If you want a good education for your children, your grandchildren and your great grandchildren you need happy and healthy teachers.

That’s the message being echoed around the country thanks to Dover teacher Rachael Meleady.

On December 15 she started a petition to give teachers one day a week for planning, preparation and assessment time to promote the wellbeing of the professionals.

In just one month, the online appeal has received more than 12,000 signatures of support, including some from as far as Scotland.

The 29-year-old from Deal, who has been teaching for two years, is now awaiting a response from the government.

She said: “Money is not going to resolve our unmanageable workload and unsustainable 60-hour working weeks. We simply need more time.”

Miss Meleady was inspired to start the petition following the story of teacher Laurian Bold.

In February last year, the 31-year old jumped 140ft to her death.

“This petition was the simplest solution to bring about a conversation for change. But ultimately, it was about speaking out on behalf of a girl who lost her life.” - Rachael Meleady

A coroner lambasted her school for contributing to her work-related stress and anxiety. Her mother told the inquest Laurian was worked to death, adding there were not enough hours in the day for her workload.

Miss Meleady said: “I wrote to Laurian’s mother after seeing her story.

"It really got to me. Laurian felt how so many others in the profession feel. It made me feel so angry for her family. I wanted to let her mother know this petition was started for her.”

Miss Meleady’s petition refers to the Department of Education Teachers’ workload survey 2013 which shows primary school teachers work almost 60 hours a week.

Full-time teachers are contracted to 32.5 hours a week. Therefore, she claims, the UK education system is surviving only because of the additional goodwill work teachers do.

She said: “When you’re a trainee teacher you are informed about the challenges teachers face today.

“You naturally expect to be planning, resourcing, marking and assessing each day, but it’s all of the extra bits like letters for websites, behaviour forms, special educational needs (SEN) referrals, displays, working walls, contacting external agencies, provision maps, data spreadsheets, targets, developmental marking, feedback marking, meetings, observations, subject leadership, tracking, evidencing and recording, which make it all unmanageable.”

She thinks a full Friday of “non-contact” PPA time would help teachers manage their workload prior to the weekend, so they could mentally and physically rest.

Despite criticism the petition won’t bring change, she hopes the government will make teachers’ workloads more manageable, in turn making the profession a more attractive career and save money on recruitment campaigns.

She said: “This petition was the simplest solution to bring about a conversation for change.

"But ultimately, it was about speaking out on behalf of a girl who lost her life.”

If the petition reaches 100,000 signatures, it will be considered for debate in Parliament.

You can sign it here.