The curmudgeonly response of Wakefield Council to a headteacher treating his staff to a few bottles of bubbly is depressingly predictable (“Champagne, #163;176. Orient Express, #163;499. But head insists he had council’s permission”, 17 June).

Outwood Grange Academy’s Michael Wilkins was absolutely right to reward his hard-working colleagues for improved exam results, and at the risibly low cost of #163;176 for a few bottles of champers.

In an age of shrinking salaries and pensions and the ritual rubbishing of teachers by the press, why shouldn’t schools occasionally spoil their most precious resource? Instead of the usual wine and cheese, why shouldn’t teachers be indulged with champagne and smoked salmon?

Stan Labovitch, Windsor.