Headmistress goes back to work 7 hours after giving birth!

[wastwinsetandpearls]

How and why would you?

Of course it must be easier when you have a plush office to sit in. Not sure I could teach bottom set year 9 while breastfeeding and changing nappies.

It makes you wonder why she bothered having a baby !

You can't go back within 2 weeks of having a child I thought

I read a different version which said she had just popped in to see rehersals for school play and show the babe off.

hang on i'll look.

Yes it's the law - I thought so

Oh and after Reading itbi see she took the baby with her so not as bad as I thought.

Not to self - read article first !

Rather than showing the pupils they can have it all I think she is pressuring them to try and setting them up for a major fall.

www.compactlaw.co.uk/monster/empf39.html

employer will be fined

To me that's a wrong message. It's setting the bar too high. It sends signals you are a failure if you don't immediately return to work. 'Having it all' means being able to choose in my book not doing two 'jobs' at the same time and devoting less than 100% to each.

As a teacher who has had to yet again put off having a baby due to work commitments I do think that perhaps I could work there. I have no intention of returning to work 7 hours later but don't want to take a long maternity leave. My present school does not seem to think that people who are serious about their careers can have little children.

We did have a teacher who worked through contractions and went home and gave birth.

It does feel quite mad though, She must be bleeding.

Ironically it is a school that dp keeps nagging me to go and see for dd.

What a fantastic role model She has a baby then takes her into work. Which is, of course, just the sort of thing us lazy mummies who sit around at home all day doing god-knows what should be doing. If only we showed the appropriate gumption!

Can you imagine my boss'/clients face if I turned up with my baby? Never mind the health and safety aspect of having your child at work...

Stupid woman. She's showing them something that is completely unobtainable in the real world. Hardly a fantastic example.

here

she lives on site if that makes a difference.

I thought at first that perhaps she popped in which while strange may not be as mad. But she seems to be at work. It does of course need pointing out that the average woman working in a factory or shop floor could not do that.

I agree with hocus she is sending a strange message, unless she was just popping in.

she obviously didn't check here

As much as I applaud her for wanting to get back to work and feels well enough to do so, she could potentially be exposing her brand new baby to goodness knows what.

also I thought that she would not have been covered by the insurance to have the baby there all day every day? The insurance would cover employees, pupils and visitors, not children of staff.

Thanks Eccentrica, I wondered if she lived on site. I feel quite mean now and am actually thinking what a lovely school that I would contemplate working in or even sending my dd to. Well I would if it was a state school.

I assume she had someone standing in for her for two weeks even if she was there. Otherwise it is illegal.

It is a boarding school so she will be living there in her family house and it would be normal to have young children and babies of staff there.

I hope the employers get sued as they should do under the compulsory maternity leave

I think it's an awful role model to young women

What a load of crap. I particularly love the comment about "letting her doze during the more arduous parts of her schedule", as though babies just doze whenever it suits...if only

I have to say my dd did doze quite a lot when I needed her to. You still wouldn't have got me in work at 7 hours though.

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Fab I agree - it sends the wrong messages I think.

Women should have choices - and being back at work within hours of giving birth is not a choice I would want for any daughter of mine. We have, thank god, moved on a little from such medieval attitudes.

It is also slightly misleading due to the very particular nature of her work and workplace. She lives on site, has her own office where she can feed and change and the baby can sleep. Conditions which only exsist for a tiny proportion of women.

wrong, wrong, wrong!
babies need care and attention
not taking to work as some sort of accessory
this story has made me so mad!
and the worst thing is she is so bloody smug about, because she thinks she is setting a good example
grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

what's she going to do when the sleepy stage is over? or when she starts toddling about? playpen?

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Living on site and not actually teaching will make a massive difference - and is hardly a normal scenario. I was marking coursework a couple of hours after having dd1 - but I was doing it whilst sitting in bed with a cup of tea!

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