For generations my family has been educated privately. Many of us regarded it as a positive experience — but not all. Children were often sent away from a young age. We have a letter written from boarding school in the 1930s by one forlorn relative. It starts: “Dear Mummy and Daddy, I hope you had a nice Christmas.” He was five.

Privately-funded schools have many advantages, mostly born of the extra money they can spend per child. They have smaller class sizes and better facilities and as a result they can often support the average child, as well as gifted children and those with particular needs. So it is understandable that many parents want to pay the requisite fees, especially if this is the system they have known themselves.

However, though the proportion of children attending fee-paying schools remains fairly constant at about 7 per cent, funding that choice is becoming harder. Rising house prices mean mortgage payments are taking a bigger proportion of household income, leaving less to cover school fees. So how can parents who favour the private option but find the finances difficult manage this challenge?