PRESS RELEASE: NATIONAL THANK A TEACHER DAY 2022: CELEBRATING THE SCHOOLS AT THE HEART OF OUR COMMUNITIES 17 Mar 2022
NATIONAL THANK A TEACHER DAY 2022: CELEBRATING THE SCHOOLS AT THE HEART OF OUR COMMUNITIES
++ Campaign to honour every person that makes our schools so special ++
++ Thursday 26 May 2022 announced as National Thank A Teacher Day ++
This year National Thank A Teacher Day will take place on Thursday 26 May, bringing together everyone across the country to celebrate the schools at the heart of our communities.
On Thank A Teacher Day 2022, schools, teachers, support staff, children and families will come together to pay tribute to every member of staff that makes our schools so special.
Led by The Teaching Awards Trust, the annual Thank A Teacher campaign is calling on children and their families to thank the school staff at the heart of their communities, who provide stability in uncertain times, who help make sense of the outside world for them and their children, and who give a sense of belonging.
In times of crisis communities turn to schools for support. Schools are a place of calm, a place where children and their families are being supported to rebuild lives – whether that’s building bright futures as we get back to normality or welcoming refugees in their time of need.
Our schools are the beating heart of our communities, and nothing shows this more clearly than the Thank You messages being sent and gratefully received, from school staff going the extra mile to provide reassurance during uncertain times through to offering wider support to families who need it most:
“At the time of writing this, Ukraine has been invaded by Russia. Many of the children were very anxious about the situation and so Mr Fox took time after school to try to answer any questions that the children had. My daughter came home feeling much more informed and reassured. Thank you, Mr Fox!” March 2022
“Our school set up a family hub to help with housing, bills and writing CVs for jobs. They have kept school normal for the children. Ensuring no experiences have been lost. Every day staff are on the gates giving that smile of encouragement and more recently breakfast bars. It is a true family – everyone supporting each other. Best school ever.” March 2022
This year’s campaign is gearing up to be one of the best ever, with big name celebrity supporters and exciting competitions to be announced next month [April]. Children will be encouraged to let their creativity flow, thanking everyone who makes our schools so special with songs, poems, and pictures using the hashtags #ThankATeacherDay and #HowWillYouSayThankYou
Messages will be shared across the UK on Thank A Teacher Day on Thursday 26 May when the country joins together in celebrating the legacy that teachers and schools brought to them – from Prime Ministers, to scientists, to celebrities, to care workers, to doctors and nurses – everyone has a person at school to thank for where they are now.
National Thank a Teacher Day is the time to thank your colleagues, thank your teachers, thank your child’s teaching assistant, thank your grandchild’s school cook, thank your niece’s lecturer. People are turning to schools now more than ever – they’re so much more than places where children are educated. Over the last two years we’ve seen what special places schools are and how much they deserve to be celebrated.
Mary Palmer, CEO of The Teaching Awards Trust, said:
“We continue to receive thank you messages for all those special people who work in our schools, and we know how much these mean to every single one of them. It’s wonderful to see so much support for our tremendous school staff across the country. They deserve every Thank You they receive and so much more, and I’d encourage everyone to join us in celebrating how special our schools really are on Thursday 26 May.
“We can’t wait to see all the brilliant Thank You videos, pictures, songs and poems come flooding in.”
Michael Morpurgo, celebrated author and former Children’s Laureate, and President of the Teaching Awards Trust, said:
“For so many of us, it was someone at school who changed our lives, was at our side through hard and difficult times, who lifted us up when we were down, helped us find our voice, gave us confidence when we needed it most, set us on a path that we have followed ever since.
“No matter who we are, school has touched our lives and played a central role in our childhoods. School is about so much more than learning, and we see that now more than ever before. Schools really are the beating heart of our communities. Every person that cares for our children in schools should be celebrated loud and clear on Thank A Teacher Day 2022.”
ENDS
Notes to editors
National Thank A Teacher Day is annual celebration of our schools, colleges, teachers and support staff across the country. The Thank a Teacher Campaign is run by The Teaching Awards Trust, which was established in 1998 by Lord David Puttnam CBE, to celebrate and recognise excellence in education. The Thank a Teacher campaign is supported by the Department for Education and Education Scotland.
