Class war: the independent school heads reply Mike Windsor Headmaster of Reading Blue Coat School, Berkshire The portrayal of independent schools can be frustrating. The image of Charterhouse, for instance, with its rolling fields, is not representative of what most schools are like. It is also frustrating that our strengths and our strong international reputation, and the positives that these bring to the country, are not acknowledged. During the Olympics, attention was drawn to the number of competitors and winners who came from independent schools. But it was levelled almost as an accusation rather than something that should be celebrated and built upon. Richard Harman Headmaster of Uppingham School, Rutland As the head of a major independent school, do I feel less respected than my predecessors? We live in an age where deference to authority is not what it was. Deference is just not there any more - whether it is towards the BBC, the Church of England, politicians, or the head of an independent school. Helen Wright Headmistress of St Mary's Calne, Wiltshire What is very tiresome is the persistent failure of our leaders to recognise and acknowledge and praise the excellence of independent schools. It really is persistent - almost as if there is a determination to undermine the excellence, or certainly not accept it. 'The vaguely threatening rhetoric from politicians has become bound up with the general public's failure to understand what independent schools are today, an idea that is stuck in the past. By being funded by hard-working parents, independent schools save the taxpayer money. Those who attack independent schools perpetuate a class divide that is old fashioned and inaccurate. You just need to go to a school to see that people from every aspect of society are there. Louise Robinson Headmistress of Merchant Taylors" Girls School, in Liverpool, and president of the Girls" Schools Association My staff feel they have to defend their position as teachers in an independent school. People question why they work in the sector. Their expertise is damned rather than praised. The government and the terminology they use is the real problem. Using emotive language and questioning our morality is not helpful in a professional debate about improving the standard of education. 'Chris Wormold, the permanent secretary at the Department for Education, attended the GSA's headmistresses conference last week. Again, he said was it not reasonable to ask independent schools to help state schools? And our response was: yes, but isn't it reasonable for us to ask for some funding to do that? When the government uses language that demonises us, we will act defensively. The majority of independent schools are not like the top public schools. We make a small surplus that we put back in to our schools as bursaries or for the refurbishment of buildings. We have a 400-year-old library that is a Grade II-listed building, and we have to maintain it. If a parent of mine thought I had the capacity to send a member of staff to a local state school, they would question why that spare capacity was there. Keith Budge Headmaster of Bedales, Petersfield, Hampshire As a sector, we are attacked for not engaging sufficiently with what is seen as our responsibility to local communities and work with the maintained sector. We are also attacked when we do it because we are accused of doing it for cynical reasons, to meet the public benefit test of the Charity Commission. We started our current bursary policy in 2001, before the public benefit test was even mooted, but people seem sceptical about the genuine, altruistic motivation behind our actions. On the one hand, governments are saying that a degree of independence is very helpful for maintained schools" efforts to raise standards. Yet at the same time - and this applied to the previous Labour government and the Coalition - they are embarrassed about saying anything publicly that admits to the excellence of schools in the independent sector, or the critical part they play in the national educational agenda. That for me is an anomaly. In those sectors in which Britain is a world-beater - engineering, pharmaceuticals, publishing - we are understandably proud as a nation. But in terms of the public agenda towards independent schools and what we say about ourselves, the message is clear: that we certainly shouldn't crow, and should keep our heads down.'