Independent Schools Council

“The Independent Schools Council (ISC) census showed 511,886 pupils were being privately educated, compared with 514,531 last year - a fall of 0.6%.”

“The average private school fee per term was £4,186, excluding nursery fees.”

“The average boarding school fee per term was £8,003 and the average day fee was £3,571 per term.”

“The census showed the lowest fee increase for 16 years, with parents paying on average 4% more to educate their children this year.”

“A total of 161,605 pupils - 32.5% - received help with their fees and the value of this help totalled more than £660m a year.”

“More than 80% of assistance came directly from the schools themselves, with ISC schools providing more than £540m of assistance with fees in the academic year 2009-10.”

“The census revealed the pupil-teacher ratio stood at one teacher for every nine pupils, compared with an average of almost 17 pupils per teacher in maintained schools in England in 2009.”

“The survey showed 67,856 pupils were boarding at ISC schools, making up 13.3% of total pupil numbers, while 61% of ISC schools had no boarders at all.”