In your report on reactions to the study by ‘Local, Equal, Excellent’ (‘LEE’) into the 11+, Mike Appleyard, says: “People do need to understand that every single child who qualifies in the 11+ for a grammar school and lives in Bucks gets a place.

“That is not the case for people outside the county. Not one child in Bucks who qualified for grammar school suffers as a result of people out of the county.”

I assume this is because a Freedom of Information request last year by ‘LEE’ discovered that around 50% of grammar school places go to children from outside Bucks. If Mike is correct and all eligible Bucks children are taking their places in grammar schools yet at the same time around 50% of grammar school children are from out of county then surely there is a huge excess of grammar school places in Bucks.

Pass level for the 11+ changes from year to year so is it being raised very high to eliminate local children and make their places available to people from out of county. Perhaps Mr Appleyard can explain the figures in more detail and tell us where he gets them from. – Lawrence Linehan, Wooburn Green