Now we have the primary school league tables I urge a note of caution when it comes to interpreting them.

You rightly pointed out in your perceptive leader (Evening Press, February 23) that test results, though important, do not give the whole picture. There are other equally important criteria to be used in judging the relative success of a school.

There are, however, special factors to note when looking at these tables. Firstly, all the schools are small in the context of examinations statistics, Coming, as I do, from the background of a secondary examinations board, we would be analysing results by hundreds or thousands if we were trying to draw valid conclusions purely from the figures. In York, the size of entry ranges from 16 pupils in a school to 100 - none of these entries by themselves is very significant, statistically speaking.

The figures should be viewed with extreme caution and preferably over from three to five years. Taking a longer view enables one to have a statistically more reliable figure. Even then you only have part of the picture.

Brian Park,

(Ex-chief executive, Yorkshire and Humberside Regions Examination Board).

Fairway Drive,

Upper Poppleton,

York.

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