Readers' letters - April 28

Over the next few weeks we will all be bombarded by politicians making promises they have no intentions of keeping.

I have always felt that politicians do not live in the real world as very few of them have ever held a proper job outside politics.

Most of them have climbed the greasy pole by coming straight out of university and working as a researcher or bag carrier for a standing MP then, when they have proved themselves loyal to the party, they are parachuted into a safe seat.

I always thought Alan Johnson came across as a more rounded MP because he had a difficult childhood, married and had children while young, and worked as a postman before becoming a MP. His views were worth listening to, even if you disagreed with him.

Judy Goodwin

Address supplied

Schools are at breaking point

Re: the education system.

I feel real despair as I watch my granddaughter, not yet three, playing happily.

The thought that this beautiful, happy and carefree little girl will, in just over a year’s time, be plunged into the chaotic and pressured world of primary school fills me with dread.

Will she, like her older cousins, become disillusioned and in danger of losing the joy of learning before she is barely out of infancy?

Is this what we want for our children and grandchildren?

It is a disgrace that this short window of time when a child should be happiest and carefree is now allowed to pass by only to be replaced by the fear of reaching targets and the impending dread of SATs.

Surely there is much more to educating a child than this?

Is it now the time to stand up and try to do something to rectify this mess?

To stand together, support the teachers who are struggling under insurmountable workloads and boycott a system that is ruining the future wellbeing and education of a generation.

No wonder teachers are cracking under the strain and children are suffering mental health issues at a very young age.

It is a proven fact that music in education greatly enhances a child’s learning in numerous ways and yet music is being drastically cut from the timetable. What will be the next to go?

If academisation becomes the norm, then education becomes big business, our children become just a commodity to make these businesses even richer.

As a grandmother, I have seen the decline since politicians, generally with no educational background, have been allowed to interfere with the curriculum and running of schools.

SATs and targets prove nothing.

We need to get back to allowing teachers, highly trained in their profession, to teach without interference, otherwise dedicated, highly trained professionals will be lost only to the detriment of our children’s education and future prospects.

Schools are at breaking point.

How long before they are broken completely?

E S

via email