Full time vs part time - teacher and mum help!

[sherbetmelon]

Hi, I have a 19 month old DD and I am a primary teacher. Currently working 2.5 days per week, I started in a new school this year after mat leave ended and I love it. I spent a long time looking for the right school and finally feel I'm in the best place for me work wise.

I have been offered a full time position from September, it'll be a big jump after having not worked full time in 2 years and with a 2 year old toddler I don't know how I will feel.

I really want to go for it, the money will mean we can move house sooner than expected and have more days out as a family. DD already goes to nursery and adores it there, even with the added childcare cost it would still be worth it financially. I suffer with bad mental health and find when I'm at work I cope so much better, and better when I'm at home after having been to work. DD is term time only at nursery so every 6ish weeks we will have a whole week or more together. DP is self employed so could drop a day potentially, plenty of options to work with.

I would love to hear your positive stories about going back to work full time with a small child, especially if you're a teacher. I am feeling incredible guilt.

Look for ‘MTPT Project’ on Facebook, or just type that into google. You’ll find loads of support and advice

First of all, congratulations on being offered the full-time role - the school clearly likes you as much as you like it!

Before going on maternity leave were you teaching full-time? The reason I ask is that I wonder if you're loving your current school in part because the 2.5 days is working for you. As you've identified, jumping up to five days is a huge leap and will mean a full load of meetings, parents evenings, report-writing as well as all the planning and assessing of an entire class, all the time. Do you think there might be any scope in asking to do four days instead?

Although your DD is in nursery, in a couple of years when she starts school, you may want to have the chance to drop or collect her occasionally, to be a helper on a school trip, go to sports day or even get to look around primary schools before applying. If you're teaching for five days, those opportunities just aren't there. If your DP will be able to arrange work so he can take on those things and the ferrying to/from after school activities as she gets older, then you being full-time may work brilliantly but I'd encourage you and your DP to think about how much flexibility he can realistically exercise in his work.

My DH and I are both teachers and until our youngest was in Y1, we both worked four days a week. He's now full-time and I'm no longer in a class teacher role so have more flexibility than I ever had when the DCs were younger but we've missed assemblies, sports days, getting to know other parents in the playground, cake sales, World Book Day events etc. etc. We've had to do that thing of sending a neighbour to watch them perform, or ask other parents to send any pictures they take of X event. We're never the ones to take them into their classes on the first day of the school year, or even on their first day of school.

It can be done but you and your partner need to think about how it will work when your DD is 5+.