Back to school

Sir, – Having observed primary and secondary children return to their various schools in my neighbourhood during the week, it was obvious that alongside the rueful headlines of teacher shortages and the soaring costs of returning to school on families, there was also evidence of cheerfulness, enthusiasm and reassurance at the commencement of the new school year.

Teachers happily greeted their pupils at the school gates, children embraced friends they had possibly not seen since June in playgrounds while mothers (mainly) quietly chatted in groups kerbside secure in the knowledge that their kids would be well looked after in the coming hours, weeks and months.

It was all a long way from the dread and stress most of my generation felt returning from the summer holidays to teachers whose inbred instinct was to chastise, to old, often shabby, at times rodent-infested buildings that constituted schools in the 1950 and 1960s.

Whatever the challenges of modern times, the structural advancement in buildings, the values that underpin our educational system and the enlightenment of the teaching and support staff have advanced out of all proportion in my lifetime.