I AM writing to you as the grandfather of an ex-pupil at Malvern Link CE Primary School. My grandson is mixed race, half English and half Asian.

I have been associated with the school for a total of ten years starting from his first attendance in the pre-school classes and continuing on to the present day by way of voluntary assistance to the school on various occasions.

I cannot believe that this charge of institutional racism can be taken seriously.

Throughout my association with the school my impression has been of teachers, from the headmistress down who are totally committed to the care and education of their pupils. They plainly regard all their charges as children and not as member son one ethnic group or another.

Children are sometimes cruel to each other but racism only becomes part of their life when it is impressed upon them by bigoted adults.

We are not told in your report what supposedly racist activities have given rise to the enquiry. It has to be supposed that some parents, presumably mixed race or non-Caucasian, have taken it upon themselves to complain to the authorities about something at school which has affected their children.

In Parliament this week the statement was made to counter criticism of the new minister for children that "men or women of ill-will can always make their voices heard". Could this not be the case here?

Some hearing should be given to the many hundreds of parents of pupils who have attended the school over the last 20 years who have not complained or had cause to complain but who, if asked, would support my belief that this is a happy school led by a dedicated set of teachers to whom racial prejudice is anathema.

BRIAN BRADFORD, Layton Avenue, Malvern.