Peter Marshall is correct that gifted pupils deserve no better than the rest (TES, 9 May). The point that researchers, and all too many schools, consistently miss is that gifted pupils deserve the same as the rest - an education suited to their needs. They are simply the top 2 per cent of the normal distribution of intelligence and on other traits are as diverse as the rest of the population.
Even within a single local education authority, schools differ greatly in their attitude to the very able.
We moved our children (both of whom are within the top 2 per cent studied by Mr Marshall) from one county primary school to another only seven miles away.
The latter has an excellent whole-school policy for able children, involving differentiation in class and extension groups. Our children are happy, fulfilled, normal children whose educational needs are, at last, being met.
BILL AND HAZEL REA 23 Barncroft Close Highwoods Colchester Essex
