THE teaching and education of children and young people is much more than what goes on in the classroom as Mrs Allana Davenport, head of English at Bury Grammar School Boys, so eloquently points out (Bury Times, April 26).

Taking young people to the theatre to learn about Shakespeare can be much more exciting than reciting a play in the classroom but, as she points out, the teacher can only hopefully sow the seeds in the classroom and hope others will step in and provide what she calls these "super curriculum" activities.

Lucky are those young people who have family and friends who have the time and resources to encourage "out of Classroom" activities, but many do not and there are an increasing number of young people who, for many reasons, cannot hack what goes on in the classroom and, as a result, fall behind and too many end up being suspended and lost to the system.

In order to try and prevent many of these ending up in the justice system or developing mental health problems, we desperately need senior education managers and councillors to look at other creative ways of providing education because the repeated reason for not doing so is cutbacks and government interference and too many targets.

As a result, many good teachers are leaving the profession.

One creative way of providing this super curriculum is by the use of volunteers and yet very few schools do.

There are many retired people who have a lifetime of experience and skills who would be more than happy to spend a few hours each week alongside a teacher, mentoring a young person, helping to teach young people horticultural skills or helping to run a school library.

The list is endless but for reasons I do not fully understand, the system is not there to link up volunteers with the schools that need them.

The advice given is to write to the headteacher offering to help them.

After I retired after 45 years service in the NHS, I wrote to many schools in the Bolton, Bury and Manchester are and never received a reply.

I contacted local councillors who agreed there should be a more formal system of linking up volunteers with schools, but nothing was done.

After mush perseverance and quite by accident, I found a school which welcomed me with open arms!

It had been seeking a volunteer for three years but without success.

For the past two years I have been going into school one day a week, helping children to develop gardening skills.

I have also helped to set up and run a health group with an emphasis on mental health.

There is no money in the budget to pay someone to do what I do and there probably never will be.

It does, however, help to bring something to motivate and encourage young people in their learning and not only helps the school, but is very rewarding to the volunteer.

Michael Owen

Beach Avenue

Little Lever

Bolton