IN response to the letter from Sarah Gunter, Keep Schools (EA February 9).

To clarify the very poorly informed comments about Freshbrook School and special measures I would like to make two obvious points.

Firstly, schools go in to special measures due to poor practice and low standards and, secondly, come out when the practice is at least good and there is a rapid improvement in the standards being attained by the pupils.

This only happens due to the commitment and hard work of the staff, children and governors and not due to the fact that the school is smaller! In each of the last two years Freshbrook has had one of the highest Value Added scores in Swindon.

Concerning the relative size of schools and the potential for anonymity that to which the writer refers an obvious point has been missed. That being that if the two schools are closed and all the children are housed in a new facility the class sizes will actually be significantly smaller in most cases.

For example, this September there are approximately 45 children in the Windmill Hill and Freshbrook catchment area starting school. With the existing set up there will be a reception class of 30 pupils in Windmill Hill and 15 pupils in Freshbrook. In a single school this would be two reception classes of 22 or 23 each. Though this is not to the benefit of children opting for Freshbrook as they will be in slightly larger classes, we as a school appreciate the need to consider what is best for the whole community.

STEPHEN LUKE

Headteacher

Freshbrook County Primary School

Swindon