“Hang in there teacher friends. Almost there.” So tweeted one headteacher last Friday and, in doing so, he marked, in his own small way, the end of a 15-month saga.

The burden on those who work in schools has been unremitting during Covid, as they responded - sometimes with little or no notice - to constantly changing directives amid the ebb and flow of an insurgent pandemic.

Now, even if the pandemic is still far from being definitively over, at least school staff go into the 2021 summer holidays with more clarity and certainty than they did this time a year ago.

On 23 June 2020, of course, it was suddenly announced - just as schools were about to break up for the summer holiday (if they hadn’t already) - that, rather than staff deploy those meticulous blended-learning plans they had spent so long drawing up, school buildings would open fully to almost everyone after the summer. And what was happening with national exams was still up in the air; it would be December before they were all cancelled.

When schools return this August, however, most of the adult population will have had two vaccinations against Covid, while schools have, for some time, been planning to open in a fashion not too dissimilar to pre-Covid times. And secondary schools - as education secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville promised last week - will be given a definitive statement by the start of the new year on what’s happening with exams.

Our big interview this week is with Sheila Laing, an inspiring primary school leader of over 40 years’ experience, who looks back on “the most awful year” but takes comfort from teachers having “held things together and kept education going” (see plenary, page 12).

Now, after hurtling through all sorts of crises for well over a year, it’s more important than ever to have a proper break. One headteacher told us recently of their concerns about burnout among school leaders who have carried the load of Covid for all that time, with very limited opportunities to switch off. And, of course, the pandemic may have had a grievous impact on the mental health of anyone involved in education, from the youngest children to headteachers with four decades of experience.

It will be even harder than usual to switch off this summer, given the relentless intensity of education during Covid - not to mention ongoing speculation about the ramifications of last month’s landmark review of Curriculum for Excellence by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development - but it’s crucial to do so: you will benefit, and so will all the staff and pupils you work with, if you come back in August feeling refreshed.

This isn’t easy to do at the best of times: even if paperwork and planning are temporarily put away, the unstinting commitment of teachers to the betterment of young lives carries an emotional and psychological weight that is not easily set to one side. But try to quieten that voice in your ear that tells you not to relax and find a place that is nothing to do with work, whether you’re atop a Munro, draped on a sandy beach or spreadeagled on the settee for the Euros.

This summer is only a pause - the ripple effects of Covid will be felt for years to come, perhaps decades. But the next few weeks are the time to search for your own personal oasis of calm, wherever you may find it.

Enjoy the holidays, and - on behalf of all at Tes Scotland - the deepest and most heartfelt of thank-yous for all your tireless and amazing work over this past year.

@Henry_Hepburn

This article originally appeared in the 2 July 2021 issue under the headline “If ever a break was well earned and desperately needed, it’s this one”