John McIntosh was uncharacteristically coy in last week’s letters page, referring to his former school merely as an “inner-London secondary”.

The London Oratory School is indeed in Brompton, but during his incumbency it routinely recruited up to 90 per cent of its intake from outside the home borough. Boys, including one E Blair of Downing Street, were selected from across London and beyond via an admissions policy that amounted to an oral examination in the finer points of Catholic doctrine.

I would agree with him that high expectations are the essence of good education whatever the setting, but the oratory as a school for the working classes? Come on John, pull the other one!

Alan Parker, Croydon.