maternity leave when working in a school (support staff) school holidays??

[moonlight2022]

I work in a high school and my baby is due in June

I want to work as long as possible and I was hoping to go till May half term

my question is, can technically start my maternity leave on a day in the half term?

My last actual day of work would be the Friday 27th May (then half term is the week after and I wanted my maternity leave to start on Friday 3rd June)
Baby is due the week after half term

I want to go as long as possible so I obviously get more time of (I plan to take a year)

I know certain things may change this nearer the time, but fingers crossed all will be ok

@moonlight2022 yes you can, you can also return in a holiday if you want. Totally normal at my school.

Why don't you set it for the return to school following half term? Then if the baby is early it will start with the birth date. I started mine on the 1st Nov following October half term.

@User154871 thank you for your reply , so could I state I want my maternity leave to start Monday 6th June, but not actually have to go into work that day?

If baby comes before that date (say during the half term) would they then start of from actual date baby is born?

Sorry this is my 2nd, but maternity leave was much easier to sort out with my 1st as I left 2 weeks before summer holidays so the timing was perfect!

Yes. I wrote 1st Nov on mine (1st day back) and didn't have to go in that day. It's in the burgundy book that if you go into labour early it automatically starts from your child's date of birth.

Yep... Say you'll start mat leave on the return date. If baby arrives early then it starts on birth date.

I aimed to do this as was due at the end of the Easter holidays but got high blood pressure and had to leave a week before the holidays started 🤦‍♀️

Thank you all 🙂