Andrew Turner, of the GM Schools Foundation, writes (TES, August 16) that “no amount of evidence could persuade Mr Lane [chairman of the Association of Metropolitan Authorities’ education committee] that a school run by teachers could organise services better than local authority bureaucrats”.
In the same edition, you describe how a grant-maintained school has spent Pounds 3,000 in one year on radio advertising. The head is quoted as saying “we are taking a lot more catchment from them [sic]. They find our GM status difficult to swallow”.
No amount of evidence could persuade Mr Turner that a school supported by local education authority officers could be more efficient than those run by a competitive and aggressive headteacher. The result of his obduracy is dissension, hostility, antagonism and more funds for lining the pockets of commercial radio stations at the expense of educating children.
R J CLARK Director of education Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council
