Term time only on maternity leave

[Butterontoast]

Hi,

I work in a school and I am employed term time only.

If I take the whole year and accrue my maternity leave of six weeks, what happens to the leave?

I have been told I’ve already had my leave during the school holidays but you can’t take leave on maternity leave and I’ve not been paid for it so I don’t see how that can be true.

Any help would be appreciated.

You mean accrue your 6 weeks holiday leave (not maternity).
It's a complicated area and you may well only be able (depending on contract) to carry forward pro rara to 5.6 weeks statutory holiday to next leave year.
I envisage they would say you must then take the leave outside of term time as you can't take leave in term time.
You could ask your union?

This is a real downside to school staff contracts. There is a way round this… take shared parental leave. Despite the name, you don’t have to share it with anyone. It can be used as a way of taking maternity leave in blocks. E.g. if you have a baby in June, you can take some maternity leave until the summer holidays, then technically be back at work for the holidays (but actually not be), then another block afterwards until Christmas, etc. I think you can take three blocks. My husband did this with our baby and it worked really well. It is a legal right - your school can’t tell you otherwise.
This website has more info…
https://www.teachersspl.co.uk/how-it-works
The only thing to watch out for is if the shared parental leave is paid at a lower rate the maternity leave. This isn’t usually the case, but check with your school.
For more info/ if this doesn’t work for you, I’d contact ‘Pregnant the Screwed’, who have an advice line.
https://pregnantthenscrewed.com/advice-services/
Good luck!