THREAD: I just have to say this to get some thoughts across.
Some teachers haven’t had a proper break since Feb 1/2 term. We don’t have the choice of annual leave, we break when term dictates. Remember how initially during lockdown we were loved as they saw how hard we worked

to turn classroom teaching online, overnight?
Then we were moaned at for pushing back when we wanted safety measures and guidance to allow us to return to school, we were berated for our unions speaking out collectively for us. We didn’t want to not live teach we just wanted to

to do it safely, measured and considered but the guidance coming from government wasn’t good enough. Every time we did get guidance it came late on Friday night and we worked weekends and our ‘annual leave’ to then implement and document/report those changes to make it safe.

Then our ‘long summer holidays’ we often have thrown in our faces? Secondary teachers in particular spent most of that planning a return to 11+ students who will need to be kept apart as much as possible, consoling those who were left in tears from an algorithm disaster and

and bracing ourselves for GCSE results that were discussed in the media as ‘Teacher Assessed Grades’ but were actually ‘Centre Assessed Grades’ and once government back peddled on the disaster of the Alevels results and the car crash that was the transition to university they

put teachers in the firing line for every student thinking teachers had awarded those grades individually not as a centre and teachers stood in halls across the country with either crestfallen or elated students... some students were given inflated grades never centre agreed.

Those students are now being taught post 16+ qualifications and struggling with the content because they had the grades to begin them but they weren’t accurate! Those post 18+ students who actually managed to get to university are miles from home in a pandemic without the care of

their families and the normality of their school/college teachers. Teachers teach for the love of their subject, the care and interest of young people as they grow and develop. We do so much than the general public realise. It’s now October half term and 8 months since some

teachers had a proper break where they could switch off from school. Has any other profession, (where you can’t choose your annual leave) not been given a break for 8 months? We begin our half term ‘break’ now knowing some students are hungry as the #FSM debacle unfolds and HTs

opened emails late on Friday night saying that the number of laptops that students need to work from home are being reduced. So here we are needing to switch off for our own health and wellbeing but because of the care we have, we worry once again, we begin to plan again and

once again a break from school disappears. Please remember all this when media/MPs discuss our profession negatively, or use our term dates to lockdown - we’d like a break & to see our own families too.