Bruce Burden seems to have missed the point when he makes the irrelevant comparison of school life with people dying in Afghanistan. These teenagers have worn school uniform for the last 11 years through no choice of their own and the privilege lasts fo

Bruce Burden seems to have missed the point when he makes the irrelevant comparison of school life with people dying in Afghanistan.

These teenagers have worn school uniform for the last 11 years through no choice of their own and the 'privilege' lasts for only a few weeks as they attend their GCSE exams. After that they will either be getting jobs or staying on for further education and most probably in neither case will be required to wear any form of identification.

If they choose to join the Armed Forces then that is their choice, you can be sure that not all the personnel in the Second World War bore their uniforms with pride as they did not have that choice.

My 16-year-old son is happy to walk down to the Memorial Service in Saffron Walden on Remembrance Day with me, both of us in jeans and sweatshirts (wearing our poppies) but this does not affect the respect and honour we are paying to the men and women who lost their lives.

There will always be a few who do not respect their uniform, as there will always be a few who drop litter, but to connect the two and blame Fiona Preece and the school for all of it seems as though Mr Burden has no idea how the modern teenager behaves.

May I also offer those three cheers to Fiona Preece and all the staff at SWCHS for the high moral code, self esteem and pride of the Year 11 students that I know. I suggest that Mr Burden takes the trouble to meet some of them before he passes judgement with such sarcasm.

Lynne Howell, De Vigier Avenue, Saffron Walden