I READ Gavin Bell’s letter (September 20) and the fitting reply by Moira Gray (September 21). Whether state or private school, it does not require expertise to see that children turning up at school from a structured and supportive home background are more likely to be receptive to the day’s lessons than those who come from the opposite end of the social spectrum where, in many cases, chaos at home and sleep deprivation may be the norm.

Given that teaching is a difficult job anywhere, teachers working in schools whose catchment areas include areas of deprivation must surely be recognised for the additional burden they bear. The annual ritual of self-congratulation on academic success by local authorities running the schools in the leafy suburbs outside Glasgow must be deflating for teachers whose schools are not so located. It is not only in education that councils such as East Renfrewshire and East Dunbartonshire are able to trump their achievements but also in health statistics, wellbeing, great places to live and so on. The reason for the growth of these affluent suburbs and their high status is Glasgow.

The city boundary has not expanded but the people have and, as elsewhere in the UK, the better off have no choice but to move out to find suitable accommodation but, apart from local support services, they use Glasgow for work and many other things. If Glasgow was removed from the map but the suburbs remained, things would look very different for these suburban authorities.

This situation creates a statistical barrier and, perhaps, a mental one. We often read figures where Glasgow is the poor relation compared to, say, Bearsden (East Dunbartonshire) in life expectancy yet is joined to Maryhill (Glasgow), where life expectancy is much lower. It is the same in education. There are many good state schools within the city boundary performing well but, unfortunately, there are also many that, when measured on academic achievement alone, are not. This brings down the average academic success rate for Glasgow state schools. If the suburban schools from neighbouring authorities were brought into the calculation, Glasgow’s statistics in education would improve overnight. The same applies to health.

Scotland is lagging well behind England in creating successful metropolitan areas where local synergies work to great effect. Greater Glasgow is crying out for such an endeavour that also might have the added benefit of reducing the plethora of fiefdoms surrounding the city.

Alan M Morris,

20 Kirkhouse Road,

Blanefield,

Glasgow.

I SUGGEST Kevin McKenna puts too much weight on the fee paying aspect in his article on private schools (“Advantages enjoyed by private schools simply cannot be justified “, The Herald, September 16).

I consider it is their operational independence from the state system that brings the essential exclusivity, with the fee paying issue more of an adjunct.The parents of a pupil in a state school who have the money can choose to throw it at private tutorials if so inclined.

Of the 28 schools indicated on the table of Higher grade results only 10 each had more than 100 candidates in that grouping (“Private schools make the grade as nine in 10 Highers result in a pass”, The Herald, september . The scale of this is hardly likely to endanger our society when we have so many other prejudicial factors inhibiting social mobility.