LETTER : Unique school

TWO statements in "Lord have mercy" (Review, 7 January) are inaccurate about my school. Nobantu (Mandy) Zani was not "intimidated by her classmates" and Uhuru Zani, the elder brother, was not a pupil here.

Schools like mine, and teachers like me, do our level best to care, inspire, protect and motivate. Daily we teach that accuracy of comment and avoidance of stereotype are not merely aspects of intellectual honesty, they are means to make a better society.

Each school is a unique, complex social institution. Andy Beckett resorts to a three-word description. He calls Buttershaw a "housing estate comprehensive". Such stereotyping exacerbates social division and misunderstanding. It makes harder the work of teachers who strive to make society better.

J T R Hull

Headteacher, Buttershaw

Upper School, Bradford