Pregnancy teacher 3rd trimester

[Edisnori]

Hello everyone ,

I'm 24+5 and am a primary school teacher. I met with my midwife today to collect my matb form and she asked me if I was working from home in my third trimester. I was non plussed as I have had my risk assessment meeting with my head and they asked me when I want to go onto maternity leave. I said three weeks before due date. My midwife said I should be working from in 3rd trimester. I've checked out government recommendations/advice and it's very open ended. Women are recommended to work from home if their workplace can't keep them safe. I am so confused! Help !

My response from my union
Your union H&S have alerted schools to reinstate bubbles etc, so I think it would be a good idea to discuss working from home and Hybrid teaching which we have done during the lockdown. You could teach a couple of lessons from home and leave plans and resources for Topic and maybe Science etc to be done in class.

The most important thing is your baby and your health ok , so reasonable adjustments will need to be made. The children will still have access to you online and you can set classwork and homework as we did previously. Please speak to your Line manager/ SLT as soon as possible so that you can start working from home asap, by next week at the latest.
I hope that is helpful to you as your risk assessment should have included Covid restrictions , but it can be included now as it is a working document.

If you were in Scotland as a teacher you would be working from home in your third trimester. The school would work out a plan with you about what you can do from home. Not signed off or anything, just wfh.

Your union response is telling you that since your school are putting enhanced mitigations in place (bubbles) this is due to the risk having gone up and so your risk assessment needs to be looked at again. They need to make adjustments to keep you safe and since they can't achieve that in a classroom you need to work from home.
That's what you should ask for. If they keep trying to get you to sign off or start ML early, get back onto the union.

@Mistressiggi

Your union response is telling you that since your school are putting enhanced mitigations in place (bubbles) this is due to the risk having gone up and so your risk assessment needs to be looked at again. They need to make adjustments to keep you safe and since they can't achieve that in a classroom you need to work from home. That's what you should ask for. If they keep trying to get you to sign off or start ML early, get back onto the union.

I am so terrified of speaking to my school about this just from how my boss has treated pregnant members of staff in the past and how he treats staff when they're sick and absent. I know I'm being pathetic but I'm so terrified of even broaching this conversation with him.

Ok do you have a rep in school who could come with you to a meeting? Or who could help you craft an email about it? "I would like to meet to review my risk assessment as I approach my third trimester" etc. There should be a school policy on this it won't come down to what your immediate boss is like (unless your immediate boss is the head)

I know it is intimidating but you need to do this for yourself and your babies health.

Is your Head your direct line manager OP? Do you have a sympathetic line manager or head of Key stage you can go to first who could perhaps support you in speaking with the head?

@Edisnori it’s good that your union has passed on advice but in my experience of implementation of advice, the school is unlikely to act or act quickly.
If it were me, I would have a catch up with the head and say you been looking in to H&S and think covid should be specifically covered in your risk assessment. Any push back, follow up with, I understand that my union have advised schools to reintroduce bubbles and I would be happy to do hybrid learning (as suggested by your union). If the head still doesn’t react, I would contact my union and ask that they make the representation on your behalf or ask for advice re: grievance.
Worst case, sign off on sick. They can only force the beginning of your Mat leave from 36 weeks if you are absence for a pregnancy related reason.

@Makingnumber2

Is your Head your direct line manager OP? Do you have a sympathetic line manager or head of Key stage you can go to first who could perhaps support you in speaking with the head?

He is yes , very small school unfortunately... but maybe my union can

[quote tierneytarny]@Edisnori it’s good that your union has passed on advice but in my experience of implementation of advice, the school is unlikely to act or act quickly.
If it were me, I would have a catch up with the head and say you been looking in to H&S and think covid should be specifically covered in your risk assessment. Any push back, follow up with, I understand that my union have advised schools to reintroduce bubbles and I would be happy to do hybrid learning (as suggested by your union). If the head still doesn’t react, I would contact my union and ask that they make the representation on your behalf or ask for advice re: grievance.
Worst case, sign off on sick. They can only force the beginning of your Mat leave from 36 weeks if you are absence for a pregnancy related reason.[/quote]
I think Im starting around then anyway because it falls on February half term and it was more suitable for the class for me to say goodbye to them at half term...

Thanks great adivce tierneytarny, I am going to broach Covid being covered and see what other measures we can put in place in school first before we think about working from home. I think I would be happy if they stopped expecting me to go to staff meetings, school assemblies and I didn't have to take my class up and down the stairs(walking past all the other classes). If they can make some reasonable adjustments I think I should be ok to keep going on sight