Virginia Matthews

University prospects are still a thorny issue

‘If you are sending your child to an independent school because you think this somehow guarantees a place at a top-quality university, then as things stand, you may be taking a bit of a gamble,’ says Vicky Tuck, head of Cheltenham Ladies’ College. ‘If you are sending your child to an independent school because you

Chalking up the costs

‘Although enquiries about and acceptances of private school places appear to have increased slightly in recent months, we won’t really know if the recession has started to bite until September. ‘Although enquiries about and acceptances of private school places appear to have increased slightly in recent months, we won’t really know if the recession has

The right special needs school is out there

Yet the first UK school to specialise in dyslexia, as well as dyspraxia and Asperger’s Syndrome, opened its doors in 1946, when spelling and reading problems were dismissed as ‘word blindness’. Now one of only 20 special dyslexia schools in the country and with just 90 places on offer, the independent, co-ed Frewen College in