The mixed messages in last week’s editorial and the article “The best education money can buy?” rather miss the point of paid-for education. Private schools do not exclusively subscribe to academic elitism, nor do all private school parents seek single-minded cramming and Eton College places at any cost.

Students at schools belonging to the Independent Association of Prep Schools achieve some outstanding results, yet our members remain opposed to academic league tables because they appreciate that parents are buying in to a broad educational package and not paying for an enhanced IQ. Education is more than academic test results, as teachers know very well.

Your news article states that “raw results” demonstrate that private school students do perform best in terms of examinations and goes on to imply some kind of mitigation of that because so many variables, including socio-economic status and parental attitudes, affect a child’s performance at school. Is it not true that parental attitudes dictate school choice, too, because parents only ever want the best for their children? That is why so many choose to invest in the best education that they can find.

Julie Robinson, Education and training director, Independent Association of Prep Schools.