Are vulnerable teachers going back to work?

[SqidgeBum]

I am currently 16 weeks pregnant. The thoughts of going back to work, surrounded by hundreds of kids weekly, with no ppe, no social distancing (according to government guidelines), has me utterly terrified. Nobody knows the long term effects on a growing baby of getting coronavirus while pregnant. I have read somewhere this morning that vulnerable teachers will be expected to return to work. I am not 100% sure if reliability of the source.

So does anyone know? Am I, and others like me, expected to go back to work under the current government conditions?

(Before the teacher bashing starts I would be happy to return if PPE or some form of protection was provided but the likelihood is it wont be, according to government sources)

The DfE guidelines state that vulnerable staff should return if appropriate measures can be taken. At the moment, each school is undertaking a risk assessment and should be communicating with staff as to how this is going to be managed. Also, they are expected to keep you working from home if these measures can't be implemented. One thing it does say is that because primary teachers are trained to teach all the year groups , a solution is to swap a vulnerable member of staff to teaching a year group who aren't due back. Does your leadership team know you are pregnant? Worth contacting them and seeing what adjustments they may be able to work out

I’m not expected back on June 1st when I’ll be 24 weeks pregnant. My year group weren’t one of the ones going back anyway but I probably would have been put with Y6 if I wasn’t pregnant.

If/when my year group does go back, I have no idea what my Head/Deputy will choose to do. I teach UPKS2 so social distancing is more likely. They aren’t particularly huggy children either so I wouldn’t need to worry about that. They’re also a really difficult year group so my SLT will most likely want to keep their normal teacher with at least some of them.

Advice I have had is that being pregnant means you are in the exceptional risk category and should not be in school now or in the future. That is certainly the situation at the school I am chair of governors at.
The expectation would be that you work from home preparing lessons etc for your year group which is not in school anyway at present. You need to talk to our headteacher because they will want the maximum of time for planning what you can and cannot do and how they will cover your maternity leave.

Yes my school have known since I was 6 weeks as I had to let them know once the list of vulnerable categories was released before lockdown. They are already preparing for my maternity leave. Hopefully I can wfh. I just cant see how I can social distance and teach, and I dont feel comfortable taking such risks without PPE etc. It just doesn't work practically. Thanks to everyone for their advice.

If they do expect you in, they will need to do another risk assessment for you.

Advice I have had is that being pregnant means you are in the exceptional risk category

Not true. Unless pregnant with a pre-existing heart condition (guidelines in the who is extremely vulnerable), you are just in the clinically vulnerable group. This means we social distance where working from home is not possible. We should be given roles that have the least amount of contact with others as possible.

Whether they are in the clinically extremely vulnerable category or the clinically vulnerable group, if you go and check the planning guide for primary schools, published on the 14th May, it says "pregnant women have been advised to take extra care in observing social distancing and should work from home where possible. Education and childcare settings should endeavour to support this."
I would struggle to believe that any headteacher would go against that advice in the document

Key words being ‘where possible’. Leaves room for it to not be possible.

Going back to school with no vaccine when you are pregnant is not a great idea. Bite the bullet and stand your ground. Good luck.

According to government guidelines only those who are deemed 'extremely clinically vulnerable' are excused from going back to school to work. The government also states social distancing is not needed in schools, nor is ppe.

My schools has bought in PPE, 1000 masks (dont know how long they will last when there are 220 kids in every year) and hand sanitizer. They are going to try keep pregnant women out of harm's way, but it seems their hands are tied. I think I will be summoned back in to work. I cant lie, I am pretty worried.

Ours aren't.

I think officially you're only protected if you're shielding or maybe 'extremely vulnerable'. But it's guidance, individual schools can, I think, do what suits them.

Anyone at all vulnerable or worried where I work is staying on the online side of teaching. I don't know if that would have to change if more year groups returned before the summer.

