YOUR account of the Office for Standards in EducationAudit Commission report on Calderdale (TES, September 10) is entirely, and seriously misleading. The report provides no basis for attacking Government decisions on the privatisation of failing services.
Calderdale has not “earned OFSTED’s approval”. The report finds continuing serious weaknesses, which the competent new management team has not had time to address - this, two-and-a -half years on from the original report! The local authority’s (rightly praised) attempts to earn the trust of schools have been undermined by obscurantism over the budget-setting process.
Calderdale’s route to recovery has not, pace Neil Fletcher, been cheap and effective. Recovery has not yet occurred. We hope it will, but premature celebrations assist no one.
David Singleton, Manager, LEA review division, Office for Standards in Education, London WC2
