SCHOOLS OUT FOR SOME

found this , a piece I did for my column but didn't use in the end , enjoy

BY NINA PAGE

THE pupils have long since gone home. Thank you teacher gifts have been carefully packed away (some dare i say, even ruthlessly winging their way to the charity shop as we speak).

But the building won’t be silent for long.

For now is the time that the unsung heroes of the school team work their magic.

So while the children take a well earned break on these lovely sunshine days, spare a thought for those who will work tirelessly for a couple of weeks this summer to make sure the chaos of the last day of term will be a distant memory and in its place will stand a sparkling clean haven of learning.

Like a scene from a Disney film though perhaps not quite as glamorous (and with slightly less help from cartoon animals and spoonfuls of sugar)  they will move,stack,hoover,buff and polish so our kids can have a spick and span school to return to in September.

Washing down worktops, tables and chairs, it’s all part of the service and they will do it without moaning (not so you could hear them anyway!).

They’ll even be scrubbing and shampooing those grimy toilet floors and walls to remove all the stains a lesser deep clean would leave behind.

Getting covered in dust and spiders on a daily basis it’s a job that’s not for the fainthearted and they will leave the building most days looking like Miss Havishams twin sibling.  Add to the repertoire  , a talent for finding mysteriously disappeared lost property , a waitress service recovering all those bits of crockery/cutlery that haven’t made it back to the staffroom this year.

So let’s hear it for the cleaners, dinner ladies, kitchen staff and behind the scenes staff who don’t always get the thanks they deserve because without them school life would be a chore.