I AM writing to ask you to make your readers aware of the appalling situation in Buckinghamshire's schools.

A meeting was held last week, at my son's school (John Hampden Grammar), at which we were told that the financial situation has become desperate.

We have until the middle of November to persuade the education committee not to impose the top slicing of £41 per pupil. If this is allowed to stand the results would be similar to the amputation of a limb and make the running of a limping school impossible. The school has used its reserves to stave off effects of the cuts from prior years.

Bucks schools had an enviable reputation for being right at the top with the very best schools in the country but, if this policy goes ahead, we could soon find ourselves with substandard, mediocre schools. Already there is insufficient money for the basics, ie, books for all subjects, or to repair essential equipment and buildings.

We have been advised by the headmaster that possible ways of saving money are: a four-and-a-half-day week with the school week finishing at Friday lunchtime, parents to pay for their child's exam fees, fewer school trips and larger class sizes.

These are not acceptable solutions and I hope that your readers will agree and let their feelings be known, please, before it is too late for our children, the future generation of adults.

D J Angus

Clayfields

Tylers Green

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.