Pregnant teacher- when to tell head?

[Noodles14]

Hi all. So I am now 5w3d and am so very excited! Being a teacher though the timing regarding telling my head teacher my news isn't great. I am head of year 6 and and am expecting to be year 6 again come September. My question is, when do you think I should tell? If I left it until 12 weeks, that would be the end of June which makes me feel uneasy- they would have wanted to have sorted out year groups by then but if I tell them earlier I'm afraid they may stop me going on our PGL trip (4 night residential) which is at the beginning of June. I'm the group leader of the PGL trip and really want to go but I just have this feeling my head might be funny about me going as I'm pregnant and say I can't go!
Any advice, tips or experiences of any of this? Thanks x

It might be worth telling your head in confidence sooner rather than later. Whilst you may feel fine right now you may not by the time you have to go on PGL as you could well be in the swings of morning sickness, so they may need a back up plan.

I’m sure they’d appreciate the heads up in terms of sorting year groups out too as it is unlikely they will keep you solely in charge of year 6 just due to the timings, they may need to put someone in there with you ready to take over when you are off, for the benefit of consistency for the students.

Although, all of this is totally up to you and you don’t have to tell them anything until you are 25 weeks!

I'd tell him. I told my Head at around 8 weeks thinking about advertisements for nect year for mat cover. He's been very discreet- I'm 20 weeks now and hardly anyone knows even now! You don't need to say anything but tbh if I was going on a trip I'd rather the Head and trip leader knew. I felt fine at 5 weeks but by 7-8 weeks I felt horrific. You might be glad you gave them the heads up!

Thanks for the advice. My gut is telling me to tell them earlier rather than later- I certainly don't like the thought of messing up all their plans for September! I would be gutted to not go on PGL with all the lovely chn who have worked hard all year but I suppose I'll just have to see what happens closer to the time! Exciting times ahead...now to just get through SATs next week...

I teach in a high school and am just 12 weeks but told my head and head of dept yesterday when they started discussing septembers timetables. Im due Nov so I guess they would need to advertise for a mat cover before summer. Even though I am 12 weeks I dont intend to tell anyone else in work until it becomes blatently obvious. This will be my 3rd child and I enjoyed keeping my 2nd child secret until around 24 weeks 🤐 with my 1st i was so excited i told the head pretty much the day i found out 😂! I just think it is professional courtesy and they will keep it confidential for sure.

Assuming your head is decent I would tell earlier. I told mine at 9 weeks due to trips and timetabling, he was absolutely to his word and told no one (even when they asked him!) However he did tell HR, and there was a day an accident happened in my room (nothing to do with me) and HR were on it straight away checking I was OK, so actually it was quite a nice feeling that they knew.

I would definitely tell your head, in confidence. There’s also things like if there’s illnesses like slapped cheek in the school then they need to inform you. I used to be a head and I once had a teacher wait till the last minute to tell me, which she was entitled to do, but it was the last day of the summer term and I would have done the year group allocations completely differently if I’d known as she then left at Christmas. Also once they know they have a duty of care to you, it will be easier for you to ask for time off to go to medical appointments etc.

I told mine at 11 weeks as needed time off for scan. I'm due Nov and my maternity job cover post is now online and on school website and in the staffroom so I'm outed completely but in reality they need to get someone for September unless they are happy to start in October (and have a nice cheap sept holiday!!)

100% I would say tell your head. Not going to PGL if they say that will of course be disappointing for you but it might be for the best. I was 6 weeks when I told my head and in the end I was very glad I did as I ended up sadly having a MC but my School were very very supportive. They also have to do a risk assessment on you and make sure you're well looked after. Of course it's personal choice but I think it's best to tell them.

Congratulations! Xx

I'm a teacher, and currently almost 19 weeks pregnant with my third baby. I didn't tell anyone at school including my ht until I was 16 weeks, and I still haven't told the children in my class. ( although a few parents have side glanced me😂)I was very unwell with sickness and migraine until week 15 and both still linger now. I was able to hide it as I was only working part time, but I agreed to return to full time at the end of last year before becoming pregnant. Anyway I didn't want to back out of these plans ( although I really felt like it, ) and I wanted to prove that I could still do my job just as well as before. My other reason for waiting was I have had two miscarriages in the last 4 years (8&12 wks) and although all my colleagues were very supportive and kind, I couldn't face having to tell people that if it happened again. So I kept it to myself until wk16. Legally you don't have to say a word ( I think) until 13weeks before due date (or something like that) check out ukgov website. I know you don't want to be treated any differently and just get on with the job and if you stress you are willing and able and ensure you risk assess all situations you should be fine. 🍀x

I'm also a teacher and I told my head at 5 weeks. I felt the need to as I have a child in my class with challenging behaviour. I told her from a safety point of view- glad I did! She's been extra supportive.

