OVER the past year, we have reported on A Level marking problems, a vetting chaos and other concerns with the general educational system, so it's nice to be able to report on how well our schools are doing.

For Redbridge schools to have featured so highly in the national tables is an amazing feat, and obviously testament to the hard work of the teachers.

It also reflects the high standards that parents and children in the borough adhere to.

And all this, amidst a deluge of educational changes to contend with, forced on school pupils and teachers by the unfocused and unthinking Government.

First of all, A Levels are deemed not good enough, then AS levels are introduced, then they're criticised in a marking scandal, and the latest of all, there's talk of ditching them altogether in favour of a baccalaureate system.

How on earth can schools perform to the best of their potential with all these changes going on? It's not just a matter of sitting different exams. The course work changes and the subjects studied change for the pupils.

Andteachers and local education authorities are faced with an unbearable burden of bureaucratic paperwork to get through, as well as simply getting their heads round how to prepare for the new exams.

It seems to me that whoever is the education secretary of the time simply wants to make a mark for him or herself, by introducing a new "better" exam system.

Why don't they just stop messing about with it all, and give youngsters and teachers the break they deserve?

It certainly makes you wonder just what schools could achieve without having all this nonsense thrust upon them.

January 30, 2003 11:00