FURTHER to the controversy over the decision not to fund the building of new schools, it must be noted that schools do not educate children. You could pack a class of children into a disused public toilet and with a good teacher, the children will learn.

Better to spend those many millions of pounds on producing excellent teachers. New schools are horrendously expensive, costing thousands of pounds per pupil over the working life of the school.

We need more, small, local schools with the many closed schools renovated and re-opened and the money saved by avoiding new build spent on training good, local teachers.

DENNIS C NIGHTINGALE-SMITH, Hanley Swan.