‘One of the Worst Statistics in British Sport, and Wholly Unacceptable’: The Contribution of Privately Educated Members of Team GB to the Summer Olympic Games, 2000–2012

Abstract

Much has been published on sport in Britain's private schools of the Victorian and Edwardian eras, but no research of modern policy, practice and outcomes has been conducted since the 1970s. Assessment of the contribution of these schools to Team GB at recent summer Olympic Games – and to international sport in general – by politicians, sports leaders and physical education lobbyists has thus largely been informed by speculation. Future government policy on physical education and sport in schools may therefore be influenced by flawed evidence. This article examines the schooling of all members of Team GB for the summer Olympic Games of 2000–2012, and compares the contribution of its privately educated and state-educated members in terms of performance in competition and medals won. Online research using the websites of schools, sports associations, governing bodies of sport, Olympic associations and the media, together with biographies of sportsmen and sportswomen, provided information about each team member's schooling, sporting background and Olympic record. The speculation was inaccurate – exaggerating the proportion of privately educated members of Team GB but underestimating their contribution.

Mucho se ha escrito sobre el deporte en las escuelas privadas británicas de las épocas victoriana y eduardiana, pero desde los años 70 no se ha llevado a cabo ninguna inverstigación sobre las políticas, las prácticas y los resultados deportivos en estos centros. Así pues, la valoración de la contribución de estas escuelas a Team GB en los juegos olímpicos de verano más recientes por parte de los políticos, los dirigentes deportivos y los líderes de opinión del ámbito de la educación física se ha basado sobre todo en conjeturas. De esta manera las políticas públicas sobre educación física y deporte en las escuelas podría estar afectada por un conocimiento defectuoso de la realidad. Este artículo analiza la escolarización de todos los miembros de Team GB que participaron en los Juegos Olímpicos de verano entre 2000 y 2012, y compara la contribución de los miembros educados en escuelas públicas y privadas por lo que respecta a su rendimiento en competición y a medallas obtenidas. La informacón sobre la escolarización de cada uno de los miembros, su trayectoria deportiva y su palmarés olímpico se ha obtenido mediante una búsqueda online en webs de escuelas, asociaciones deportivas, organismos deportivos, asociaciones olímpicas y medios de comunicación. El conocimiento de la realidad era efectivamente defectuoso, ya que se ha tendido a exagerar la proporción de los miembros de Team GB educados en escuelas privadas pero se ha subestimado su contribución.

Über Sport in den privaten Schulen Großbritanniens in der Viktorianischen und Edwardischen Epoche ist vieles veröffentlicht worden, aber über moderne Politik, Praxis und Resultate wurden seit den 1970er Jahren keine Forschungen mehr durchgeführt. Die Bewertung des Beitrags dieser Schulen zum Team GB bei den jüngsten Olympischen Sommerspielen – und zum internationalen Sport im Allgemeinen – durch Politiker, Sportfunktionäre und Sportunterricht-Lobbyisten beruhte somit weitgehend auf Spekulationen. Die zukünftige Regierungspolitik hinsichtlich Leibeserziehung und Schulsport mag daher von fehlerhaften Beweisen beeinflusst sein. Dieser Artikel untersucht die Schulbildung aller Mitglieder des Team GB der Olympischen Sommerspiele von 2000–2012 und vergleicht den Beitrag der privat und staatlich ausgebildeten Mitglieder in Bezug auf die Wettbewerbsleistung und die gewonnenen Medaillen. Online-Recherchen, welche die Webseiten von Schulen, Sportvereinen, Leitungsorganen des Sports, Olympischen Verbänden und Medien nutzen, sowie Biographien von Sportlern und Sportlerinnen lieferten Informationen über die Schulbildung, den sportlichen Hintergrund und den olympischen Rekord jedes Teammitglieds. Die Spekulation war ungenau – bauschte den Anteil der privat erzogenen Mitglieder des Team GB auf, aber unterschätzte ihren Beitrag.

