LEAGUE tables are still a very sensitive issue for pupils, parents, teachers and school governors, and it would appear that the BEN has again heightened the issue by its latest reporting of exam results.

Why, oh why, did your paper not follow the lead of the national press, which did not reduce pupils' achievement to a school ranking list.

Your alphabetical list merely turned your presentation into one resembling a football league table for the reader to work out!

Each school is unique. There is no level playing field in education. Individual differences in terms of physical, mental and emotional development make comparisons difficult. Situational variables further compound the issue.

Intelligent readers-- presumably those in Bury and Wigan -- can draw their own conclusions from the figures without any of the glorification and triumphalism depicted in your article.

A Preceptor

Bolton Institute

Deane Road