I WRITE on behalf of the Wyvern Community School Governing body to object most strongly to the headline on the front page of last week s Mercury. Whilst the basis of your article was correct, to describe the school as struggling demonstrates your tota

I WRITE on behalf of the Wyvern Community School Governing body to object most strongly to the headline on the front page of last week's Mercury.

Whilst the basis of your article was correct, to describe the school as 'struggling' demonstrates your total lack of knowledge of what is actually happening at Wyvern.

Furthermore, to suggest that the school is to 'go private' is ludicrous. To infer, as the word 'private' suggests, that parents of children at Wyvern may be required to pay towards their children's schooling is, frankly, utterly irresponsible.

The fact is, that Wyvern is a fast improving school and at the most recent Ofsted inspection, in all the categories on which they pass judgement, the school achieved 'satisfactory' or better in all of them.

The school performance is closely scrutinised by the National Challenge adviser as well as the local authority and they would not describe Wyvern as 'struggling'. Indeed, when looking at the overall progress of our students against their attainment on entry, it is the sixth best in North Somerset.

I would suggest that your reporter takes the trouble to at least speak to those who are qualified to judge the school's performance before casually using the wholly inaccurate language on the front page of your newspaper, better still, come and visit the school to see exactly how things work and the very real achievements of our students. They would certainly not describe their school as struggling.

We are no longer in a 'one size fits all' world of education and it is for that reason that discussions have taken place regarding Wyvern's future. These discussions are ongoing and any decision as to what form that will take has yet to be decided by North Somerset Council with whom the authority rests. As and when any such decision is made, there will be an announcement.

In the meantime, we will continue to do what we feel is in the very best interests of Wyvern students, both present and future.

Regrettably, irresponsible and ill informed comments from reporters make our job immeasurably more difficult.

MRS C TUCKER

Chair of Governors

Wyvern School

Marchfields Way

Weston

* Editor's note: As our story reported - and as confirmed by the Government's Department for Children, Schools and Families - schools are usually selected for conversion to academies after being judged 'failing'.

Wyvern was placed in special measures from 2003-2005, and its low academic achievement in 2008 saw just 23 per cent of pupils achieve five or more GCSEs at A*-C last year, a figure which is less than half the national average.

Our report also made it clear that the school would be part funded by the private sector, but there was no suggestion that fees would be imposed on pupils' parents.