MADAM - I found the Comment section (March 5, 2014) “We clearly don’t need any new schools” to be clearly wrong.

The local need for a new school is not just about short term lack of places but about parents wanting the best education for their children. Fortunately children are individuals with individual needs and one educational model does not fit all.

I fail to see why a local Steiner school is characterised as niche when Steiner education has a proven record of success for nearly 100 years across the world.

I also fail to understand how a new school which offers increased choice and seeks to raise educational standards for children can be called divisive.

Is the next comment piece going to call for scrapping of local grammar schools or catholic schools as being divisive?

In addition, to imply that a new school would not seek the highest standards of teaching is disingenuous, after all private schools are also able to employ unqualified teachers when seeking out specialist experience, for example from business or the arts.

This comment section had the tone of a political pamphlet and education is too important to be reduced to a collection of sound bites.

Jonathan Evans

Stonehouse