Hi louise
I’m a primary teacher too. Are you in the UK? As teaching here is such a hard, stressful job now. I’ve been part time for quite a few years now due to having young children, but I’m sure returning to work after my third child was just the cherry on the cake for me and that’s when this all kicked off. I had quite a while off and then supplied all of last year.
Although supply comes with its own problems I actually found this the best way for me. You go in teach, mark and go home. No responsibility, no planning, no targets, observations etc etc. If I was worried I wasn’t going to be up to working, it didn’t matter and I could turn work down. I didn’t get early morning calls, it was pre booked stuff the agency offered me. I only did a couple of days a week and found it wad better if they weren’t consecutive as I could switch my brain off a bit in between days. Of course, there’s no sick pay or pay during the holidays.
It’s not a bad route to get your toe back in the water.