27 JANUARY 2007, Page 17

A class act

From Sonya Gale Sir: As a Classics teacher in a state school, I read Andrew Nash's description of state education (Letters, 20 January) with some amusement. The 'reduced options' at Bexley Grammar School include Greek as well as Latin, Chinese and Japanese as well as Russian, together with the more usually available French, German and Spanish. Far from having 'nothing outside the classroom', the school offers a wide range of outside speakers and school trips, while pupils can opt into small class sizes by the simple expedient of selecting one or more of the less 'usual' subjects mentioned above. Not that very small classes are necessarily the best: 28 absorbed students can provide a more stimulating atmosphere. It is of course true that we don't offer a long school day (if no after-school clubs are attended), but then our pupils' parents tend not to be looking for free childcare.

Sonya Gale Tonbridge, Kent