SIR - No rational person would deny the need for first class facilities and resources for the education of children, and most tax payers are rightly willing to contribute to the state education system.

What constitutes these facilities and resources should be based upon research evidence and case studies.

Trying to justify new schools by the slogan "A school for the 21st Century" is totally meaningless without the process of informed decision making.

The major factor contributing to the success of any school comes from the support given by parents and guardians enabling their children to maximize worthwhile abilities and educational opportunities. This support can be manifestly demonstrated by adults' involvement in the activities of schools. The Government's policies of promoting "parental choice" and the establishment of academic academies militates against such involvement by introducing competition and giving sponsors undue control over school management and discipline.

While state schools' primary users are pupils aged 5-16 years old they should not be the only beneficiaries of their facilities and resources. State education institutions represent several millions pounds of capital investment by tax payers and they should have access to the use of schools and colleges.

This access is the basis for the concept of the community college, a school open from early in the morning to late at night, where adults in general could not only enjoy resources but also participate in integrated children/adult activities. Such involvement would further demonstrate to children the worth of education and life-long learning.

Any proposal to move Christopher Whitehead from its present site would remove from the St John's community any possibility of sharing in the benefits that its renewal on its present site could bring. The location of a school should be part of an education policy and not subservient to the demands of supermarkets. The wrong headed decision of the city of Worcester councillors to grant Sainbury's an extension period of three years before the implementation of building a food store is an opportunity missed, condemning St John's to continuing planning blight and further uncertainty over the future of Christopher Whitehead, a future that teachers, parents and pupils will find it hard to manage.

GEORGE HUDSON,

Worcester.