our schools

As I walked down the corridor, I passed a queue of panicked teachers battling with a malfunction on the photocopier. In the dining room, a lone teaching assistant was running the oversubscribed daily breakfast club. The tables and chairs had not been cleaned in my classroom due to the shortage of cleaners as a result of the ongoing budget cuts. In the morning, a parent asked me to spend extra time with their child during lunch as they are struggling with behaviour at home. In the afternoon, a parent complained about me because I failed to find her child’s jumper.

At lunchtime, I sat with a year 2 child for half an hour, who laid on the floor kicking and

I have repeatedly asked senior management at the exam board to address this unfair pay freeze.

The exam system was at breaking point this year. Many senior examiners had to cover for examiners resigning and administrative oversights by the exam board, working long hours to ensure that results were released on time. I would like to take this opportunity to encourage more screaming, just to let her know I was there. I overheard an exhausted leader say she was ready to leave. I observed a teaching assistant cry because she was denied a day off to go to her cousin’s funeral. I watched staff rush to help a girl having an epileptic fit and I squeezed in ten minutes of PE just to tick it off the unmanageable timetable expectations.

I rushed to pick my daughter up from nursery and half-heartedly read her a story before bed, thinking about my to-do list. I am failing as a teacher. I am failing as a parent. All due to the Government not being willing to understand the needs of our schools and children.

Why don’t I leave? I still have a tiny glimmer of hope that I can make a difference.

I’m striking because the Government is so set on turning the public opinion against teachers. I’m striking because I value education. We deserve better. Emily

O’Brien, Bedfordshire

senior examiners from all exam boards to register with the union as an examiner, as well as a teacher.

Lloyd Russell (chief examiner of GCE), Bude

Sunak’s maths plan doesn’t add up

THE Government has announced an ambitious unfunded target of teaching maths to all pupils up to the age of 18. That is interesting