An informative and accessible guide to education aimed at parents who wish to ascertain the pros and cons of fee-paying independent schools and their non-fee paying competitors.

For generations parents who could afford to do so paid school fees. They took it for granted that they were buying for their children a better education and a better start in life. But these old assumptions are being challenged by change, and for the first time doubts are being expressed.

Do all independent schools give value for money? Can the best state schools and grant-maintained schools offer a better education, and for nothing?

Written in the same informal manner as his classic book Letters From School, John Rae, former headmaster of Westminster School, delivers a wealth of information to help parents to make informed decisions about whether or not to pay fees.

Letters to Parents addresses a vast number of concerns, ranging from:

The importance of developing a strategy for your child's education.
* How to make the most of limited resources.
* What do the league tables really tell us?
* Academic excellence - where do we find it in the state and independent sectors?
* What do boarding schools have to offer?
* Do girls really do better in single sex schools?
* How to read between the lines of a glossy prospectus.
* What are the options if the public school ethos and the local comprehensive do not appeal? A look at independent co-educational and progressive schools and schools with a European dimension.
* How the `rules of the game' may be changed by the new Labour Government.