A national day to celebrate the work of teachers is taking place on Wednesday 23 June and Brighter Futures for Children (BFfC) is encouraging Reading’s children and parents to take part.

The last year has been another challenging one for schools as COVID-19 continued to put additional work and responsibilities on teachers and support staff.

Children and young people may have been welcomed back to school but it has certainly not been business as usual.

Schools were responsible for setting up their own testing hubs for students and have been supplying kits for teachers and young people. Recently, some schools were also asked to help with the ‘surge testing’ campaign in parts of Reading.

School leaders have had to follow constant updates to COVID-19 guidance and review the procedures they have put in place to prevent the spread of the virus.

The cancellation of this year’s summer exams has resulted in teachers carrying out assessments for each candidate.

All this is on top of their day to day job of teaching Reading’s children and young people.

Prof Dr Kate Reynolds, Director of Education at BFfC, said:

“We wanted to use National Thank a Teacher Day as an opportunity to reiterate our gratitude to Reading’s teaching staff for the way they have continued to step up to the demands which have placed upon them.

“Their responsibilities have gone far beyond teaching children throughout the pandemic and they deserve praise for their commitment and professionalism. But most of all, our teachers have shown how much they care about their pupils and how they have been constantly prepared to go above and beyond for them.

“On behalf of Brighter Futures for Children, I would like to say a heartfelt thank you to all teaching staff in Reading for their hard work and dedication.”

Cllr Ashley Pearce, Reading’s Lead Councillor for Education, said:

“National teacher day is an opportunity for us to thank all of the teaching staff across Reading’s schools for the tremendous work they do every day to ensure our young people get the best start to life they possibly can.

“We have so many inspirational, life changing teachers in our schools and we are proud to have each one of these here with us shaping the future of Reading. We all have that teacher we remember, the one that inspired us to believe we can do better, to go on to achieve bigger and better things than even we believed ourselves.

“Our teachers have always been there for our young people to trust and confide in, and over the last year this constant has been more important than ever in so many people’s lives. So, a big thank you to our teachers today and every day.”

National Thank a Teacher Day is a great opportunity for children, parents and carers to show their appreciation for their teachers.

Children are being encouraged to send their message of thanks on Wednesday 23 June by recording a short video clip, sending a free e-card, sharing messages on social media etc. There are plenty of ideas and activities for children on the national website at: https://thankateacher.co.uk/thank-a-teacher-day/.

You can also share you message with us at @BFfC_Child on twitter and at @BFfCChild on Facebook.