Any pregnant teachers out there?

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Hi there,
Was just wondering how everyone copes with feeling rubbish in class (having to run to the loo etc).

Just discovered I'm pregnant and want to sleep all the time - not looking forward to going back to school tomorrow particularly!

I guess with any job it is exhausting being pregnant, but just ater some advice from people who have been there.

Thanks!

I agree - you can sit down more at secondary. However, the pace is still full on as even during break/lunch I have a steady stream of teachers asking me for things and pupils wanting to talk to me for one reason or another - especially if you have a tutor group. We also only have a half hour lunch period so I don't really stop!

Having said this, I have found that I really appreciate being kept active whilst at work - back ache is lots less on school days than home days when I tend to sit and vegetate (often marking) while I'm able to catch up on some rest!

Anyone else dreading tomorrow?!
I have my scan, so a bit of a shorter day, but actually coming in late jst makes the rest of the day all stressy and disorganised!
I honestly wouldn't worry about what you'll get up to on mat leave- the time flies by! And there are always baby groups etc if you are that way inclined. I am just desperate to be off work and get my evenings back to myself!!

Caz I prefer to leave early rather than go in late. Hospitals rarely stick to appointment times so you end up stressing that you are going to be late and nobody will be covering your class.

I'm not looking forward to tomorrow either because I feel like I need a week to mark all my books - I really should have done it over Christmas. I had a full set of books to mark this weekend and after going baby shopping yesterday and sleeping most of today (still yawning away now) I have only managed 5 books so far. 30 to go. :( I'll never get it done in the week there is just no time in the evening when I get past my planning. Maybe I should give everyone tests tomorrow, mark them in class and catch up with my marking then!

It's only my 6th week and I'm already knackered. Have been sleeping for 10-12h this weekend, and next week is a full week. How am I going to cope?! I don't know how you ladies who are further along can do it!

Good luck to everyone tomorrow!

I'm not looking forward to tomorrow and the first full week!

I suppose in secondary we can sit down, it's true - and you can leave classes to work for longer than primary school classes (I mean while I survey them from my desk, not leave the room for a nap ) BUT I don't have my own classroom, I teach in 11 different rooms and one of my most-used rooms is on the third floor, which is not a fun climb at the best of times. So it's swings and roundabouts!

The best thing about being at school is that the time goes so quickly. I get in in the morning blink and then it is time to go home. If I had a dull slow job I would spend the whole time worrying and counting the days from one appointment to the next.

That is true dannilou, there is certainly plenty to fill your mind! I was getting worried before the hols because I hadn't felt baby kicking, started in holidays, and as mw helpfully pointed out, when would I have had a chance to notice it anywAy?! We are getting inspected soon, sure that will "distract" me!

One of the nicest things about teaching is the really lovely kids you get to meet, so many of mine have held open doors / carried books etc for me (one even telling me to be careful on the car park as it was very icy )

I'm 8+4 with number 2 and a secondary English teacher.

I didn't find it easy with DD - suffered some depression, had two weeks off at about 7-9 weeks, then again at about 11-13 weeks (either side of Christmas).

I found it really hard, in this situation, to cope with any kind of challenging behaviour - and I mean ANY: whispering when I was taking the register, for example! Normally I have a good, informal relationship with my classes, and am pretty good with behaviour managagement, but I just couldn't cope. So I cried. In the middle of takign the register. Several times! To their credit, no one ever so much as acknowledged it, little angels.

This time around I am feeling so tired and sick, not in today. I feel bad, as I'm not exactly ill, but I just can't face it :(

I'm 28 wks and a secondary teacher in a boys' school - I have found that being hinest with the pupils has helped. They really want to do things for you, especially, in my experience, the younger ones and my SEN / EBD classes.
I'm going off at Feb half term as I think thats a nice, 'rounding off' time for me to finish and helps my poor HOD out who has to deal with two of his staff being off on mat leave at the same time (in a dept of five!!).

QUESTION
Someone mentioned about the date to return for summer hols pay? i was going to go in at the last week and then start properly in Sept (due April 9th). Its not as if I won't be planning etc in the summer. Is anyone else doing that and how does it work? I'm in Wales if that makes any difference. ADVICE MUCH APPRECIATED!!