虽然有许多维多利亚和爱德华时代英国私立学校体育方面的研究，但自十九世纪七十年代以来尚没有该领域的现代政策、实践及其成果的研究。而对这些学校在近几届夏季奥运会和国际体育比赛上对英国国家队贡献的评估，很大程度上都是依靠政治家、体育领导者以及体育教育说客们的推测。因此，有关学校体育教育和体育运动的政府政策可能会受到这些具有缺陷的证据的影响。本文调查了2000年至2012年期间夏季奥运会英国国家队所有成员的学校教育经历，并就比赛表现和奖牌获得情况对受私立教育和公立教育的成员进行了比较。研究选用了学校、体育协会、体育管理机构、奥林匹克协会以及媒体的网站，并配合运动员的传记为每个成员的学校教育经历、运动背景和奥运会比赛的记录提供信息。研究显示，推测是不准确的，因为它夸大了英国队中受私立教育成员的比例，但却低估了他们的贡献。

Muito já foi publicado sobre o esporte nas escolas privadas da Grã-Bretanha das eras vitoriana e eduardiana, mas nenhuma pesquisa sobre políticas, práticas e resultados modernos foi conduzida desde os anos 1970. A avaliação da contribuição dessas escolas para o time da Grã-Bretanha (Time GB) nos recentes Jogos Olímpicos de verão – e para o esporte internacional em geral – feita por políticos, líderes esportivos e lobistas da educação física tem sido assim profundamente baseada em especulações. Futuras políticas de governo sobre educação física e esporte nas escolas podem assim ser influenciadas por evidências falhas. Este artigo examina a escolaridade de todos os membros do Time GB nos Jogos Olímpicos de verão de 2000 a 2012, e compara a contribuição de seus membros que receberam educação privada e educação pública, em termos de desempenho nas competições e medalhas ganhas. A pesquisa online utilizou sítios eletrônicos de escolas, associações esportivas, órgãos de governo ligados ao esporte, associações olímpicas e da mídia, assim como biografias de esportistas, fornecendo informações sobre a escolaridade, o passado esportivo e o histórico olímpico de cada membro. As especulações estavam erradas – exagerou-se a proporção dos membros de educação privada do Time GB, mas subestimou-se sua contribuição.

ヴィクトリア朝及びエドワード朝時代のイギリスの私立学校におけるスポーツについては、これまで数多くの研究がなされてきた一方で、現代の施策、実践、そしてその結果については、１９７０年代以降全く研究されていない。近年の夏季オリンピック大会のイギリス代表選手団　―及び国際舞台でのスポーツ一般―　に対してこうした私立学校がなした貢献について、政治家やスポーツ界のリーダーたち、あるいは体育関係のロビイストたちが行ってきた評価は、多くの場合推測によるものであった。このままでは、体育及び学校スポーツに関する政府の今後の政策が、不十分な根拠に基づいて左右される恐れがある。本稿では、２０００年から２０１２年までの夏季オリンピック大会のイギリス代表選手団の全メンバーの学歴を調べ、競技成績とメダル獲得数を元に、私立学校出身者と国立学校出身者それぞれの貢献を比較する。各メンバーの学歴、スポーツ歴、及びオリンピックでの記録に関する情報は、学校やスポーツ団体、オリンピック関係団体及びマスメディアのウェブサイトを用いたオンライン調査に加え、選手の伝記を用いて収集した。結果として、これまでの推測は不正確であった。代表選手団における私立学校出身者の割合が過大に評価される一方で、その貢献は過小に評価されてきた。

Keywords::

• summer Olympic Games
• 2000–2012
• Team GB
• performance and schooling
• independent schools

Introduction

The presence of privately educated sportsmen and sportswomen in Team GB, the Olympic representatives of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, was both newsworthy and politically contentious before, during and after the London Olympics Games of 2012. In a speech delivered in the run-up to the Games at Loughborough University, alma mater of many British Olympians, Prime Minister David Cameron complained that too many state schools paid insufficient attention to sport, adding: ‘around a third of the athletes competing at the Olympics are thought to be privately educated’ and ‘the result is that independent schools produce more than their fair share of medal winners’.1 The advice to the Prime Minister on both the size of the fraction and its source had been identified two years earlier by Aislinn Laing: ‘both UK Sport and Olympics bosses privately admit that more than a third of athletes (in the 300–500 strong Team GB for the London Games) could be private school-educated’.2

