Sons get private school priority as 10,000 more are educated at institutions than girls



Priority: Parents fear boys struggle at state schools

Parents are increasingly buying private education for their sons rather than their daughters, a census reveals.

Fee-paying schools now educate nearly 10,000 more boys than girls following a rise in the number of boys enrolled.

Parents are increasingly buying private education for their sons rather than their daughters, a census reveals.

Girls are outperforming boys at every stage of the education system and now make up 55 per cent of university freshers.

A census compiled by the Independent Schools Council - published today - reveals how pupil numbers increased 0.1 per cent on last year, bucking a four-year trend of falling enrolments.

But while the number of boys rose 0.3 per cent, the number of girls remained unchanged on last year.

The figures also show how 38.8 per cent of full-time teachers in private schools are men, against just 30 per cent in state schools.

The census, covering all 1,221 private schools represented by the ISC, presents a snapshot of independent education in January this year.

Recession proof: ISC boss Barnaby Lenon says parents are making school fees a priority

It reveals how annual fees are now nearly £14,000-a-year on average following a 4.5 per cent hike on last year.

Private schools are increasingly reliant on pupils from overseas, especially Hong Kong, China, Germany, Russia and Spain. Recruitment from overseas rose by 5.8 per cent.

There was also a growing North-South divide, with enrolments rising 1.2 per cent in London and the South East and dropping 0.7 per cent elsewhere in the UK.

Meanwhile independent schools emerged as being more ethnically diverse than state, with 26.1 per cent of pupils from ethnic minorities, compared with 24.5 per cent in the state system.