I WAS appalled to hear about the goings on at the Queen s School, Wisbech. As a former student of the school, now living in Australia, I have nothing but fantastic and fond memories of Queen s, which included the very highest standard of teaching by a ver

I WAS appalled to hear about the goings on at the Queen's School, Wisbech.

As a former student of the school, now living in Australia, I have nothing but fantastic and fond memories of Queen's, which included the very highest standard of teaching by a very dedicated staff.

The level of education I received was of the finest standard allowing me to enter university. Australia is just calling out for experienced teachers like the headmaster of the Queen's School.

There were 1,000 at the school when I attended, when Wilf Shields was headmaster. All the teachers were dedicated high achievers.

I am sure the current headmaster has done all he can for the school, seeing that it has grown so large.

For one man, this is a great responsibility, and no one could possibly understand the pressures involved, unless they had been in the headmaster's shoes.

I congratulate the headmaster for continuing in his role and want to say he would be most appreciated here in Australia, where he would most probably receive a medal and an OBE or an order of Australia, for all his effort.

Why don't the parents be kind to the headmaster and volunteer their help at the school and the school utilise parental participation as they do here in Australia, when bullying and other issues of learning standards are a problem.

Schools in Australia value the talents and gifts of parents by involving them a great deal in a wide variety of activities. These activities include parental assistance in reading, mathematics, sport, science, the arts, motor mechanics, computing and much more.

I am not an expert, but it sounds to me like all that is required is a new approach to the school's curriculum in which the students can make new choices of interests and some new approaches to the methods used by all the teachers to tackle any problems, while making the curriculum an enjoyable experience for the students and for the teachers too.

I believe strongly that all one needs to do is to encourage the students and teachers and not 'put down' any person, so that they can feel comfortable and motivated to get on.

I have found from experience that praising a person for their efforts is much better than hurting their emotions in putting them down.

What about identifying the not so brilliant students who have problems at school and allowing them to achieve in other areas, as we do here in Australia, but still incorporate the mainstream subjects such as mathematics and English in a more interesting way, with a rewards programme.

I am a qualified workplace trainer and assessor and if you would like me to assist in motivating the teachers in any way, I would be delighted even if I have to fly from Australia to visit your school.

JONATHAN WALKER

Springvale Road

Forest Hill

Melbourne

Australia

EDITOR'S NOTE: Since this letter was written headmaster Steve McKenna has announced his decision not to return to the school when the new term starts in September.