have commented on this

Supply teachers don't get paid for the holidays anyway so the impact on them will be small. If the rules allowed you to start back the next week (the first Monday of the holidays) then this would avoid the situation.

Her colleagues can voice whatever disapproval they feel, surely?

Only in the public sector could this kind of scam be allowed. But if that´s the rules then why are the rest bothered!!

Passme - possibly, I can certainly see how that would work.

It's hard to see what people are grousing about if she's basically having a week of contact days at the end of term.

You can get very out of the loop when you're off.

Yes, some teachers do 'try' and do this, but life doesn't always work out how you plan it. I hd to go back for a week when ds1 was only 4.5 months as we only got 6 months entitlement back then. I was nowhere near ready - it was awful.

Pupils in this case won't be affected as she won't be given a timetable (we've been over-staffed for various reasons, so ha been able to cover her without supply) but even if she were 'kicking out' a supply, I really think most secondary-age pupils would cope fine with this for the last week, and fail to see what it has to do with parents at all .

NovackNGood how is it a scam?

yanbu.

they all do it! that's why teachers start trying to conceive in jan-feb, to maximise their mat leave. coming back before the hols gets you back into the swing, and gets you paid.

one of my team is back a couple of weeks before the end of term. good on her. she can brew up and tell us all stories about her lovely little boy.

People are entitled to grump about it, ignore . What a non issue

YANBU for all the reasons mentioned. I'll be doing the same because it's pointless going unpaid for the end of my mat leave when if I took the full year I'd be back in September anyway. I also pointed out to the person who was applying for my mat leave cover (shoe-in!) that I would be doing so, not that I had any obligation to.

In any other job you can add any accrued holiday onto the end of mat leave. Teachers just lose it, so why not take whatever you're entitled to?