Dear Mr Williamson

Dear Mr Williamson,

On Monday up and down the country schools opened. They wrapped a caring arm around all children and greeted them with a smile that said we’ve missed you. This happened not because of you nor your ever changing guidance. It was made possible by thousands of people who care for the children of their community and nothing else… because it is us that pick up the pieces.

Much time, effort and money has been spent in facilitating the opening of those gates. Money which will not be returned, time which we will not get back and we accept that because this is what we do. This isn’t about us, the local authority or academy trust. This is about doing what is needed for those children. A philosophy which I urge you to promptly adopt… because it is us that continually pick up the pieces.

Over the past few months you have changed the goal posts daily, consistently provided updates at a time which I should be spending with my family, failed outright to ‘level up’ society and singlehandedly ruined the futures of thousands of students… and it is us that pick up the pieces.

Thousands of teachers, leaders and support staff up and down the country have been working tirelessly to get children back to school as quickly and as safely as possible. Forever knocked back by the barrage of abuse we were subject too by the media and at time’s your government. In that moment Gavin, we needed you… to pick up the pieces.

We needed you to stand up for us publicly, raise the profile of the great work teachers and leaders up and down the country were and are doing and you didn’t. Instead, you took on our unions, claimed they were not letting us return to work. You flippantly blew off or skirted around key questions posed to you in the commons, questions which I myself would have asked because I needed the answers!… You failed to answer… and left us to pick up the pieces.

Your blasé persona when interviewed or questioned left me shocked and non the wiser. Your over eagerness to assess children upon return to school showed us just how much you don’t ‘get it’. Your unwillingness to admit when you’ve got it wrong has been plain for all to see. A mutant algorithm is not an excuse. Repeating the word robust doesn’t make it so… and yet again you left us to pick up the pieces.

As a teacher and leader my job is to pick up the pieces, place them neatly on the table and begin to reconnect them. At times it has felt like at the very moment you place those pieces down a strong gust of wind sends them flying again… you are that wind Gavin.

Over the coming weeks and months education will continue to unite in the face of much uncertainty. Supported by you or not.

I don’t know what November or December holds and I am okay with that because I love my job, I love my school and am part of the best academy. All we ask Mr Williamson is that you remember that the decisions you make in your ivory tower influence real people, real children and real communities.