No head for business

As someone who has seen firsthand how a school budget was run for many years, including as a staff governor, head teachers do not necessarily have the skills to run a budget.

Their qualifications may be in the area of languages or the arts. such skills do not automatically translate into running complex budgets.

so, many schools recruit professionals whom they hope have the necessary expertise to run a budget.

some of these people are very good at their job, but often despair of how schools are run generally, or are ineffectual and allow senior managers to make decisions based on political correctness. Remember, these staff are managed by the head teacher.

To give you a basic example, how can one particular school I know justify two dance teachers plus all the upkeep of a dance studio?

They timetable all students in lower years to have a lesson in this subject each week — yet the school states it could not carry on funding swimming lessons for Year seven students.

I know which skill I think our children need in life.

SuSan Fella, enfield. IT Is unacceptable that ‘ cashstrapped’ councils are selling off parks and school playing fields. I could summon more sympathy for them if they didn’t pay officials six-figure salaries, drive expensive cars and jet around the world on ‘fact-finding’ missions.

They need to get back to serving the public whose hard-earned wages fund the taxes that pay for it all.