Your attack on examples of wasted expenditure at The Learning Trust in Hackney (“The trust that needs a #163;13k bunny and #163;500 of pancakes”, October 1) were cheap jibes, representing less than 0.1 per cent of the trust’s expenditure.

The fact is that The Learning Trust has taken Hackney from bottom of the league tables to consistently the highest value-added of any area in the country. It has radically improved the outcomes for Hackney children, including those from the most deprived groups. If every authority was able to copy its success, education in the UK would be transformed.

I have been a chair of governors in Hackney for over 10 years and there is no comparison between the chaos of the education authority before 2002 and the situation now. If pancakes for staff are part of that success story, maybe everybody should introduce them.

Henry Stewart

Chair of governors, Stoke Newington School amp; Sixth Form: Media Arts and Science College, London.