What about a religious school?

Like all schools they vary in quality but most enjoy good parental support - partly because they are less easy to get into than secular schools! They control their own admissions and as such are in a better position to 'select by the back door'; choosing who they want and importantly who they don't want sitting at their desks.

Roman Catholic schools, the next most numerous, are (in the state sector) much more religious and exclusive than the general run of C of E schools. Many such schools will not, in practice, admit your child unless a priest certifies that you have attended mass regularly for 5 years; others set even higher hurdles. RC independent schools - even the most prestigious - are much more welcoming to the lapsed and to other faiths, though all require children to participate in the religious life of the school.

In some areas, the 'faith' school is seen as the only good state option.

The head dismissed any 'misconception that chorister boys are whey-faced and insipid' – they need to be 'robust, fit, fun-loving and go-getting'.

A range of other faiths run schools - independent and state - Jewish, Muslim, Methodist, Moravian, Presbyterian, Quaker, Seventh Day Adventist, Sikh and the United Reformed Church, plus several others with religious or quasi-religious associations. There are also a few schools that are sponsored by more than one denomination.

Good Schools Guide (GSG) on-line allows you to search for schools by religion and reviews many of the best of them. QlikView Schools Data Analysis   enables users to interrogate exam performance to see how well a school could do for your child.