Your article on teachers’ health (Friday magazine, TES, February 6) was very timely. I read it having just been to visit a colleague in hospital where she has been since September following a massive stroke.
My school has been in serious weaknesses for 18 months and the stress everyone has been working under is unimaginable. It concerns me that this stress may well have contributed to this teacher’s illness. Like many staff, our much-loved nursery teacher rarely had a day off and would not have “bothered” her GP for a check-up. My friends in industry have medicals in work time, so why can’t checks for blood pressure, cholesterol, etc, be carried out in school time for all school staff? We are an ageing teaching population - perhaps health screening could both save money, but more importantly, prevent personal tragedy.
Pat Downes
Headteacher
Parklands community primary Little Sutton, Ellesmere Port Cheshire
