What to look for in an independent school

Independent schooling is an expensive business with fees typically ranging from about £10,000 a year for a day school to more than £25,000 per annum for boarding. Multiply that over the 11 years of a pupil’s compulsory schooling, add the number of children in your family, and tot up all the extras — such as school uniforms, trips, music lessons and tennis coaching — and it may turn your hair grey.

But how can parents make the right decision about where to send their child?

To some degree, of course, that depends on what they are looking for. Parents who have a child with special needs may, for example, be looking for a school that specialises in dyslexia, or one with very small class sizes where they can receive the attention they need.

Many will be looking for high academic performance. Most fee-paying schools concerned about standards in mainstream examinations now offer the International GCSE, the International Baccalaureate and the Pre-U as alternatives to GCSEs and A-levels because of their greater rigour. This independence from target-led government diktats has allowed private schools to innovate and set their own agenda. It is really only in fee-paying schools that the classics continue to thrive, and where enough time is set aside in the day to allow children to be children — to play, experience a range of activities and to find out who they are.

Private schools offer specialities in music, the performing arts or sport. Cricketer Monty Panesar, footballer Frank Lampard and Olympic gold medallists Ben Ainslie and Chris Hoy all cut their sporting teeth at fee-paying schools.