Your local paper is read by thousands of people, so it’s a great way of bringing teacher wellbeing issues to the attention of the public. The letters section is read avidly, so it would be fantastic if you could spare some time to write to your local paper’s editor.

• 1) Look up the contact details for the letter section in your paper or on its website. The email address is usually in the form letters@nameofpaper.domain. Only look at independently funded newspapers.
• 2) Draft a short letter on the subject of teacher wellbeing. To encourage a response from local MPs, make a call in your letter for MPs to respond. There's some text below for you to use as a starting point if you wish. If you are writing as a teacher, it is advisable to check your letter with your school before sending it.
• 3) Email or post the letter, and send a copy of the letter and any subsequent publicity to our public policy team. We really want to know how you get on.

Sample letter text...

Dear Editor,

The charity Teacher Support Network states that it was called upon over 160,000 times last year. Study after study has shown that teachers have an excessive workload, for example, and I worry that this will take its toll not just on teachers, but their colleagues, families, and those who they teach too. I'd really like to know what MPs will do to improve the lives of teachers. Perhaps your paper can help?
Yours sincerely,
(insert name)

Make your letter local:
Feel free to edit this text as you wish. If messaging from Scotland or Wales, we would be grateful if you could refer to the MP commitment to teachers as Teacher Support Scotland's or Teacher Support Cymru's respectively, instead of Teacher Support Network's.

Please feel free to contact the public policy team if you have any queries.