IWISH to express my disappointment at the way your paper reported the tremendous achievements St Edward's School, Darwen has made over the last two years to come out of Special Measures.

I am sure you and your readers will appreciate that achieving such a turnaround in two short years has taken tremendous effort by the staff, the education authority, the governors, parents and pupils.

So the whole school was somewhat disappointed that your article on Wednesday, February 13, focused so much on the two-and-a-half-year old report rather than the most recent one conducted in November 2001.

To summarise, the inspectors found an effective school that no longer requires Special Measures and remarked that the turnaround has seen an exceptional improvement in the quality of teaching.

The report said standards have risen, pupils have a positive approach to their learning, and that the headteacher has successfully led the school in overcoming some of the weaknesses identified in the inspection report of March 2000.

The governing body is praised for being well led, indeed, the governors are identified as playing an important part in monitoring the work of the school and for their firm commitment to continued improvement. The role of the support provided by the LEA is also praised.

Councillor Mahfooz Hussain, executive member for education in Blackburn with Darwen, has said of our achievement: "St Edward's success is an example of outstanding commitment by all those in the school, clear leadership from the senior managers and governors and skilful support from LEA officers. We must not forget the considerable efforts from pupils and support of the parents and community and congratulations are due to all concerned."

We have a good reputation and are keen to build on that to provide young children a good start in their education. Thank you for putting the record straight.

ALYSON GRUNDY, Headteacher, St Edwards RC Primary, Darwen.

Editor's footnote: The overwhelming majority of our story concentrated on the latest report and the big improvements made at the school. Those improvements would have been meaningless without reference to the earlier Ofsted visit.