CHRIS?BRAY, of Chichester Close, Teignmouth, writes:

I was very disappointed to read your lead story last week, regarding the closure of Chances at the end of this term.

As an education consultant to a local therapeutic foster care provider, I have had a number of occasions to be grateful for the provision that Chances offers to the young people of the district. It has indeed been well named, because for many pupils who find they are not able to cope with the normal programme of mainstream education, Chances has given them just that, a chance to enjoy school, to relate positively to other pupils and staff and to achieve qualifications.

The closure appears ill-considered on a number of levels. From the point of view of individual pupils, it will mean that either they will have to struggle to fit in with the ethos of their school, or possibly, another specialist provision will have to be found for them.

For other pupils, it will mean that they will have the extra pressure of learning with pupils who, in the past, have been able to take the opportunity of a place at Chances. It seems entirely possible that some disruption to other pupils' concentration and education will take place.

I am not privy to the costs of maintaining Chances, though I understand it has been largely borne by the schools in the district who have taken up places for their students. Without such a provision, pupils might well have to be placed in much more expensive provision, possibly privately managed. (One such, relatively close, provision costs £78,000 a year for a day placement.)

The issue of registration I am not able to definitively write on, though I am aware of a number of 'alternative provisions', where the pupils remain registered at the school from which they came.

Width of curriculum, the other main argument for closing Chances, seems to me to belittle the obvious point; that the provision is about helping young people who are unable to cope with the behavioural demands of mainstream education. Starting from engaging the pupil, Chances has, over the years, been able to offer real progress in academic subjects, a progress, that I fear, might not be available to the same number of pupils in the future.

This is, in my view, a retrograde step and one that will have adverse effects on pupils, teachers and budgets.MORE LETTERS IN OUR DIGITAL EDITION