SIR - One additional column in the school results' league table (T&A, January 10) showing the level of free school meals at all the schools would have revealed the strong correlation between levels of deprivation and low achievement.

I do not begrudge the pupils in Dixon's City Academy or the grammar schools their successes but please do not tell me that life as a teacher in these schools can be compared to that in our schools with high levels of free meals and special educational needs.

Deprivation funding to schools does exist, but it is totally inadequate. Until schools serving deprived areas receive the additional funding required to attract and keep the very best teachers, to reduce class sizes and to fund extensive out-of-school hours provision, the educational chasm between affluent and deprived neighbourhoods will continue to increase.

Councillor David Ward (Lib-Dem, Idle & Thackley) Clara Road, Bradford