Hi ItsmeyourCathy, I was under the impression that I needed to work a full week in July in order to get paid for 'full time' august summer holiday. I spoke to my head last week, and he said that strictly speaking I could just come back for one day (e.g. the last day of term!) and still get paid over the summer! He said that for 'normal' jobs people can accrue their holiday, so we should just look at it the same way and not feel greedy or bad about it! I am planning on then starting in September for 3 days a week. You can also do (I think up to six) "Stay in touch" days, where you go into school on a mutually agreed day during your ML and get paid for that day. Is anyone planning on doing this? The stay in touch day could be used for Coursework moderation, or for going on a course - it doesn't have to mean going in to teach for a random day.

Ooh sophielouise I like your head!

I'm planning on doing a maximum of "a few days" in the last week if I absolutely have to, before returning in sept.

I'm planning on using the KIT days to do all the usual timetabling/planning hoohar that goes on, etc.

Caboodle you are right, I've been surprised at just how sweet some of the kids can be. Even the ones that are usually total nightmares have surprised me with their sensitivity. I've also found that I can use the kids fascination to my advantage. If they start asking me stuff I'll say, "lets do this activity and if you finish in XX minutes, we'll talk about it then"! ALthough I find myself answering their questions in ways that convey a mixture of the wonder and magic of it all, but how they most definitely shouldn't do it until they're 30!

Lindy I've been a bit of an emotional wreck at times so far. I've usually found that I'm actually more relaxed with the kids, so I end up in tears with any SLT that happen to be nearby (they make me nervous!). But, I've had a few mornings where I've just crumbled, and of course I look horrendous by the time I come to teach. I've just said a few times "I'm having a bit of an emotional morning, it's irrational, bear with me" and actually the kids have been fine, and we've all been back to normal by the end. My tutor group have been awesome and just accept my "I'm just really tired" excuse!

I have such a love/hate relationship with teaching!

I'm glad you are all having emotional breakdowns at work too :)

Today I had a hectic morning that started with inconsiderate people not getting paper for the printer or making stupid errors that jam up the printer till someone goes and presses buttons. Then someone cancelled my photocopying because "it was beeping so it had obviously finished", either that or the paper tray was empty... Messed up my planning big time as I then had to sort out what had been cancelled and what hadn't. This was enough to make me dart down the corridor (bad idea with my back problems) heading for the door so I could sit outside and cry for a while. Luckily one of the LSAs saw me and came to see what was wrong, she took away my photocopying and told me she would fix it for me. Bless her, she did :)

So far managed to avoid crying in front of children, lets see if I can keep that up for another 8 teaching weeks.

I have not broken down yet - I think the inspectors might bring it on!!

I wish my boss was as nice as some of yours, I am feeling like a total hindrance atm

Good luck with your inspection, Caz, we had ofsted just before half term. I got so stressed the day before I spent pretty much the whole day in tears (although I kept it together for lessons, believe it or not!).

My stupid issue is it's never anything in particular that's the problem, I just crumble into tears, and then can't snap out of it! I spend the whole time going "no really, I'm fine" and trying not to let snot hang out of my nose! I think it's just a reaction to stress hormones, rather than one particular thing!

The relief after ofsted was amazing though! It coincided with our house move about 18 weeks, and I felt SO much better afterwards!

Things are getting bizarre at our school now. This morning's announcement pretty much boiled down to "since we've been doing fewer exclusions, we've now got about half as many exclusions as we did this time last year". No Sh*t!

The latest "initiative" is going to be telling kids they can't opt for the subjects they enjoy, only the ones we think they'll get a C in (thanks to the English Baccalaureate). Hang on, why do we call it "options"?

I'm seriously starting to wonder about the sanity of these people & the government. This is supposed to be about children, not business!

Sorry, rant over! I feel better! :)

Can i ask if any of you have requested a risk assessment? i did and my Head was a bit strange and kept asking me why - now the nature of my job i would have thought this was clear but apparently not! Is it the school who carry out the risk assessment or the council/local authority? any help appreciated. Thanks

Sorry - seen as im already asking a question... the pregnancy certificate MAT... for your employer how do you get this? is it sent to your house along with prescription exception or do you have to request one?

