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Primary education

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Original poster

Headteacher having a baby.

73 replies

newbieman1978 · 16/09/2014 13:24

Should a headteacher have to discuss/justify their maternity leave plans? (with parents)

Just to add parents have been informed of the plan governors have put in to place. Deputy will act up and temp brought in to cover deputy's class.

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

temporarilyjerry · 16/09/2014 18:56

The HT of my DD's primary school had a baby last year. It didn't occur to me to demand a meeting or question her about her maternity leave. The DHT was acting head, did a great job and now the HT is back.

Some parents fail to understand that teachers and headteachers are people. The parents probably thought that your wife lived in a cupboard at school, OP.

Congratulations to you and your DW.

Galena · 16/09/2014 19:03

I was a mere teacher and must have REALLY pissed off the parents at the school I was teaching at - I told the children I was pregnant on the day before the Easter holidays. I then taught 1 day after Easter (having what I now know were contractions all day) ended up in hospital that night and DD was born a few days later at 27 weeks!

ajandjjmum · 16/09/2014 19:12

Actually Galena - that's the way to do it!

AnguaResurgam · 16/09/2014 19:13

No, not cupboards! Teachers are Krillitane, and they hang from the ceiling

Hulababy · 16/09/2014 19:15

HT should definitely not have to discuss her maternity plans with parents. They have no right to know.

HT discusses with Governors and possibly SMT. Even the other class teachers don;t have any bearing on a HT's plan.

fancyanotherfez · 16/09/2014 19:20

Personal letter to the parent considering moving her child 'Dear parent, I hear you want to move your child to the school fully staffed by women over 50, men and robots. I hope she will be very happy there. Let us know her leaving date so we can fill her place. See ya!'

Itsfab · 16/09/2014 20:03

It is not unique for a head to be having a baby.

Our head recently did that and everything went well.

Why not say in your OP it is your wife who is pregnant? Would have saved all the indignant posts.

Original poster

newbieman1978 · 16/09/2014 21:06

Thanks for all the congratulations :-)

I'm sure everything will be fine and she will take on board some of the suggestions having read the thread this evening, she did chuckle at some!

The reason I didn't say my wife was the head in my opening post was because I wanted the views of other parents and I figured that posing the question to sound like a parent would get the best response which it did.

OP posts:

admission · 16/09/2014 21:11

The head teacher is responsible for the day to day running of the school, ably supported by the deputy head. She has very right to be pregnant and to take the appropriate level of time off.
I however would not encourage the idea that parents can go to governors over this, it is an organisational change and should be correctly explained to parents, as it seems to have been. By encouraging parents to go to governors you are simply going to create more issues further down the line and potentially undermine the future authority of the head teacher.
As a chair of governors I would already have had appropriate conversations with your pregnant wife and the two people who will be "acting up" in the interim to ensure that everything was organised to the best of their ability, to insist that your wife actually does not over-do it during the pregnancy and also to say to them that the return to work is not about a set time it is about when they feel up to it. For some that might be 2 weeks after birth for others the whole year when they can have maternity leave. I would also have a separate conversation with the acting head to say that just as the current head knows I am at the end of the telephone for anything that they have concerns about
If any of the parents have a problem then there is a formal complaints process and the person who will be first to respond to the complaint is the acting head and then subsequently to the governors. That is the mechanism for any concerns that parents have over and above whether they and their precious children can cope with the head teacher having a baby!

thatsn0tmyname · 16/09/2014 21:12

Oh my goodness. Does pregnancy have to be agreed by the governors? AOB? No one's business!

Bluestocking · 16/09/2014 21:15

I love your phrase "parents are very active at best and quite impossible at worst", OP. I think a lot of us in parent-facing roles would know exactly what you mean! And congratulations to you and your wife!

ohtobeanonymous · 16/09/2014 23:05

Good luck to you both and enjoy the new addition to your family.

In the meantime, please remind your wife that parents ALWAYS know best and perhaps she should provide her personal mobile phone number so that she can be contacted at any time during her absence to answer those vital question about the PFBs and to implement the good advice on offer...completely free of charge, of course. Perhaps she would also like to write a blog for the school website about the CPD she is undertaking on her 'sabbatical'...after all, everyone knows that once you are a Head Teacher your personal life ceases to exist and you become school property. This baby will be a good chance for her to work on school development plans, and perhaps do some educational voluntary work for underprivileged schools which will look great on the next school OfSted report..well, it may go a little way to making up for the neglect and irresponsibility of leaving the school in the lurch through her unfortunate personal circumstance (thankfully, only temporary!)
Although you really have to question the commitment of a Head Teacher who wants to have a baby instead of a school to care for...perhaps she doesn't really know what she is doing in leaving it in the hands of other teachers at all! I think it would be a valuable opportunity to put some parents in charge who, after all, really know the true state of affairs and how things should be run properly...etc...ad infinitum...

