I was interested to read the letter from Richard Bennett about the raunchy pop song used by a dance group who performed at the Christmas lights spectacular in Southend.

Thankfully, I didn’t witness this performance but, as the principal of three local performing arts schools, I totally agree with Mr Bennett’s comments.

We teach dance, drama and singing, and it is a constant battle to find songs the students want to perform, that do not transgress the rules of decency we have laid down for our schools.

My teachers have to listen very carefully to all the lyrics before they can agree to teach a dance or let the children sing the song.

We use songs from the musicals, all of which have perfectly acceptable words, with the possible exception of a couple of songs from Billy Elliott. However, in order to teach our students a range of singing styles, we like to use pop songs as well.

I despair of the lyrics of many of the pop songs in the charts and would welcome it if the singers and their managers would recognise the damage these lyrics are doing to our children.

Regretfully, as long as people buy this music, nothing will be done to improve the situation.

Meanwhile, we will continue to boycott music we believe offensive and encourage our students and others to sing songs which have good lyrics and provide interesting music.

Tessa Davies
Principal, Stagecoach
South East Essex
Woodberry Close
Leigh