Being a Pregnant Primary Teacher

[CandyCane457]

I don’t know if I’m being precious here. Feel free to tell me if I am!

I work in a primary school and am 17 weeks pregnant. And I hate break duty! The kids just run around with no awareness and I just spend the whole time dashing out the way, putting my arms out to protect my belly etc. Today, I was leading my class out to break and a year 3 child ran out of their classroom and banged right into my belly. And I didn’t like it. Am I being daft? It hurt a little but not sure if it’s in my head cause I’m worried.

I asked my head for a risk assessment and she said they’ll do one for me at 20 weeks. We’ve had pregnant teachers in the last couple of years and they’ve still done break duty which makes me think I’m being precious. What would you do? Would you ask to not do it anymore? Or would you just carry on doing it and be on alert all the time?

Hi! I'm also a primary teacher and was pregnant 2022/2023 (and am in the early stages with #2 now!).

Frankly, I think waiting until 20 weeks to do a risk assessment isn't great - mine was done as soon as I disclosed my pregnancy, which was around 8 weeks the first time as I'd previously had a miscarriage and wanted to make sure my head knew just in case. I'm not sure what other schools do, but personally I'd be wanting a risk assessment ASAP. We're doing mine tomorrow even though I'm only 6 weeks, but that's because there are other complications this time round and i was insanely ill last time.

I still did break duty last pregnancy, as it was a nice opprtunity for some fresh air. However, I did work with some very understanding colleagues who were ready and willing to do duty for me if i wasn't feeling uo to it. I was absolutely humongous thougg - I couldn't walk around my cpassroom without bumping childrens' heads with my bump - which meant the children were pretty aware of it without me having to say anything.

If it's something that worries you, push for a risk assessment sooner and bring it up as a concern! Regardless of what other colleagues have done, it's worrying you and so there should be some form of mitigation to help put your mind at ease.

Thank you so much- your message has helped so much! Really good to hear from someone who has been in a similar situation. And I’m so glad to know you’re getting your risk assessment so early, it’s given me the confidence to really push this and ask for one sooner. Can I ask what sort of things they put on it for you?
My colleagues are great as well so I might mention it to a couple of them and I know they’ll be great at covering my duty if needed. I agree with you it’s nice to get fresh air- I do quite enjoy going out, especially now that the weather is nicer! But the risk worries me, so it’s something to be mindful of. My head isn’t too supportive with stuff like this, when a pregnant teacher asked not to teach PE in her last couple of months, and swap with her year partner, a comment was made about how maybe she should consider going on Mat leave early if she isn’t up to the job 🙈

Risk Assessment should be completed as soon as you tell the school that you are pregnant.

https://neu.org.uk/latest/library/pregnancy-risk-assessments

Wow, what a comment! I mean, I hate PE and will do just about anything to avoid teaching it, but if I asked for something like this, I'd expect a lot more support than that!

My risk assessment included the stuff you'd expect for most people - no heavy lifting, no working at height (even standing on the stage at Christmas was frowned upon 😆)... it also included staying away from EYFS to avoid bugs like slapped cheek, avoiding any classes where chickenpox was around etc. For me, as I was so unwell, it also included not being left alone with my class, because chances were I would need to exit pretty hastily with little warning.

I think there was also something about not reaching above my natural reach height - so not stretching up to reach things, change displays and so on.

They should do.yoyr risk assessment as soon as they know you are pregnant, within a few days. Put the incident in the accident book. Contact your trade union or just tell them you are not doing break duty until you've had a risk assessment.

It should definitely be done earlier than that. You’re supposed to have an earlier one and then another a little later on that takes into account how your pregnancy has developed so needs/risks will have altered too. And I was told to get in touch with my RA ‘person’ as soon as anything changed or I was uncomfortable with anything.

My risk assessment included the usuals as people have said above, but also included having my back against the wall for playtime duties to lessen risk of being bumped into/falls, to kneel at desks rather than bend if you haven’t got a comfortable wheeley chair to take along to desks with you, and another was to not stand beside the photocopier as it’s working due to small levels of radiation, and to not go near the toner. They were the most important ones that I can think of that I’d avoid from now if you can whilst pushing for an earlier risk assessment to be carried out.

Thanks so much everyone, this has been so helpful and just given me some clarity on what I deserve (aka a good risk assessment!)

@2020N really interesting to hear what was on your risk ass, I never would’ve thought about a lot of those things, but that’s so helpful! And I like the back against the wall as well, that’s a good middle ground!

I didn't do duty at all in the later stages of both my pregnancies and that was two different schools. They definitely should have done your RA already though with reviews at later dates.

I'm not a teacher but school based role, and they should do a risk assessment, I think i had one after my 12 week scan, then reviewed at 20 weeks, then monthly although i can't remember for sure when the first one was and the others

In the latter stages, mine was generally i couldn't be alone in the office, they also covered how much I could lift, we have multiple locations so meetings were teams based where as before I'd have travelled to them etc. I don't have direct contact with the children however so I'd expect yours to be much more in depth, mine was done by my line manager then reviewed in my 1:1s

They should also cover in the latter stages if you're mobile enough to be able to evacuate in an emergency, I'd imagine this will be even more important for you and any potential provisions especially if you have children with PEEPs in your class, as if you're struggling yourself, will you need extra help with the children, especially if any have PEEPs etc?