"I'm legally not able to talk about it", says the former Headteacher of Perrywood Primary, after several months of absence from her job and several months of silence.

Has Mrs Beddow signed a gagging contract on her departure from the school? The Government's Academy Schools programme can only lead to more and more of this. Academies are private companies, run for profit. These private companies are taking money from the taxpayer and are not answerable to the local education authority or even, it seens, to the Government itself. The Worcester News was unable to get an answer from Michael Gove, and Academy Schools are Mr Gove's pride and joy.

It is shameful that the taxpayer is funding private businesses to run education in this way, with no right of redress, no right of scrutiny, and no oversight. We hand our money over, and we have no idea what happens to it. The education system is being demolished, and we will miss it when it has gone.

Chris Winwood

Worcester