‘Lay off parents who pay for private school’

PRIVATE school parents are unfairly criticised by “virtue flagging” friends and colleagues, a leading headmaster has said.

Shaun Fenton, the head of the £18,720-a-year Reigate Grammar School and chairman of the Headmasters’ and Headmistresses’ Conference, said parents often got a “hard time” about sending children to fee-paying schools. But he said no parent should have to “apologise” or be made to feel “selfish” when they were merely “doing the best for their children” by investing in their future.

Whether in the workplace, the political arena or at social gatherings, Mr Fenton urged people to “lay off ” those parents who privately educate their children and to “stop criticising good parenting”.

“Parents who are making good decisions on behalf of their children should be commended because that’s what good parenting is supposed to be about,” he said. “If the alternative is that you sacrifice the interests of your children’s education for some kind of political ideology or virtue flagging, that doesn’t seem to be authentic parenting.”

As chairman of the conference, Mr Fenton represents 292 of the country’s most prestigious schools, including Eton, Harrow and Winchester.