"Inset" days (Keith Salvage, Letters, February 27) are taken out of teachers' holidays so children do not lose out on any schooling.

The five or six days a year are spaced out for two reasons.

First, putting them at the start or end of a school holiday makes it easier for parents to arrange care for their children.

Second, it is most beneficial for the staff, and therefore the pupils, if the training days are not all in one block. Staff training goes on throughout the year in the form of weekly staff meetings and after-school courses, which are also conducted at time when teachers could be marking work or preparing lessons.

-Richard Cowle, New Church Road, Hove