Parental Leave Group Coaching (Autumn "Coffee" Cohort)

It can be easy to feel isolated or drifting on your parental leave, particularly if you are used to the bustle and pace of school and the classroom.

The MTPT Project's Parental Leave Group Coaching programme brings you together with other colleagues on leave to share experiences, motivate yourself with personalised goals, and celebrate as you grow and flourish with your new baby.

In three 60 minute Zoom sessions, we'll focus on key themes relevant to The MTPT Project community:

• Transition and Identity: who am I now?
• Limiting Beliefs: what's holding me back?
• Empowering Visions: where do I want to go?

Dates for the Autumn "Coffee" cohort are:

• Thursday 18th September, 09:30-10:30
• Thursday 16th October, 09:30-10:30
• Thursday 13th November, 09:30-10:30

Fully-Funded Access

This progamme is fully-funded for state school colleagues in England (teachers, leaders, support staff, central Trust colleagues, and those intending to return to state school settings following parental leave / a caring-related career break.)

Please do explore our funding partners in your region, and reach out to them to show your appreciation where appropriate.

National Funders

Mosaic by Penrose and The Ogden Trust.

North West

Fully-funded for state school colleagues in the North West thanks to Bright Futures TSH, Generate TSH, East Manchester TSH, One Cumbria TSH.

South East

Fully-funded for state school colleagues in the South East thanks to Chiltern Teaching School, TSH Berkshire, Astra AB, Alban Education, OTSA and NEU Wokingham, West Berkshire and Bracknell Forest.

East of England

Fully-funded for state school colleagues in the East of England thanks to Unity TSH, Inspiration TSH, The Julian TSH, Cambridgeshire Secondary Heads and Harris Institute.

East Midlands

Fully-funded for state school colleagues in the East Midlands thanks to Northamptonshire TSH, Spencer TSH, Leicester and Leicestershire TSH and Redhill TSH.

London

Fully-funded for state school colleagues in London thanks to Harris Institute, Thames South TSH, North West London TSH, Southwark NEU, NEU Tower Hamlets, NEU Kingston-upon-Thames and London South Learning Partnership.

South Coast

Fully-funded for state school colleagues on the South Coast thanks to STEP Ahead TSH, the Diocese of Chichester Academy Trust, HISP TSH and Greenshaw Learning Trust.

South West

Fully-funded for state school colleagues in the South West thanks to Balcarras TSH, SWIFT, Five Counties TSH, OTT SCITT (Wiltshire) and One Cornwall TSH.

West Midlands

Fully-funded for state school colleagues in the West Midlands thanks to Coventry and Central Warwickshire TSH, Haybridge TSH and Shropshire and Telford Education Partnership.

North East

Fully-funded for state school colleagues in the North East thanks to Astrea Academy Trust, Pathfinder TSH, Vantage TSH and Hull Learning Partnership.

FAQs

• I'm a father - am I allowed to come?

100% yes. Don't be put off by the 'mum' and 'women' in our testimonials.

These sessions are for anyone taking a caring-related career break. Tell all of your friends who have taken shared parental leave or extended paternity leave that support is available from The MTPT Project!

• One of the dates doesn't work for me - is there any flexibility here?

One of the most powerful things about a group coaching programme is hearing the stories and experirences of others, and tapping into a celebratory and supportive community. For this reason, we recommend joining us live.

However, hybrid and fully-recorded access to the programme are available if this works better for you.

• This is my second / third etc. return to work: is the coaching still relevant?

Our most bittersweet phrase at The MTPT Project is 'I wish I'd known about you on my first parental leave!' The sessions give you the opportunity to get a bit of headspace, valuable to anyone on leave, whether this is your first or tenth baby!

• Is the workshop relevant to TAs / support staff?

Yes! The joy of coaching is that you apply the guidance and tools to your context - the activities are open enough for any parents working in education to benefit.

• I don't qualify for a funded place: what are my options?

Unfortunately, our funding is restricted to colleagues working in state schools in England.

If you work in an independent school, or outside of England (including in international schools or in other anglophone countries), the coaching is still relevant to you, and there are a few ways that you can secure funding:

• As your school / union to fund your place as part of their commitment to your wellbeing and retention over the parental leave period
• Request to use 2-3 KIT / SPLIT days to cover the costs of the coaching
• Explore how using Shared Parental Leave to "return to work" during the holiday periods (UK colleauges) can boost your finances during your parental leave so that you can self-fund

If your funder needs evidence of attendance, you can show them your Eventbrite confirmation email when you sign up, and your certificate when you complete the programme.

• I would like to share this opportunity with colleauges currently on leave: what's the best way to do this?

If you are an HR manager, SBM, member of SLT, line manager or simply an empowering colleague, we would love you to share our coaching programme with any of your colleagues currently on maternity, adoption or shared parental leave.

We run termly information events sharing marketing and communication tips, as well as updates on the programmes throughout the academic year. The best way to hear about these is to check the calendar on our website.

Employees on parental leave are legally entitled to participate in training and development opportunities if they so wish, but too much encouragement could put pressure on them to complete coaching when they'd rather be switching off completely from work and spending time with their baby in a different way.

Because of this, we recommend you share this Eventbrite listing with your colleague once during their leave and then let them decide whether they want to join us or not. Remind them that it is fully funded for state school teachers (or by you as a school if you do not meet the funding criteria) and there is no obligation to attend.

If you're curious to hear whether they did decide to attend, ask an open-ended question during a KIT day, e.g. "What would you like us to know about your leave and celebrate with you?"