Fury as private school mocks parents’ Volvos

A PRIVATE school has apologised for a ‘misguided’ advert suggesting its pupils would one day be able to afford flash cars – unlike their fathers.

Vinehall, a £22,000-a-year boarding school in Robertsbridge, East Sussex, was labelled ‘appalling’ after it came up with the ‘tone deaf’ ad for an open day.

Run in local magazines, it centres on a prospective student whose father drives a Volvo because he cannot afford to own a Jaguar like the headmaster.

The text describes the father and son pulling up to the open day, adding: ‘‘You pointed to the beautiful dark blue Jaguar parked by a sign saying Headmaster’s Parking. You wished your Dad had one. Your Dad looked wistful, the Volvo had to do a few years yet.’

It was spotted by a local resident and posted on Twitter, where it went viral. One critic said: ‘How wonderfully tone deaf!’

Best-selling novelist Judy Astley tweeted that the school’s ‘core values are entirely about acquiring material crap’.

The prep school teaches children aged two to 13. Headmaster Jonathan Powis said: ‘ I very deeply regret the offence caused.’