As your editorial points out, the best way for independent schools to maintain their charitable status may not be to take disadvantaged pupils out of the state system but to help them succeed in it. Sponsoring a child in a nearby primary school to become literate or numerate through the Every Child a Reader or Every Child Counts programmes costs Pounds 2,600, and will set that child on course for success in life. Add to that opportunities for older pupils at the independent school to volunteer as reading or maths buddies for “graduates” of these specialist teaching programmes and you have a scheme that benefits all. Interested independent schools are invited to get in touch!

Jean Gross, Director, Every Child a Chance Trust.