Tucked away on the back page, Mike Kent continues to shine a light of sanity on to the increasingly mad educational world. Last week’s issue managed to include most of the current crop of pressures heaped upon schools: APP, league tables, curriculum revisions and, of course, Ofsted (“It’s Ofsted - let’s bolt the doors”, December 4).

If the proposed NAHT Sats boycott also included a demand that Ofsted be reformed to provide more supportive inspections based on a real partnership with schools, I imagine the response would be nearer 100 per cent.

Mike’s bewilderment at how the profession allowed this state of affairs to develop will be shared by school staff up and down the country, but the answer is simple. While the professional associations continue to be divided, teachers’ professional views will be ignored. If ever there was a time for the myriad unions to get together and provide leadership and support it is now.

Alan Harding, Headteacher Birch Hill Primary School, Leppington, Bracknell, Berkshire.