THIS letter is written under a great level of duress. As a student in the Neale-Wade Community College sixth form and having spent five years in the compulsory leg of my education there, I feel a level of loyalty to the college. However, it has come to a

THIS letter is written under a great level of duress. As a student in the Neale-Wade Community College sixth form and having spent five years in the compulsory leg of my education there, I feel a level of loyalty to the college.

However, it has come to a point in which a letter on the subject of what is going wrong with the college must be written.

The issues are numerous and range in seriousness. One of the major issues has been addressed recently. Vertical tutoring, a major point of contention for the whole student body, was defeated when the vote was put to the sixth form over inclusion in the scheme.

Nevertheless, this scheme, as far as any student knows, will be implemented into the rest of the college in the face of open criticism from students of all years who will be included in the scheme. It seems clear this sorry affair is a blatant attempt by the college to gain further positive points from OfSTED in the face of a less-than-wonderful report from a recent investigation.

It seems that the happiness of the students is being sacrificed to OfSTED. Where will this ultimately stop?

The parting shot on this matter, however, is one of compliment to the college on this matter. It wished to form a united school by using VT, and I must say we have all united - but against it.

The next issue that must be addressed is the construction of large gates on part of the school grounds to stop unpleasant people walking in. This comes in the wake of an insurance company suggestion after an incident involving a member of the public.

However, location of these gates and the stance of keeping them locked at all times apart from before and after school has caused annoyance among the students, mainly sixth form, who use the route across the front of the college to get to lessons. Students now have to walk all around the college to get to the humanities area which includes the library and must also pass a part of the college which is not a pleasant place to pass through, somewhat intimidating to those who have to walk past hordes of teenage boys hell bent on causing trouble for amusement.

I urge the college to act to either re-think the gates or arrange some sort of staff roster which will open and close them between lessons.

Another bone of contention within the sixth form is the loss of rooms which were once for the sixth form exclusively. Now the college says it needs to do this because it doesn't have enough room space. The decision has thus been taken to make two classrooms into rooms for children who cannot be in lessons without disrupting the class. What has happened is the disruption may have stopped in the classroom but what about the mass disruption caused by the upheaval of the sixth form classes that needed to be moved the make these rooms available?

These issues represent a sad case of staff losing touch with the wishes and feelings of the students due to a strange desire to please the rest of the world in the face of several errors which have shown them up.

Whether it be OfSTED or insurance, I can assure the college's ruling elite that the students will not remain silent against these increasingly frequent attacks upon the happy status quo, which are acting not to improve but to destroy.

MATT ROUTLEDGE

Creek Road

March