The only ludicrous thing is your idea!
■ Paul says it is ‘ludicrous’ that schools are closing for Easter given they’ve only just gone back after lockdown and they can’t go on holiday because of Covid restrictions anyway (MetroTalk, Mon).
One has to wonder whether he is a selfish parent to make this comment. My sister is a teacher and her school, like many others, has worked harder these past 18-plus months than ever before – working both evenings and weekends to make sure the children get the required education. Do teachers not deserve a break?
Children may only have been back a few weeks but they should have still been receiving an education while home-schooling. Perhaps Paul should spare a thought for the unsung heroes in the teaching profession who have put their health and lives at risk to continue teaching children.
Noo, Hertfordshire
■ Cancel school holidays? Well, I’ve worked all through this pandemic in a school at a kitchen job and a cleaning job. Both have been harder due to the extra Covid restrictions we need to observe to keep the school safe.
All of this is on a minimum wage and with no thanks. So, believe me, I am so ready for a break. Yes, we can’t go anywhere, but I’ll use this time to rest up and recharge to do it all again next term.
Please don’t forget it takes a lot of people to keep schools open. We may not always be seen but, believe me, we are there – always – for your children.
Janet, Batley, West Yorkshire
■ Paul seemingly ignores the fact that most pupils have still been studying throughout the lockdowns, either taking part in online lessons at home or going into school because their parents are key workers or they lack the ability to work online from home.
Similarly, teachers have had no downtime either, with many having even more work to do, changing lesson plans to suit an online environment, having to spend more time preparing material for their classes as well as getting used to using new systems schools never had to use before in order to teach their classes over the internet.
Even with schools now trying to return to normal, many are also working overtime to provide additional lessons where possible, to help students catch up.
Just because many students have been stuck at home until recently, it doesn’t mean they haven’t been doing anything. And they still deserve to have a break, even if many places are still closed. It will also be a vital time for teachers to catch up on reports and mark their students’ work.
While I agree that some holidays may be too long, such as the six-week summer break, the only thing that is ‘ludicrous’ here is thinking that students and teachers have done nothing for the past year.
■ I have a daughter in teaching and I’ve seen the workload she has had, and all the work she brings home evenings and weekends and even school holidays.
And that was before Covid! During
Covid, she has done more or less two jobs, what with teaching in school and also preparing and delivering computer-based lessons for those at home. She is worn out.
So who are you expecting to provide the tuition when you cancel the holidays, Paul?
Den, Cheshire
■ Paul seems to forget that teachers only make up a small percentage of the overall number of staff it takes to run a school, most of whom are only paid pro-rata for their term time-only contracts.
I am one such support staff member who has been in school consistently and has been working throughout the pandemic, even when schools have been ‘closed’ to pupils (we still had a large number of vulnerable and key worker children on-site).
All of our teachers were also in school for this most recent lockdown and delivering their online lessons from their classrooms. I would like to ask Paul if he expects school support staff to work for free over these non-contracted hours over the Easter, half-term and summer holidays. And if they’re to be paid, where will all this extra money come from?
It seems that support staff always get overlooked whenever certain people have a moan about schools being ‘shut’ and how there should be longer school days and extended terms. It isn’t only teachers who will be expected to work all of this extra time – and many of us earn a great deal less than them.