AT last, somebody who will rid us of this pernicious exam ("...an intrusion by Bury into Bucks" BFP March 10); somebody who will help us to extend the advantages of a grammar school education to all our children in Bucks instead of condemning 75 per cent of them to a poor start to their secondary schooling by "failing" the 11-plus.

No matter how glittering their subsequent careers, this feeling of failure and the perceived stigma, will always be with them.

Our local MPs may feel that Mr Chaytor's proposed amendment to the Education Bill to end all selection at 11 throughout the country is an intrusion into areas which do not concern him but he is upholding a principle here.

It is the principle of fairness and equity to all children wherever they live.

It is not only Bucks he is aiming at but also all those places which still maintain this outdated and patently unjust system.

Mr Goodman may think the selective system works in Bucks but he may also be surprised at the amount of opposition there is to it.

Of course, the whole situation is skewed by the number of parents who vote with their feet, either by bringing their children into the county to attend the grammar schools or going the other way into counties where there are comprehensive schools.

If we had our own comprehensives, there would be no need either for all this shuffling around or for all the present angst about grammar school catchment areas.

Mrs Sheila Browning, Clare Road, Prestwood