Letter: A comprehensive success

Blake Morrison is inaccurate in his reference to South Craven School, Cross Hills ("Boys' Own stories", Review, 15 September).

The school, of which I am head, is an 11-19 comprehensive with a sixth form of 350 students. It is not a secondary modern linked to the selective system in Skipton. It has its own catchment area and is supported by many parents who recognise that selection through the 11-plus has done more damage than good, and who want no part of a selective system. They prefer the excellence and achievement available to all through the comprehensive school, particularly when this is linked to an organisation that thinks forward to the needs of business and industry for the future, rather than the needs and traditions of the past.

Those of us who have succeeded through the education system naturally generate a rosy glow round our memories of it. But it is important not to confuse nostalgia with the practicalities of building an education system that encourages achievement in all children. Economic regeneration can't be left to the few. We tried that after the Second World War and it failed. The future requires us to invest in raising the attainment of all our children, not in repeating past mistakes.

John Vickers

Cross Hills, West Yorkshire