Some of us remember those headline claims a few months ago that local schools would have to make large-scale redundancies in their teaching staff.

Well, now we know the facts. How many teachers had to be sacked in Brighton and Hove? Answer: None. How many in East Sussex? None. And how many in West

Sussex? Eight. Obviously, this is eight too many unless, that is, the head teachers welcomed the chance to sack them.

As for teaching posts lost (teachers leaving but not replaced), even this is unclear from your report (The Argus, Sept 3) as it lumps together teachers and "support staff" for Brighton and Hove. For East Sussex, the figure of 39 refers to "full-time equivalents" and could well refer to temporary contracts.

So when Mr Hawker hopes "schools would not have to cut their timetables or drop to a four-day week" should we regard this as just another instance of spin?

-RG Jenkins, Hove