Ringing in sick ...

[woodenlofts]

On the first day of a new job.

You just can't, can you?

I am feeling very sorry for myself

I'm not deluded. I happen to work in a primary school that enforces 48hrs off for sickness bugs.

I don't have the heads home phone number

As far as I know there's no 48 or 24 hour limit on sickness bugs, and I don't think it is a bug anyway

I work in a school nursery and we're on 48 hour exclusions for D&V! So some schools do enforce it.

OP, I've done this (in spite of a friend telling me it was unacceptable unless i was dead!)
I've known people who have done it

obviously you only do it because you have to and anyone with a brain will realise that.

When I used to teach a senior manager told me off for leaving a class unattended to vomit - I should have used the bin "if I really couldn't wait" apparently It was a class of teenagers not 5 year olds... Admittedly it was morning sickness not a bug, but I hadn't announced my pregnancy at that point...

Get some travel sickness pills if you think it's nerves, than can make all the difference. I hope you feel better soon.

If you are being sick shouldn't you follow the 48 hour rule that schools insist parents do?

Normally id say dose up and go in on first day BUT sickness is different! Phone the school and let them know asap.

No you can't. You will be written off as a waste of space. That's life I'm afraid. It is rotten luck if you're genuinely ill.

Get some Pepto Bismol and go in. Stops nausea like nothing else.

I was ill with flu symptoms on the first day of my new job, it was horrendous but I got through it.

Get in super early and explain to all that you're ill but you are going to be doing your best.

Good luck on your first day!

Your card will be far more marked if you struggle in and have to be sent home. It is much easier to cover work if known in advance than half way through the morning. If I were your mentor I would seriously not be impressed at having to work closely with a sick mentee.

If it's likely to be down to nerves and you're feeling better, I would say you have to go in.

I was feeling better until someone mentioned that pepto thing

Go in and see if they send you home. People getting judgy about the 48hr exclusion, well it's not their career and reputation at stake is it

The 48 hr rule is issued to schools by Public Health England. I always insist that staff and children follow it. As a headteacher, I would not be bothered at all if you phoned/contacted me about being sick on your first day. I may think, oh bugger! But then, that is generally one of my first thoughts whenever someone phones in sick as I have to sort out cover, even though I am always genuinely sympathetic.

You must have some contact details of someone and if not just phone school first thing in the morning and let them know as soon as you can.

I was a teacher for nearly 20 years.
Stinking cold? Suck it up!
Rotten headache? Tough shit?
Diarrhoea and/or vomiting? Do your colleagues, students and their families a huge favour and stay home.

I rang in sick on my first day (not teaching), d and v. I stayed in the job seven years and was promoted twice so it didn't do me any harm!

That said I've not been off sick since and that was exactly twelve years ago (today in fact)

Do everyone a favour and stay at home. You're worried about your reputation if you phone in sick - it will be twenty times worse if you go in and infect the people you work. I really hope you're not one of my children's teachers.

Where I work 48hr exclusion is enforced - even when you know it isn't a bug!

But nobody knows which way her prospective employer will take the news. I wouldn't want to start on the wrong foot by being ill on my my first day

The OP has said they don't think the sickness is a bug, it's nerves/anxiety about the new job. Our school follows Government guidance and it is 24 hrs for staff and 48 for children - I assume on the basis adults can be more scrupulous in their hygiene.
If you really don't believe you have a bug, I would go in and see how you feel during the morning. You might want to mention to your direct line manager that you are queasy with nerves.

brightblue I wish you were my head teacher - mine is much more of the bin in a cupboard to be sick into and carry on teaching school of thought.

If you're not being sick and not in danger of being sick, then in my experience, you go in. Supply teachers aren't brought in until the 4th day of sickness in the authority I work in (provided by an insurance scheme) and the kids get a right mish mash of cover from TAs/being put into other classes etc until then. There's no money for cover.

Plus, the 48 hour thing for kids is mostly because you can't trust their level of hygeine (washing hands/not touching face etc) and how well you can limit the transfer of the bug. An adult should be able to do that much more effectively. The only adult job I've worked in which had the same 48 hour rule was food prep, and if you phoned in with that, they just put you somewhere else after the first 24 hours so you weren't working by food.

I must admit I've never come across the 48 hour rule teaching in secondary.