So Gavin Williamson thinks it will be possible to teach secondary school pupils in “bubbles” of 30 (England to drop class ‘bubbles’ and pupil caps from September, 19 June). I hope someone in his department knows that a lot of classes are bigger than 30 and that even 1-metre spacing wouldn’t be possible in some places.
More worryingly, does he have any idea about the way years 10 and 11 operate? Pupils choose GCSE subjects at the end of year 9 and are then taught in many different groups according to the options they have chosen. So pupils in a four-form entry school will be taught with one subset of their entire year (100-plus pupils) for one option, eg geography, and with a different subset for, say, French. How will bubbles work then? There will be different groupings constantly forming and reforming throughout the week. This will make the size of the bubbles for these pupils effectively over 100. The same shifting composition of groups will also apply in post-GCSE classes. I hope someone competent is working to solve this.
Marion Hunt
Eccles, Manchester
• Your report mistakenly implies that Manchester grammar school hugely outperforms St Ambrose Barlow Roman Catholic high school in GCSE English language because “discipline is less of a problem and parents are paying” (‘It’s a basic equality issue’: home learning gap between state and private schools, 19 June). The huge difference in resources between the two schools certainly reflects poorly on this country’s approach to educating children, but the chief reason for the huge difference in their exam results is that MGS is one of the most academically selective schools in the country, whereas St Ambrose Barlow is a comprehensive school, most of whose pupils would never have had a hope of gaining admission to MGS, regardless of parental wealth.
It is a pity that this invalid comparison detracts from an otherwise excellent account of what is very much “a basic equality issue”.
Michael Pyke
Shenstone, Lichfield
• Your interview with Fran Russell, head of the Steiner Waldorf Schools Fellowship, gave a broadly fair depiction of what Steiner education has to offer, as well as its alleged shortcomings (Steiner schools chief: what my time in prisons taught me about the UK’s education mistakes, 23 June). In the 2000s, the Labour government commissioned a report on what mainstream education could learn from the Steiner approach. Judging from the state of England’s Gradgrind mainstream schooling system, nothing has been learned – not least, about the damage done by over-formalised early learning.
While Russell rightly advocates for key aspects of Steiner pedagogy, she mustn’t be too quick in jettisoning the high-trust ethos that these schools champion, or Steiner schools’ collegiate approach to leadership. Many parents choose a Steiner school because they eschew a legalistically minded obsession with safeguarding, and the low-trust milieu that such narrow proceduralism generates.
Dr Richard House
Stroud, Gloucestershire
• Your article (Top private school asks teachers to exaggerate exam predictions, 24 June) misrepresents Sevenoaks school, its staff and its pupils. Our son’s experience, when one of his subjects looked borderline, was a lecture from the head of sixth form about the risks to him and the school of over-predicting. He had to grind through hours of summer work, attend a further revision course and sit more internal assessments before any review would be entertained. As a result, he would have achieved the grade comfortably. The school achieves an average actual International Baccalaureate points score of 39. I hate the slur this article puts on the students and staff who have all worked so hard.
Parina Williams
Hildenborough, Kent
