A WORCESTER headteacher has taken the unsual step of advertising the “free education” he offers at his state funded secondary school.

Neil Morris, headteacher of Christopher Whitehead Language College, said he took out the advert in your Worcester News because he believes education at state schools is as good as that provided by the private sector.

The advertisement for the St John’s school’s open day on Thursday, points out that it has some of the best results in Worcester.

Mr Morris said he wanted parents to challenge their opinions about private and state schools. “At the moment things are incredibly tight for everybody,” he said. “But there is a common opinion with British people that when something is free, there is something wrong with it. But it’s superb. What I am saying is there are a number of excellent schools in Worcester and we don’t celebrate them enough.”

Mr Morris said private schools were guilty of “cherry picking” the best pupils in order to achieve the best grades. “It does nobody a service in my opinion,” he said. “Just because a school gets good results, doesn’t mean it is a great school.”

Mr Morris said he would welcome parents who were thinking of sending their children to private schools to his open day.

Alun Williams, headteacher of Nunnery Wood High School, said he supported what Mr Morris said. “The quality of education offered by schools like ourselves in Worcester is very, very high,” he said. “I am always bemused by people spending a lot of money on education when there are so many great schools in the city.”

But Philip Lee, second master at private school RGS Worcester, in The Tything, said they were happy to offer parents a choice. “We are very comfortable with the principle of offering a choice of education to the people of Worcestershire who evidently value this opportunity; a fact which is reflected in our very strong numbers,” he said. “This choice will enable parents to examine the full range of school-based activities from academic achievement to sporting excellence together with a full extra-curricular programme and supportive pastoral care.”