NEWS of the suspension of headteacher Mike Duce from Peel Brow, Ramsbottom, due to alleged irregularities in the SATs, highlights the way education policies are failing our children.

Mr Duce, along with the Ofsted inspector, may well believe that good SATs results are the main thing to aim for in education.

As a parent and teacher myself, I believe that the moral and social skills gained through school are equally, if not more, important. What standards of honesty and integrity do children anywhere learn if they are encouraged to cheat in exams?

I am well aware that many schools resort to various levels of artifice to help keep their results high up the league table, and I know that some teachers even sink to this in internal exams, meaning that schools have no true record of pupil progress.

Hopefully, a new government will see that the ridiculous pressure being put on schools, teachers and children to achieve good exam results is damaging our education system. I would love to see a system that values children's happiness and their relationships with staff and other pupils.

If any teachers, anywhere, have cheated by giving help during SATs tests, then parents must report them to their governing body. Cheating will not gain children any advantage but is merely used to cover-up poor teaching required, in which case they need assistance, not better exam results achieved by design.

CATH ROGERS,

Bank Street, Shuttleworth.