33 weeks pregnant teacher covid advice for September

WaterIsBest · 17/08/2021 23:26

How can you work from home for 4 weeks? Where are you planning to put the children?

sunshineandshowers40 · 17/08/2021 23:27

I thought teachers had to work from home once they were x amount of weeks?

Poppyloppyloo · 17/08/2021 23:33

If you don’t mind me asking are you vaxxed? I worked from home as a pregnant teacher earlier in the pandemic. Since most kids aren’t vaxxed the risk in school hasn’t changed in the same way as other work places. If I was pregnant and especially if I was not vaxxed then I would definitely ask to work from home. If they said no then I would start my mat leave early.

Monkeytennis97 · 17/08/2021 23:41

I started my MAT leaves at both 30 weeks and 33 weeks with my DSs (a long time ago now!). I'm a secondary teacher. In your position now with Covid and schools tbh I'd definitely start MAT leave ASAP.

JaffaRaf · 17/08/2021 23:54

I don’t understand how you could work from home? Can’t really hurt to ask, but yes it would be cheeky.

Mammyloveswine · 18/08/2021 01:12

The comments!! "How can you work from home?!"

Op I would email your head and ask about an updated rusk assessment in light of new guidelines, with suggestions of how you could work from home/non classed based.

sarah13xx · 18/08/2021 04:40

I’m a teacher in Scotland and was lucky to be working from home from May until the summer holidays. I know of a few other teachers who are due September/October and although the blanket rule for work from home has been removed, as they aren’t vaccinated they’ve asked to work from home and their head teacher has agreed. Not sure what the guidance is like now though

sarah13xx · 18/08/2021 04:42

Also.. the comments 😂 send the teachers in regardless of risk to them or their unborn baby because the children would have a different teacher 🤦🏼‍♀️

Paulinna · 18/08/2021 04:52

Request a risk assessment and if necessary start your mat leave early. Definitely don’t go in to school, it’s a huge risk. You can buy yourself an entire year to let the Covid situation subside.

QueenCarrot · 18/08/2021 04:58

Are you in a Union? If so have a word with them and they will advise.

flightofthewilderbeast · 18/08/2021 05:33

How well is your school set up for remote teaching? At my (primary) we have had teachers teach live lessons remotely from home with a TA supervising/supporting the class in school. My dd says she has had lessons taught this way in her secondary too.

2021mumma · 18/08/2021 05:37

pregnantthenscrewed.com/covid-19/write-to-your-employer-risks-for-pregnant-women/

Lots of advice here ☝️☝️

mumofmunchkin · 18/08/2021 08:07

@flightofthewilderbeast

How well is your school set up for remote teaching? At my (primary) we have had teachers teach live lessons remotely from home with a TA supervising/supporting the class in school. My dd says she has had lessons taught this way in her secondary too.

Yep, my son had this for 3 months last year because his teacher was high risk and shielding.

WetherspoonsCarpet · 18/08/2021 09:00

Looks like this is the government guidance and that they need to remove or manage any risks, and ensure safety and social distancing. From my understanding if they can't then you'd need to be offered wfh or other adjustments after 28 weeks? Given the cases have increased then I would have thought that wfh could be a sensible way to reduce risks in a school, rather than you having to take mat leave early if you don't want to?

www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-advice-for-pregnant-employees/coronavirus-covid-19-advice-for-pregnant-employees

Ednadidit · 18/08/2021 09:06

We’ve just gone through 18 months where we’re teaching online if kids are at home - why are so many asking you how it would be possible?! Have you all been asleep? What do you think pregnant teachers in the third trimester have been doing for the past year?! 🙄

I’m also going to be 33 weeks. I’ve not been timetabled - my maternity is starting on the first day of the year. If I’m not able to be in the building then I’ll be planning, marking, etc both for other people and for the dept as a whole (baseline testing and things which involve whole year groups). To be honest I think this is what I’ll be doing even if I’m in the building, just with additional cover I expect 🤷🏻‍♀️ Although I’ve been double vaccinated I’m not feeling confident, especially since we’re not distancing any more.

