REMEMBER the feeling of unbridled joy when the school bell rang to signal the start of the summer holidays?

Today is the last day of term at many schools in our region. Teachers now have a few weeks to recharge their batteries and pupils can blow off steam.

Teesdale head Howard Blindt is likely to experience mixed emotions today. Only recently he was sent a letter by the school standards minister praising Gainford CofE Primary for being among the best in the country at helping children to write. His decision to quit his job to help the school balance its budget says so much about the current state of the profession and the pressures placed on staff. Some school budgets are at breaking point, and so are many headteachers.

The Government insists its “fairer funding scheme” will help, but research by headteachers’ union the NAHT shows that 72 per cent of heads say their budgets will be untenable by 2019-20. The overall schools budget is too small and needs to be increased.

The pressures are not just financial. There is also a new national curriculum, new Sats tests, Ofsted inspections, government targets, league tables and endless form filling adding to stress levels.

If you think teachers and heads have it easy then you are wrong. Many do 60-plus hours a week and continue working through their holidays.

Heads are increasingly forced to spend time fundraising rather than using their skills to give children the best possible education.

Mr Blindt’s case is the tip of the iceberg.

It is time that ministers came up with a properly funded plan of action to deal with the crisis in teaching so that good staff are retained.