So if you want an inclusive mixed education for your child in terms of race and mixing with the poor you pay fees now...... all those santimonious left wingers who choose the "good" state schools are ensuring less social mixing than those of us who honestly stump up the cost of school fees....
FT yesterday:
"Private schools' poor pupil claim
By David Turner, Education Correspondent
Published: June 2 2009 03:00 | Last updated: June 2 2009 03:00
The proportion of pupils at private schools from economically deprived backgrounds is nearly double the figure for the top grammars and comprehensives, the Independent Schools Council will assert this week as it tries to counter its reputation for social exclusivity.
The ISC's conclusions tally with anecdotal evidence that selective schools and the most oversubscribed comprehensives include relatively small numbers of poor children.
But the claim is nevertheless striking because it
suggests the academically best-performing schools that do not charge fees have fewer deprived pupils than private schools charging thousands of pounds a term.
The declaration comes at a time when private schools are under huge pressure to do their bit for social deprivation because of new Charity Commission rules demanding they help low-income families.
It raises the perennial question of how "comprehensive" the top comprehensives really are, measured by social intake.
David Lyscom, chief executive of the ISC, will make the point in a speech to the council's annual conference in London today, although the ISC declined to give details of the research ahead of its full publication later this week.
His calculations refer to the ISC's 1,265 members, which educate the majority of British private school pupils, including those at the most famous schools, such as Eton and Harrow.
His speech also cites recent findings that the number of children at private schools with special educational needs, such as dyslexia, has almost trebled to more than 70,000 in the past 10 years, while declining slightly at state schools.
Several independent schools, such as Milton Abbey in Dorset, have developed a strong reputation for educating special needs children.
Mr Lyscom counters private schools' reputation for being "stuffed full of posh white kids" by pointing to the finding from its recent census that 23 per cent of its pupils in England and Wales were from an ethnic minority, just above the state school average.
Critics might argue that many are instead "posh non-white kids" from abroad. For example, Harrow has a tradition of educating members of the Jordanian royal family, who would qualify for ethnic-minority status.
Mr Lyscom will say: "Even where parents are being squeezed, evidence suggests that school fees are one of the last areas where parents will cut expenditure.
"Unlike holidays, cars and flat-screen TVs, educating one's children is not seen as discretionary expenditure."
He adds: "The greatest threat is probably not economic, but legislative."
The "burden" of regulation "needs to be simplified and, where risks are low, reduced"."