Letter: Shakespeare wins pupils' support

Sir: We were very surprised when we read your article entitled 'Schools tested by need to teach Shakespeare' (24 June).

The children of our school are those in the photograph of this article and we were certainly not bored by the play, the Royal Shakespeare Company's The Taming of the Shrew, but hugely enjoyed it. The girl interviewed was not from our school and her school's teaching methods may be different to ours, thus boring the pupils. No doubt if we had analysed the text in detail in a dry, boring way, we would have had a different attitude to Shakespeare. Instead, we had the basic plot explained to us and then discussed the feminists' difficulties with the play. We also think that a child's first introduction to Shakespeare should be a very good production.

It is extremely difficult for our age group to read Shakespeare and this would put us off it. We think people who say that children cannot understand Shakespeare properly are ignoring how grown- up children's minds are.

Yours faithfully,

CHLOE EVANS, aged 12, FAITH GERAGHTY, aged 13, ROLAND CHAVASSE, aged 13, TIM BINHAM, aged 13, JONATHAN LETT, aged 13, ANDREW ELIOT, aged 12, ANNIE BERNAYS, aged 13, ANDREW HARLING, aged 13, MARIA VAUGHAN, aged 13, ROBERT ELIOT, aged 12, STEPHEN BOWIE, aged 13, TOMMY LIN, aged 13, LUCY SKINNER, aged 13, HELEN JENNINGS, aged 13

Tockington Manor School

Tockington, Bristol