Mead Vale has just completed its second successive Ofsted where we have been pronounced outstanding by the inspectors. Such a grade would not have been possible without the work of our teaching assistants.

The input of quality, trained teaching assistants in supporting pupils with special educational needs or those who are gifted and talented is invaluable in raising individual standards and thereby the standards of the school overall.

The generalisation in your headline is insulting to the teaching support profession.

Jeffery Bateson-Winn, Headteacher, Mead Vale Primary School, Weston-super-Mare.