UNISON Cymru/Wales is leading a celebration of school support staff across the region, on Stars in our schools day. Celebratory events are taking place throughout Wales to acknowledge and highlight the hard work that school support staff undertake as part of the education team.
The celebratory events include superhero assemblies, tea parties, displays, early finishes, coffee mornings and plenty of cake.
The roles of school support staff are incredibly diverse and include caretakers, cleaners, school cooks, catering assistants, admin and finance staff, teaching assistants, cover assistants, librarians, school crossing patrol officers, and more.
Jess Turner, UNISON Cymru/Wales schools lead, said: ”The work that school support staff do cannot be underestimated. They are a vital part of the wider education team and it is right that their work is celebrated.
“School support staff can sometimes become a forgotten part of the schools team, but we know that they are in fact the backbone of the every school.
“Their responsibilities are ever increasing, and this is something that needs to be acknowledged and we are working with the Welsh government to tackle some of the pertinent issues around this.
“Our members have also indicated to us that they have growing concerns around fair pay, workload, and overtime, but these are issues that we will continue to work around and will hopefully continue to make positive progress on.
“Ultimately, today is about is about shining a light on the incredibly hard work that support staff across Wales do every day and is a chance to thank them and applaud them for their dedication to our future generations.”
Minister for Education and Skills, Huw Lewis, said:
“School support staff are an incredibly important element of the education workforce and the Welsh government values the work that they do.
“Every young person in Wales deserves a great start in life and school support staff are part of the team that delivers that start, and so we are pleased that their commitment and hard work is being celebrated today.”