Too much, OP?

fatowl · 16/09/2014 23:32

OP, I am on the board of governors for a fee paying school whose head went on Mat leave recently.

We have our fair share of crazy tiger mums.
I know exactly what you are going through (several letters to the governors about it)
Many assumed it was IVF as she is late 30s, first baby and there were loads of mutters from parents about "our fees paying for her IVF".
About a year ago a Y6 teacher was diagnosed with a life -threatening condition. While the diagnosis was being confirmed, he was obviously off sick. Several parents in the heads office demanding to know why he was off sick as they saw him getting into his car and he "looked fine" to them, when he would be back and it was unreasonable for him to be off work as "Y6 is too important".
We brought an emergency supply teacher in for three days before a more long term solution was found. Howls of "lack of consistency" from parents. I couldn't believe the self centred attitude of these parents. We genuinely sat in the council meeting open mouthed, and wondered if they thought we should wheel him in while hooked up to his chemo drip, so he could go through SATS papers with little Tarquin.
(18 months later he's back at work and doing well BTW)

OP, congratulations make sure your wife enjoys her pg. There are all levels of crazy out there and you know YNBU.

ABlandAndDeadlyCourtesy · 17/09/2014 00:00

Oh, wow, fat owl, what a bunch of very horrid people!

"Our fees paying for her IVF" indeed - whether she had IVF or not, the Very Idea that their head teacher should dare to spend her salary on something she wanted?!?!

fatowl · 17/09/2014 00:05

I know, my kids (three of them with big age gaps) have been at this school since 2002 and I have been a parent governor for three years, but the behaviour of some parents around these two events really shook me, and opened my eyes to how selfish some people can be.

SadOldGit · 17/09/2014 17:28

The headteacher at DD2's school has had 2 periods of maternity leave - as has what was the deputy head (not at the same time), the SEN lead and various other members of the management team.

during the Heads first mat leave, the deputy acted up, and since her return (and further leave and return) they now share the head post (no idea on days worked - )

There were no (to my knowledge) meetings with parents to discuss this - I was more than happy with deputy as she had also been DSs teacher and is fab. For what its worth the school is OFSTED outstanding and very popular and oversubscribed -

Hope the pregnancy and mat leave goes well

mamaduckbone · 17/09/2014 21:55

It sounds exactly like my school. Your dw absolutely shouldn't have to justify her plans, whatever that even means!
I spent an entire parents evening being told by parents whilst heavily pregnant that they were unhappy about the situation and the disruption to their precious children's education. I was in tears by the end of it. Only one parent out of a class of 30 congratulated me without following it with a "but..."

Hexu2 · 18/09/2014 10:25

congratulations

My DC head is male but had to take near 4 + months off last year - news letter mentioned vaguely an operation.

No one demanded a meeting to my knowledge and the school ran fine.

Head taking time of isn't that unusual at all - life happens to them too.

rabbitstew · 18/09/2014 10:59

I thought it was the norm for the deputy headteacher to stand in for the headteacher at times like this. I would be more worried if the school felt it couldn't trust its own deputy head to do the job. It's unbelievable that parents think they can be so intrusive, and hypocritical. Some of them must have taken maternity leave at some point, surely?! It sounds as though they are cynically and manipulatively hoping to delve into all sorts of things it would be illegal for an employer to ask (like is she planning to "do this to them again" in the next few years, how long is she planning to be away for, will she be coming back, will she be able to cope with the demands of the job and a small baby, will she be in touch with the school at all times during her maternity leave in case there's a problem the deputy can't handle...).

sunnyrosegarden · 18/09/2014 17:50

Congratulations!

I agree that any queries should be directed to the acting head, though, not governors. Governors can deal with official complaints if the complaints procedure is followed correctly, but shouldnt be involved in day to day operational stuff. Believe me, if they are, it can get very very messy!

ABlandAndDeadlyCourtesy · 18/09/2014 18:54

There is no acting head right now, sunny - op's DW hasn't gone on ML yet.

FabulousFudge · 18/09/2014 19:33

It must be a fairly unique situation. Maybe they are worried about how she will run the school afterwards and cope with a newborn (which is very unfair as a man would not be subject to that kind of scrutiny.) Anything to do with her pregnancy is none of their business and they should trust the school to support the DHT fully in her absence and that she will rise to the occasion.

ABlandAndDeadlyCourtesy · 18/09/2014 20:08

Wonder how they'd react to a male head taking his half of the post baby leave...!

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