Ednadidit · 18/08/2021 09:07

*my maternity cover teacher is starting on the first day of the year

sparklyblue81 · 18/08/2021 09:49

I’ll be 31 weeks at the start of term & the head has arranged my mat cover to start from sept in case I have to work from home. I’m double vaccinated but early primary so no social distancing really & remote teaching is much more difficult. If I’m on site I will be doing 1-1 baseline assessments & SEN interventions outdoors (under a covered veranda). If I’m wfh it will be planning, updating policies etc. Just waiting to see which. Hoping I can be on site to be fair as I get so bored at home! I had two back to back self isolations at end of the summer & drove me mad. Definitely not unreasonable to ask to work from home though if you feel more comfortable with that.

Whatshouldicallme · 18/08/2021 10:25

YANBU at all, pregnant women in the last trimester are very vulnerable to COVID and your workplace needs to put measures in place to protect you, including wfh.

Some of the responses on this thread are hilarious. Yes, sure you should risk the health of yourself and your unborn child to look after other people's children for a few more weeks .

Original poster

CordyD · 18/08/2021 10:43

Sorry I should have made clear that I won't be teaching any classes as I haven't been given a timetable. So I will be doing admin, hence the idea of working from home. I won't have a classroom or office space. My close colleagues and I have been vaccinated but close family and friends have been quite poorly with the delta variant despite being double vaccinated. So I'm concerned.

OP posts:

Soexciting · 23/08/2021 08:23

Late to the party but no it's not cheeky to ask to keep yourself and your baby safe. The people who say it's cheeky are weird. If your school had rubella floating around would it be cheeky for you to be working from home then?
If your school can't keep you safe then you should do your job from home. If you can't work from home and they can't keep you safe you should be suspended on full pay. You should not have to start your mat leave early to keep yourself safe. I say this as a senior leader in a school.

hedgehogger1 · 23/08/2021 12:41

I don't know if they'd ask you to start your maternity leave early?

Original poster

CordyD · 23/08/2021 14:09

Thanks for taking the time to reply. I will also check with my midwife when I see her later.

OP posts:

MissL85 · 23/08/2021 14:12

@CordyD

Hello! I will be 33 weeks pregnant when I return to work as a secondary school teacher in September. I can't find much guidance about what my employer can do to keep me safe from covid. I know I will need an updated risk assessment now that I'm past 28 weeks. Would it be cheeky to request to work from home as I only have 4 weeks until my mat leave starts? Thanks all

As I'm assuming you won't have a timetable for the year, I don't see why you can't ask about this. I'm going back to work when I will be 14 weeks and not happy about a whole host of things, like parents' evenings, so I can understand why you would want to restrict your contact with pupils.

Evianontoast · 23/08/2021 17:25

Hi. I’m not a teacher but I work in educational admin and I’ve asked for the exact same because... well for the obvious reasons really! Still waiting to hear back from my boss and I’m hoping she okays it. I don’t think it’s cheeky. Only you can know what level of risk you’re willing to take and how anxious you’d be if you were made to go back - the world has managed remotely for over a year now I sure they can manage a few more weeks for you for the sake of your and your child’s health!

Good luck with everything!

OPTIMUMMY · 23/08/2021 19:13

I am in a similar position but with a higher risk pregnancy and decided that if I couldn’t work from home that I’d just start my mat leave early as the risks of covid and of missing out on care due to isolations etc would put me at greater risk. Pregnant teachers in their third trimester are at more risk than many other work places because whilst the majority of adults have been vaccinated (which is why restrictions can ease) the one place with large numbers of unvaccinated people left, where distancing is almost impossible are schools, and we now know how much more dangerous the delta variant is for pregnant women in their third trimester.
As it happens I’m able to work from home, it’s only for a few weeks and there is no shortage of tasks to keep me busy that are benefitting my colleagues. I’d imagine given that you won’t have classes timetabled that you will be allowed to work from home, that’s how I would interpret the rcog guidelines, good luck!