That's great to have @Lockdownginger. My kids are a bit on the difficult side. Social distancing just wont happen. Behaviour is quite an issue. But at least now I have government guidance to support working from home if they ask me to come in. I would be more than happy to up my workload with remote learning rather than being in school and having to somehow police social distancing rules and pull kids off one another because one coughed at the other.

I am having a meeting today so I should know more then. Thank you everyone!

Just to update people, my meeting yesterday, along with a HR email this morning, made it quite clear that if the students go back on the 8th then I am going back too. As I fall into category 2, the same as teachers with asthma or diabetes, I can go back once they complete a risk assessment. The school have taken measures to minimise risk such as masks, hand sanitizer, and 10 kids per group. Unfortunately I will be the one moving around groups so I will still be in contact with 40 kids a day, along with staff.

I am not happy, but there seems to be very little I can do. They simply dont have the staff levels to be able to not have me and my pregnant colleagues in.

I also had a meeting yesterday about what is to happen after June 1st. I’m part of the at home team and will be taking on the whole of my year group’s home contact and learning for the foreseeable future.

I don’t think it’s acceptable that you will be in contact with 40+ children @SqidgeBum. Surely you can contact your union about that because that’s not your school doing their best to social distance you or minimise your risk. If you must be in, one group is best!

I'd contact your union. They are supposed to minimise contact, so they need to put you with one of the groups of 10, not expect you to move between groups. The whole point of the 'bubbles' they have been told to create is to minimise contact, you could potentially carry the virus from one group to another which is completely nuts

Advice I have had is that being pregnant means you are in the exceptional risk category and should not be in school now or in the future

That advice is wrong. Only those who are pregnant AND have certain cardiac issues are in the exceptionally vulnerable (shield) category, who for now at least cannot be compelled to attend a workplace (the current shielding advice runs to end June, but is widely expected to be extended).

So schools will have to plan around those staff who are shielding, and then look at arrangements for the vulnerable non-shield group

Shielded pupils similarly cannot be compelled to attend on-site schooling (and arguably those with a shielded household member from whom they cannot reasonably isolate within the home), so arrangements will need to be made for them too

In my school those in the Vulnerable category are currently not planned to be in, however if we do not have enough staff they will have to. However we are secondary and how it's going to work means that actually social distancing whilst in school will not be too difficult.

I know of people who work in early years that are classed as vulnerable and shielding who have received a letter from the NHS telling them to not even leave the house at the moment never mind return to work.

I can understand a school needing you to work. But they shouldn't be moving any staff members, especially vulnerable ones, between bubbles. The adults are supposed to be part of the bubble and not move around outside of it.

We do subject specific teaching from Y3 so our Y6s who return physically are just going to have to do the online learning the others are doing at home but from their bubble. It's going to be so boring for them but they're only allowed one teacher (who will be a non teaching member of staff) in contact with them.

People who are shielded cannot be compelled to return to work at this point (may need to provide shielding letter as evidence to their employer)

This round of shielding extends until 30th June, but is widely expected to be extended.

So the safe thing would be to plan on their continuing absence from the site, though they can of course WFH.

Also need to consider those who have shielded DC (good practice to keep them off-site, but not a requirement in same way as someone who is them self shielded) plus those who are vulnerable but not shielded (duty of care)

(Plus of course planning for pupils in those categories, a while new can of worms)

I believe Union advice is for pregnant women to work from home and not return if/when schools reopen? I think they’re still working on recommendations for those who live with vulnerable people too

Government advice is that pregnant and clinically vulnerable should work from home or be given safest roles with full risk assessment. NEU advice is that clinically vulnerable and pregnant staff or those living with clinically vulnerable staff should be allowed to work from home.

No pregnant or otherwise clinically vulnerable member of staff is expected to return to site at my school. As it has been perfectly possible (despite being undesirable) to teach from home since lockdown began, there is no reason to put these staff members at risk. The '12 - weeks' shielding hasn't finished yet!