Sir - Over the weekend I read a story about doctors' surgeries struggling to cope with appointment times increasingly being taken up with school children and sick notes. Apparently, more and more schools are requiring children to provide doctors' notes for even mild ailments, and this raises two questions.

The first question has to be about trust. Are schools no longer trusting parents, and if not, why?

The second question goes to hypocrisy. If schools are so concerned that children get all the education they should, why are teachers still permitted to deprive them of a full week of it each and every year? Let me explain. Teachers have 5 training or TEDs (Teacher Education Days) each year.

They also enjoy substantial holidays, just as school children do. So why are those 'training days' not simply incorporated into those lengthy holidays, instead of being added to them, giving children an extra week of education every year?

Is it because the NUT (National Union of Teachers) is too militant in protecting overly generous work conditions? Or is it for reasons that are beyond the wit of ordinary working people, many of whom work every bit as hard as teachers, and some a damn sight harder?

If we are truly concerned with the education of our children, then it is surely as much about the trust we have in teachers, as the trust we have in parents.

Will Richards

Malvern