I want to do a big shout out to all teachers and teaching assistants. I’m full of admiration and gratitude for these unsung heroes who are going to work each day amidst a pandemic and putting the children’s needs first.
Since last week I’ve had direct experience of the teaching assistants in reception class going above and beyond in terms of being hands-on, despite COVID-19 hanging over them. As an example, after half term MiniM#2 became increasingly clingy at drop-off. She loves school, but she’s only just turned 4 and began holding on to me shouting out ‘Mummy! Mummy’ rather than walking into her classroom. The teaching assistants have had to physically peel her off me and carry her into class, legs kicking, her wails resonating across the school building. On one occasion, as I sadly slunk off, I caught sight of Mrs J through the classroom window (who caught my eye and gave me a big thumbs-up) giving her the biggest cuddle. No sooner had I arrived home but Mrs J then called me from the school office to reassure me she was fine and happy. Mrs P had called me a few days earlier for the same reason. [NB now DH drops her off and she marches merrily in without a backward glance!]
And then yesterday MiniM#2 came out of school wearing her PE kit. She proudly announced that she had not done PE but she’d had a ‘wee accident’ as she hadn’t managed to get onto the loo seat in time. She proudly shouted out to two sets of surprised parents we passed on the way out too: “I didn’t have PE today – I had a wee accident!”. Later that evening the girls had a ballet lesson over Zoom owing to lockdown. “How are we all today?,” the ballet teacher asked. “I had a wee accident!” MiniM#2 announced to the entire class…
But earlier that day her teaching assistant, Mrs P, had come to her aid, stripped her of all her clothes and shoes, put them in a bag, (sprayed Dettol on them from what I could smell) and redressed her in her clean PE kit. Now if that’s not truly being a frontline worker then I don’t know what is. Words cannot express my awe and respect.
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Calamitous Mummy 