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question for teachers and maternity leave
Hi,
I'm a teacher in a secondary school and also a head of department.
I am also the main earner in our house (by quite a bit) and we need my income. I desperately want to spend time with baby and so am considering going back 4 days a week. However, this is only financially viable if I can keep my head of department position.
Just wondering if anyone else has done this/planning to do this and was able to keep their position?
I know I need to ask the head but just thought I'd see if anyone else had a similar experience.
Many thanks
Kernow
I'm a teacher in a secondary school and also a head of department.
I am also the main earner in our house (by quite a bit) and we need my income. I desperately want to spend time with baby and so am considering going back 4 days a week. However, this is only financially viable if I can keep my head of department position.
Just wondering if anyone else has done this/planning to do this and was able to keep their position?
I know I need to ask the head but just thought I'd see if anyone else had a similar experience.
Many thanks
Kernow
0
Replies
My option was to job share with somebody else, so that I am manager the days I was in, and the other person is manager the days I was not. But I was looking at a 0.5 position - I'm not sure how it would work with a 0.8. Speak to your HR people.
That is my understanding. Be good to hear from others who have done this.
xxx
I hope this helps.
xx
I am hoping for a Wednesday too as Hubs works from home on a Friday, also quite like the idea of a midweek break! Although I am assistant head, 99% of time I am the class teacher so am hoping my Govs and Head will be fine with it, also with PPA time it will mean that I won't actually be in class for the remaining 4 days as we are allowed to work from home so it will be more like 3 and a bit.
xxx
x
[Modified by: jellyfishpink on August 18, 2010 03:15 PM]
Oh well will just have to ask I suppose.
On a seperate note, if people went back 3/4 days a week did your LEA make you pay back any maternity pay?
Thanks xx
xx
Calleigh, this is what I'm worried about. I would fully understand if it was 2 or 3 days but hoping that I can justify to my head why absence on 1 day a week will not interfere with my role. I'm also going to ask for a day where no meetings/ after schools or anything else where I need to be there happens (so prob a Friday). Also as every other school we are under huge budget constraints so it would actually save him money if I did 4 days a week -maybe I should use that as part of my arguement (hahaha)
thanks again for sharing experiences
If he says no, I'll just have to go back full time
1) I can usually get to Abby by 4:30pm anyway and therefore get to spend a couple of hours with her before bed.
2) Being HoD I would still have to do all the work anyway just on less pay. I wouldn't lose a huge number of classes by losing one day a week so the work load isn't much different especially as I mainly teach 6th form.
3) My OH takes Friday off and my parents take Abby on Wed so she is only in nursery 3x week.
4) Being a teacher I have long holidays so get to see Abby more than most people who work PT anyway.
However my Head was actually surprised when I said I was coming back FT. He was ready and willing to let me drop to 0.7 and keep my TLR. And I am in charge of quite a large dept (5 teachers + 1 tech - 135 A-Level students plus Yrs9-11).
One of my colleagues has returned to work on 0.68 as Head of Dept but she is in charge of a much smaller dept. Personally I couldn't run my dept on such low hours. I might return to work 0.9 next year but am likely to stay FT to be honest.
As you can see from the other replies it does vary from school to school.
H xx
Blondefriend - sorry for asking a silly question - but what does 0.7 equate too in days??
xxx
My husband works wed-sat (although long hours of 6am-6pm) so baby will be in nursery 3 days a week if I go back f/time or 2 days if I go back 4 days which is only a financial saving of about ??200 a month so there's no incentive there but like the idea of spending extra time with baby.
My thinking was also that if I did 4 days I could use the extra day to catch up on school work which would allow me to leave school at 4pm every day and not have to work too much in evenings (though don't know how realistic that is with a baby to look after!)
Hmmm certainly a lot to think about!
Kernow - when baby is small you get quite a lot of time to mark etc when at home. However Abby is now 20mths and a very lively toddler. She sleeps for 1.5 hours during the day but needs constant supervision at all other times so work is impossible. I can get work done in the evenings but have to plan meals very carefully and I have a cleaner in order to remove that issue.
H xx
Im a primary teacher and SENCO so a little different to what you are talking about (I dont have a TLR but do get an SEN allowance). I have gone back Mon-Thurs, which was totally my decision. I didnt think I could do the SENCO position on 3 days a week and nor did my head, although he didnt say until I did!
So, I went back 4 days and get to spend Fridays with my boys. I am very lucky in one respect though as hubby's days off are Mon and Tues (although we never actually spend days together unless im on holiday!), and parents have them Wed and Thurs. I remind myself every day how lucky I am.
All that happened with regards to work was that my Allowance is paid pro rata so I lose a day of it, which I have no problem with as it is on top of my wages anyway!
Also, as long as you go back the eqivalent of 13 full weeks, you dont pay back the maternity pay.
HTH
Gemma, Ryan and Alfie 10 months