Teachers - Mat Leave thoughts

[sasurmy]

I am just after your opinions on when to start mat leave.

I'm currently 22 weeks, due 11th May with my second. In my first pregnancy I suffered with SPD (currently doing ok) and ended up finishing at 31 weeks with little man coming two weeks early. I'm a Nursery teacher in a school and I can easily have an hour commute each way.

I am thinking of finishing at Easter (34wks) but with mat leave starting just after 35wks.
I don't know about returning for a week to two after Easter, my hand over to the new teacher will be done as its going to be internal.

What are your thoughts?

I did the Monday after October half term as my last day. It meant I could finalise anything that cropped up over half term and make sure the handover was smooth and could tidy desk etc.

You could always give the later date and then be prepared to go early if you needed to? It might be handy to be able to do a handover. I'm due early May and am planning on coming back for a couple of weeks after Easter to go off at 39 weeks. However reading and hearing when most other people seem to go off I'm hoping I'm not being too Optimistic!

Agree with girl - give the latest possible date. You can always go sooner but you can’t stay later than your planned date if you find that you get there and feel OK.

I agree with pp. Give latest possible date and leave early if needed. My mat leave was supposed to start October half term, however due to illness/high blood pressure I left at beginning of October. As my dd was born at start of half term I'm glad I left early

I'd say give them the later date, but have everything organised for you to leave on the earlier date. That's what I intend to do. My headteacher wants me to work till 38+5 as I'm year 2 and we have sats. I'll give that date, but am very aware I probably won't make it till then as both of my DC were born early. No chance I'm risking going into labour at school!!!

I was told I had to give a precise date and could only leave before if it was for a medical reason, as in medical concerns re pregnancy. Not sure how that would work with what people say above about giving later date and just deciding on going on leave early if you want. I was physically ok but still struggled with commute and workload to some extant, and regretted not giving them an earlier date to bo honest... but that would not warrant telling the school I was finishing early.

I think you were slightly misinformed, Lady, unless you worked for an academy that doesn't recognise the Burgundy Book - you could have gone sooner but you would have had to give 28 days' notice. Even then, if you had mentioned to your GP or MW that you were struggling then they their first piece of medical advice to you would have been to rest, and consider reducing your hours or taking earlier mat leave if possible. It doesn't have to be a medical emergency, such as pre-eclampsia, to warrant going earlier if it is in the interests of your health and that of the baby.

Equally, you can theoretically decide to move your leaving date later but this also requires 28 days' notice, which is not practical in the later part of your third trimester.

Your mat leave is triggered automatically after 36 weeks if you are absent for a pregnancy-related illness, and certainly where I have worked the onus is very much on the woman to prove that any absence is not pregnancy related - e.g. a broken leg.

Yes as above unless it’s an academy you should be able to change the date (with some notice). In my first pregnancy I was going to try and work until 38 weeks (end Nov I think) but by Sept/October I’d had enough (was ill all the way through) and decided I really wouldn’t want to go back after the Oct half term and so I changed it - I think I gave them a month’s notice of that though. Meant I finished around 34 weeks I think which seemed ridiculously early compared to some people but I just couldn’t do it anymore.

I work in education and I'm finishing at eastern returning September to make it easier for hand overs

I know, what I meant is that unless it is something serious, you can't just tell school that you finish tomorrow and with 4 weeks notice in the last trimester there is not much room for manoeuvre, so lets say if your mat is meant to start at 38 weeks, and at 34 you decide it's too much, you can't just sign yourself off. I knew I could keep on going, and just being tired was not really going to speed up maternity for me, but it was more difficult than I thought when I gave the date at 25 weeks.