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last point first - the 'suggestion' that facilities and staff be shared came not from the schools but from the 'interfering' politicians and suggests to me an admission of failure.( I would like to see the uproar that would result if this was proposed to industry, from the shareholders, the management, and the workforce) I am sure the staff, management and employees of say, ASDA, would be happy to give a couple of hours every week helping out in the corner shop for nothing? A couple of years back the charity commissioners stated that there were too many charities and suggested that numbers were cut by about 1/4 . Schools were never considered as spurious or as tax avoidance schemes. Where do you think any money accrued goes to? oh yes, as you stated to the school and the parents - as a parent we get nothing apart from an education for our child and as these institutions do not have shareholders or a paid board the money indeed goes into the school, in fact it goes to the very place that it is supposed to - for the benefit of the pupils. we don't get letters from this school asking us to buy her textbooks!!! as we did from the academy and middle school. I know that the school also has many assisted places and bursaries for children unable to meet the full cost of fees. So in no way can it be considered 'exclusive'. The most pernicious thing I see in the education system - (apart the alleged radicalisation of some schools in the news recently) is the rush to make schools 'academies' thus taking them out of the control of the education authorities with no oversight of local authorities or elected members. Even more suspect is the ability of the academies to set their own wage levels? how can that be a forward move for the teaching profession? ref; the sharing of facilities, several outside groups use the facilities out of hours. Yes, they get charged a very small fee but they use the facilities because its actually cheaper than hiring a local village hall in many cases. The school even allows the use of its mini buses by two outside groups at the minimal cost of mileage and fuel only and even provided MIDAS training free of charge. Latin is taught at the school but only as ancillary subject after school hours and at no charge. When I was at school Latin was compulsory and I have never regretted that. It has given me a far better and richer understanding of our language and allowed insights into the root and structure of English, bear in mind that our language is our heritage and so much of it has been shaped by the two major invasions i.e. (oops id est - that is Latin!!) the Romans and the French - almost all the words for the meat we put on the table originate from the French. I presume you would argue that languages should not be taught in any school? Our child has just completed a Duke of Edinburgh scheme - she could have done it with the school but chose to do it with an external group. She is going skiing next month, not with her school, which, as most schools do, organises such trips, but with a former school who have invited her to go with them. she has as many friends from other schools as she does at her present 'elitist' school. On a quick recap I think that the numbers of friends whose house she has stayed over at, and who have stayed over at our house must be about equally split between the schools in the area and similarly with other children from her school. A well rounded and broad spectrum of social groups and experiences is positively encouraged by her school and I see no signs of any 'elitism' or 'exclusivity' except in a small number outside the school and that is inverse elitism and exclusivity.