Children from middle class families seem to do just as well in MOST Scottish 'free', that is, state run comprehensive schools.

Professor Paterson (Edinburgh University education unit) said: "With such a small difference between the sectors, such parents might be better advised to send their children to the free public-sector school and pay for some extra tuition in subject areas where they are weak. This is not an attack on the independent sector, this is an attempt to say something positive about the achievements of the comprehensive sector for a group of people who are often thought not to benefit from it, which is the middle-class children of well-educated parents."

I bet that the same result is NOT true in English schools as they have long suffered shake ups under Westminsters total interference policy.