I am writing regarding the article, (September 9) about using the successful literacy campaign methods to boost maths. I would like to make some comments and ask some questions.

My first comment is that this proves that the pupils and their various backgrounds did not cause or prevent this success. The success was down purely to the hours containing the essential repetition that all infants require.

We now need to reinstate those hours to every child within normal classroom time, so that future reading campaigns become as unnecessary as they were 50 years ago.

As a major backer of the literacy campaign, would the Oxford Mail be able to share the figures showing how many extra hours the children received within the campaign? And could the Oxford Mail inquire of participating schools what are the normal hours of direct literacy teaching received by every child weekly?

Also the literacy campaign made use of one-to-one tuition and teaching in small groups. Surely we are a short step away from successfully teaching large groups now? Maybe if the schools continue to fail, a future literacy campaign could focus on that?

Any answers would make for very interesting reading. Thanks.

S NICHOLSON (Mr), Campbell Road, Oxford