Thank you so much for all of your advice and help. I think then I'll definitely tell them before PGL- I don't think I could go without saying anything just in case something happened whilst I'm down there. The thought of telling them makes me nervous even though it won't be a massive shock as they know we've been wanting a baby for a while! Now just to decide whether to tell them before or after half term?!

Before. That way they will know before the resignation date of 31 May so that they can factor your situation into the staffing projections for 18/19. There may be gaps elsewhere that you don't know about and they might wish to recruit for September.

Hmm, I don’t think they could take away the trip from you without some strong justification that you couldn’t carry out some necessary part of your trip responsibilities. Plenty of pregnant teachers go on residentials. If it’s already been agreed upon, to ammend that purely because you're pregnant would be discrimination.

I've been on a PGL (Parents Get Lost) holiday when I was 11 and loved it - pregnancy will rule out a good few activities for you ie a sailing, White rafting, Go karts etc.

You may want to tell HT now as risk assessment and also for PGL insurance reasons etc.

Not ideal for trip but safety first.

I do realise that you might not be able to do the activities, it isn’t actually always necessary for a teacher to do the activities with the kids. They have instructors for that. I was one of our staff members on a recent ski trip and as I’m not an experienced skier and was 7 weeks pregnant I did not ski. I still fulfilled my duties, I didn’t need to be doing the activities to do that.

But if you don't go It may be a blessing. I've done PGL as a residential and it was tiring. Very long days (and nights, depending on your children). It's still quite hard work without doing the activities. I think in the early stages of pregnancy it will be hard x

Thanks again all for the advice. If I do go, I certainly wouldn't do any of the activities and to be honest after 4 years of going on the trot, the novelty has worn off now anyway! I do love going though and just enjoy seeing the chn having a great time.
Just thinking about whether to wait until I've at least had my booking appt with the midwife before I tell them.

The booking in appointment really won't make a difference- it's literally just picking up some information, a quick chat and a urine test...

Tell as late as possible. After the deadline for them pushing you out of things, at a point when it's too late for them to try to get rid of you because the coming year is already planned. I told my head in May and by the end of the day they'd found an excuse why I wasn't needed as an employee any more in September.

Little Gray Sheep, I am not sure what sort of school you work for, or what sort of contract you have but OP is clearly on a permanent contract, and has been for some time, so unless she has only just started work in an academy her maternity rights should very clearly laid out in the teachers pay and conditions documents (is it still called the Burgundy Book? ). Over the years teachers unions have negotiated good maternity rights for teachers, it is something union members should be very proud of.

My school was one which suffered severe budget cuts. All teaching staff had to re-apply for their own jobs on lower salaries and rolling contracts (not permanent). Which allows the employer to avoid the hassle of maternity leave, sick pay, and basically get rid of people whenever they like. This strategy is becoming upsettingly commonplace to save money.

The last school I worked in I told straight away as it meant I didn't have to do break or lunch duty which was quite challenging due to bad behaviour.

I told my HT about my pregnancy early purely because my class were doing a PGL trip. I wasn't allowed to do ziplining or abseiling, but could do rafting, climbing & assault course/mud pit.

Yes the burgundy book. @LittleGreySheep a non-permament contract is a very different situation.

I am twelve weeks now but I told the head of my school at 8 weeks (I paid for a private scan first to check all ok), and I'm glad I did. He was very discreet about it, but it has been useful for the school with planning out next year's staffing. I also felt it was a weight off my mind.
Similarly, I did have an overseas history trip two weeks ago...and I should have asked to pull out. I was looking forward to it but felt absolutely dreadful for the entire trip!
You are under no obligation to tell earlier than you want to tell, but I felt relieved to have told them and sorted out my cover early.