Hey witches,
The midwife gave me my MATB1 form at my 25 week appointment.

No idea regarding risk assessments. As a science teacher, (as I think I've said before somewhere), I'd have thought they'd be falling over themselves to make sure they'd covered themselves (against litigation) by doing the risk assessment (I teach chemistry, I deal with known teratogens ffs!). But no, and chatting with the other mothers in the dept found out that no-one had ever had a risk assessment either!

I think another lady DID have a risk assessment done last week. Which is good, because she starts her mat leave at the end of this week! (not particularly early, at ~37 weeks)

Your school sounds a bit like mine, don't think they have had many pregnant people and don't seem to have any idea how to go about it or that it even existed. Im just a bit worried that its my responsibility to ask for one and raise my concerns in case anything happens.
I had read somewhere that you had to send the certificate to your employer so I would need to wait quite a while before I get it if its 25weeks.
Thanks for your help saves me making lots of calls tomorrow!

Yep, you need to give it to them (or a copy) when you get it for them to do your maternity pay.

However, you do need to give them notice in writing by 25 weeks too (there's a proforma letter on that NUT maternity matters document). I submitted the letter at 20 weeks, with a sentence to say that I'd forward the MATB1 as soon as I got it. That way you're covered by giving written notice at the right time.

I'm pretty sure risk assessments are the responsibility of the employer. Again, this is covered in the Maternity Matters document (which I've just noticed has been updated again this month).

I've tucked the issue away in the "arguments for the tribunal if they make me redundant" part of my brain!

No Witches, you shouldn't have to request a risk assessment, my HR woman insisted it be done with my HoD - Maybe just ask HR about it. I had mine at 15 weeks-ish and it wasn't really important since I teach maths which isn't unsafe. I am however after another one now as I'm now 30w+2 and really feel like I'm not up to doing my weekly break duty any more and I'm hoping the risk assessment will help me get out of it. Failing that though I think I'll just ask the deputy head in charge of the rota if he can take me off it. I'm only asking to be excused from 7 duties.

As for your MATB1 form, you do have to request it off your midwife as not everyone needs one. I think if I recall correctly she can fill it in for you from 20 weeks rather than 25 as 25 weeks was when you could get the HIP grant form which is now no longer going.

Question of my own - People are often surprised when I say I am going back to work after only 18 weeks maternity leave. I explained that I'm doing that because after that it goes down to SMP only which is about £125 a week which I just can't live on. This seems to be new information to a lot of people and they seem to question it. A few people are convinced I'm wrong (although these are people who either have never taken maternity leave or their maternity leave was well over a decade a go). So, am I right? Is it up to 18 weeks it is half pay +SMP right?

Get onto TES for your queries re maternity leave. You don't have to work a single day in the summer term to get paid for the holidays - put the first day of the holidays down if that's what you want.

1Cath 18wks is correct as far as I know, and just checked the MM document which confirms it.

I think the week before summer hols will be an SMP only week for me. Maybe I better go in anyway....!

Someone said to me the other day they thought teachers had 12 months off on full pay! I wish!

How do people feel about giving up clubs and extras like revision sessions for exam classes? I just haven't got the energy and am trying to pluck up courage to ask to be excused from these and duties etc.

I am 17 weeks and just woken up from my normal evening nap - I am still exhausted every evening so not even the marking is getting done! First trimester was pretty bad with sickness so I feel I've been a pretty crap teacher this year.

Any thoughts?

PS no have not had a risk assessment either and as a science teacher I do my own each practical anyway - wouldn't trust anyone else's!

I was given risk assessment forms when I told them last week (at 10+5). i've got to go through it with line manager apparently, but will prob just do it myself and get him to sign it off! I'm also science teacher so guess there's potential hazards there ... I'm more nervous of the kids when they're pushing and jostling each other though!
Got parent's eve on thurs which means I'll have to make do without afternoon nap and won't be home til at least 7pm ... Dreading it :(