From Mrs B. Walker:-

I FEEL I have to respond to 'Surprised' (Mailbox, June 23).

Presumably, 'Surprised' does not know that teachers have to attend school for a statutory number of days each year, including five more than their pupils, to allow for compulsory training days.

School holidays may seem long, but with the exception of the May Day Bank Holiday, all Bank Holidays fall during the holiday periods. Teachers' days do not end when the children leave school at the 'end' of the day - there are still lessons to be prepared for the next day, reports to be written, parents' evenings, which means teachers can work more than a 12 hour day without any overtime.

This does not take into account the time spent in extra curricular activities out of school hours.

I wonder if 'Surprised' was inconvenienced by the fact that children could not attend school for two consecutive days? Personally, I think teachers do a worthwhile job under very difficult conditions.

Groveland Road, Wallasey.

Converted for the new archive on 13 March 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.