It was reported that our school was forced to close for a week during last term following a violent incident between pupils. This was completely untrue.

There was an incident in October, which was a result of a young person, who was not a student at our school, coming on-site at the end of the school day and sparking off a small fight.

This was settled by staff. Students were sent home half-an-hour early. The school opened as normal on the next school day.

As you know, our principal, Torsten Friedag, has announced his resignation.

We hope our continued hard work will enable our school to succeed in what has become a media-fulled atmosphere of intense scrutiny and critical comment.

We have tasks ahead of us which include motivating GCSE candidates who have suffered much upheaval. We must also continue to provide high-quality teaching and learning, despite ongoing building work, and retain students who have come to our school because of our commitment to a new vision of arts and media methodology within a comprehensive education system.

If David Blunkett is to be believed there will be many more teachers and pupils who will be working with these pressures across the country.

I hope our pupils will be able to continue their education feeling proud of the school and their own hard work.

Frances Walsh

Art and technology teacher

Islington Arts and Media school

Turle Road,

London N4