I am a former pupil of both Walton Community School and the Voyager School and feel obliged to respond to councillor Stephen Goldspink's list of excuses as to why the school is such a failure.

Cllr Goldspink highlights the following "reasons" for the schools failings in the recent exam results:

n Taking pupils from Walton Community School and Bretton Woods Community School – two schools which had been highlighted as under- performing

n A bureaucratic management system

n Vandalism.

He then goes on to hint at financial constraints also being a contributing factor.

Well, firstly, as a former pupil at Walton Community School, I can tell you from my experience that the pupils from the "under-performing" institutions were given little or no chance of succeeding at this newly founded excuse for a place of education.

In one subject at my previous "under-achieving" school last year I was able to score 542 marks out of 600 – achieving two high As. In the same subject at the Voyager School, I was barely able to scrape together 300 points.

In complete contrast, in another subject, due to the dilligence and resourcefulness of staff (all from Walton Community School), all of my results came back above 87 per cent.

My school year at Walton scored 55 per cent five A* to C grades and the school showed every sign of improving further in the future – until the city council decided to close it.

Walton appeared to function perfectly well in rundown buildings and with secondhand computers from a BT call centre.

I was able to achieve 10As and 3A*s at GCSE.

Now, after £26 million of investment, only one in four pupils are getting Cs in maths, English and science.

I think those facts prove that Walton wasn't an under-performing school. The Voyager is a joke.

As for finances, the school walls are lined with flatscreen TVs and there is a grand piano in the lobby, yet it was my experience that there did not appear to be enough computers and printers for GCSE and A-level pupils to complete coursework at their convenience.

I hope this has given an insight into the reasons why I feel the Voyager is a failure.
JACK WAGSTAFF
via e-mail


Hoping to find cat's owner
I AM hoping somebody may recognise this tortoiseshell cat which I found in Marholm, near Peterborough.

The RSPCA told me that their premises are so full they are currently only taking in sick and injured cats. There is also no space for her in any city cattery and she could not stay where she was found – at the Fitzwilliam Arms pub, where she was begging for food.

It seems nobody can help this cat and I very much hope she can be reunited with her family. She is beautiful and has obviously been well cared for.
JANE HUGGINS
Chippenham Mews,
Botolph Green,
Peterborough