Your article (Give pupils high fives to let them know you care (The TES, December 12) presented a very narrow view of the Future Leaders programme.

We work with our participants on all aspects of improving urban secondary schools. We want every child to experience excellent teaching, an appropriate and challenging curriculum and high expectations of both progress and behaviour when they are at school. Part of creating a mutually respectful and aspirational school culture is to ensure that every child feels valued as an individual.

The quoted comments of Sir Iain Hall, our national director, are based on a practice that has been successful in many schools in the United States. We are not advocating “high-fives” or “getting down with the kids” in UK schools, but we do believe that heads should know every child in the school by name and should be seen to take an interest in their learning.

Heath Monk, CEO, Future Leaders.