THIS year’s GCSE results show that grades have improved every year since 1987.

One pupil in Hartlepool was awarded 12 Grade A* and five Grade A passes. Other pupils were awarded six, seven, eight or more passes at Grades A* or A.

These results are astounding and nothing like them was ever achieved in the days of the grammar schools.

The distribution of intelligence across the population has not changed and it is still the case, as is statistically inevitable, that half of the population have below-average intelligence and the other half have above-average intelligence.

In that context it is worth noting that in Britain 69 per cent of the pupils were awarded five good GCSE passes with thousands of them having below-average intelligence.

On top of that, 35 per cent of A-levels were graded A* or A compared to five per cent in the days of the grammar schools where all those carefully selected pupils had above-average intelligence.

As mentioned in my recent letter about A-level results (HAS, Aug 24), an education professional’s explanation is eagerly awaited.

Jim Allan, Hartlepool.