Is it any wonder the East Brighton College of Media Arts (Comart) is in crisis talks on its future and will quite possibly close?

In my view, one of the principal problems is the lack of sustained leadership and the subsequent financial pay-offs to headteachers who, quite simply, have failed.

In the past five years, there have been four headteachers, all of whom were unable to stay the course and all walked away with pay-offs from the public purse.

Meanwhile, of course, the local authority has to pay for a deputy head to fill the void.

Is it any wonder then that the school is the worst performing secondary school and £800,000 in debt?

If we do really wish to see significant improvements at this and other schools, we must stamp out this endemic practice of rewarding headteachers from our public funds and at the same time examine the culture behind some of these awards.

Instead, we should pay good wages to those who achieve results, who stay the course and show social responsibility.

-Charles Holcombe, Brighton