We will survive

IDIOSYNCRATIC charm has long been a hallmark of Britain’s fine array of independent schools, but, as running costs keep rising, many of those beyond the best known—the Etons and Harrows of this world—are fighting to survive in a diminishing market where fees continue to grow. Often, an institution’s only lifeline is to join a consortium of schools or merge, but does this conglomeration threaten to turn to monotone the colourful individuality that underpins our scholastic tapestry?

Staff will tell you something about your child that day because they’ll have seen him

Alison Fleming, head of Newton Prep in Battersea, London SW8, describes standalone preps as a ‘dying breed’.