Letter: Public vs private

Last year, I left Richard Cairns' Magdalen College School (EDUCATION, 18 April, "Mums and Dads pay the price") after three years, to go to a state primary school - taking a pay cut of over pounds 1,000. I don't regret my move.

Independent schools have high academic standards, providing exciting opportunities for bright children. But the pressure of homework is difficult for many to cope with. There is little support for the less able, let alone those with special needs. Yet, children who do not meet the grade face being asked to leave the school after a gruelling exam at age 11, or after GCSEs.

Teachers sometimes say that a child is "not right for the school", when little attempt has been made to make the school right for the child. Your correspondents who have been writing about the pressures of Year 6 SATs should consider an exam on which the child's fate at the school depends.

The higher pay in some independent schools can buy new teachers - but not necessarily new ideas. Some teachers consider the use of ICT other than as a discrete subject to be avant-garde, and view subjects such as design and technology and drama as less important than traditional academic subjects. In my new life at Stonesfield Primary School, the constant influx of new ideas and initiatives may make life difficult, but guarantees reflection and continual improvement.

Discipline is bound to be better in a school of intelligent middle- class children, often of the same sex. But would children not benefit from making friends with people of different backgrounds, whether or not they are destined to be university-educated?

Independent schools offer a great deal to the right child, and I had many extremely committed colleagues at Magdalen College School. But I am unconvinced that, for the majority, they offer more than a good state school.

ANNA FAIRHURST

Charlbury, Oxfordshire

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