I TOO, the parent of an ex-North pupil, despair of the crazy situation whereby children who want to learn have to put up with unacceptable behaviour from their classmates. Not an obvious high-achiever my daughter was in the middle set classes and endured many lessons idling the time away whilst the teachers dealt with disruptive pupils.

However, despite this she gained 7 A*'s, 2A's and 1B thanks to the motivation and inspirational teaching of some of her teachers (NBHS does have them!), hard work out of school, constant revision and strong family support.

Having initially been a supporter of the three-tier school system, I now believe that although our 8 - 13 years olds may make happy progress through Middle School they are wholly ill-equipped to deal with the socio-emotional demands of the High School, resulting in the disturbed behaviour experienced by so many.

I don't know if it would be any better returning to the two-tier system but I do know that Worcestershire is out of step with most of the country in this respect and doesn’t show any markedly better results for it. Does this strike a chord with any parents?

Parent, Hopwood.