Head Teacher taking maternity leave

[C124F]

Is anyone a Head Teacher who has taken maternity leave for a year? I’m worried about the impact it will have on my career and the staffs response. I don’t want to get left behind! Any experience of this really welcome!

I'm a deputy and took a year. I was lucky in that the school underwent a lot of change during the time I was gone and I was able to pick up the areas that I wanted when I got back. It is hard though x

I don't think your staff should mind. You are a human and allowed to have babies, operations bereavements etc. That said, you do have to develop a thicker skin in the workplace once you have kids. Inevitably some people will resent you e.g. if you have to get up and leave a meeting (which ought to have finished 20 mins ago) to get to nursery before it shuts.

As someone who has returned from mat leave to teaching and found it incredibly hard what made it easier was colleagues who had been through it supporting me and helping me to realise that I could let some stuff go.

How much this impacts your career very much depends on what you decide to do post mat leave. I went part time so obviously it has a huge impact but my dh was much bigger earner as not public sector and we had no family nearby so it worked better for is. Many others remain full time and make it work. It will be challenging whatever you choose, babies and children really take huge amounts of time. How much additional work are you doing outside of school at present? I do about 1-2 hrs a night on weeknights which was ok once the kids were asleep when they were littls but a massive challenge when they were poor sleepers. You will be knackered. The bugs and phone calls from nursery are tough too, will you be leaving work to collect if the baby is ill? You might find you catch a lot of the bugs too. What support will you have in place? I think my contract says I can take emergency leave and get the first day paid but after that I should aim make alternative arrangements...in reality you can't do that, who wants to look after someone else's vomiting child?

Things to plan for: Childcare, know what hours they can provide. Who will provide childcare in the event of babies illness. Who will do the night feeds? Early early wake ups. Cooking, laundry, cleaning? When will you work? Can you afford to buy in services to help like a nanny, cleaner, night nanny etc.