One of those ‘bosses’, Lord Moynihan, then Chairman of the British Olympic Association, chose to be more outspoken on the subject when Team GB's first gold medals of the London Games were won by a pair of privately educated rowers:

It is one of the worst statistics in British sport, and wholly unacceptable, that over 50% of our medallists in Beijing (at the 2008 Olympic Games) came from independent schools, which means that half of our medals came from just 7% of the children in the UK.3

It is common knowledge that Baron Pierre de Coubertin drew inspiration for the modern Olympic Games from what he witnessed in the 1880s during his visits to English private boarding schools for boys.4 Former pupils of these ‘public’ schools formed the bulk of British Olympic teams and won most of its medals from the first Games in Athens in 1896 up to the Berlin Olympiad of 1936; they played the right sports at school and university, had the private financial backing and extensive leisure time to support their ambitions, and were exemplars of the gentleman-amateur ethos so prized by de Coubertin and his successors at the head of the International Olympic Committee.5 As state education and university provision expanded and grammar schools emulated the public schools, the social background of British Olympic teams broadened, aided after the Second World War by universal free education, the Welfare State and an expectation that success in life should be won through personal merit rather than by birth or wealth.6 By the time of the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games, the proportion of British medallists who had been educated privately had fallen to 21%.7

Then, as the home Olympic Games approached, concern and alarm arose – not in the popular tabloid press, but in the serious broadsheet newspapers and amongst politicians and sports leaders. Would independent schools provide one-third of Team GB and over half of its medallists? Figures for Beijing already published in my earlier study suggested otherwise so, with the London Games successfully completed, now was the time to analyse the performance of Team GB.8 A quantitative approach conducted through empirical research was the only way to get accurate answers, and an examination of more than one Olympic Games would reveal whether there was a consistent pattern or a trend that evolved over time.9 The four summer Olympic Games of the twenty-first century were chosen for analysis for two reasons: first, it is in this period that the issue of the type of school attended by members of Team GB arose and, second, information on the composition of each Team GB, the educational background of each member and the performance of each competitor could be found using the Internet – this was not the case for earlier Olympic Games.10

With accurate figures rather than speculative sound bites at their disposal, politicians, sports leaders and physical education lobbyists would be better equipped to plan future provision – whether physical education and sport in state schools or post-school pathways to international representation. The subsequent announcement by Sir Michael Wilshaw, Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Schools, that he will commission ‘a report comparing the quality of competitive sport in the state and independent sectors’ makes this examination both relevant and urgent.11

Method

Enquiries conducted in tandem with Rudolf Eliot Lockhart, head of research at the Independent Schools Council, identified members of Team GB for the 2000, 2004, 2008 and 2012 summer Olympic Games who had been educated at British independent schools. They are summarised in the Appendix.12 Almost all were former pupils but a few were still attending school at the time of their competition. Most of the other team members had been educated at British state schools; some had been taught at foreign schools and came to Britain as adults and a few may have attended British independent schools but escaped our detection. Online research using the websites of schools, sports associations, governing bodies of sport, Olympic associations and the media, together with the biographies of sportsmen and sportswomen, provided information about each team member's education, sporting background and Olympic record.

Findings and Discussion

Team GB

As the British Olympic Association was unable to provide accurate information on the composition of Team GB for the four Olympic Games, it was necessary to consult a range of broadcasting, press and reference websites. Only those team members for whom a record of actual competition could be found are included in Table 1, so the overall totals differ slightly from those documented by other authorities. Where they are slightly higher, it is because late-selected team members have been included; where they are slightly lower, it is because travelling reserves were not called up to compete.

Table 1 The composition of Team GB, summer Olympics 2000–2012.

	Sydney 2000	Athens 2004	Beijing 2008	London 29 2012	London 22 2012
Team GB	313	262	316	542	397
Men	183	160	170	280	207
Percentage of Team	58.5	61.1	53.8	51.7	52.1
Women	130	102	146	262	190
Percentage of team	41.5	38.9	46.2	48.3	47.9
Sports	23	22	22	29	20
Independent	41	54	73	94	94
Percentage of team	13.1	20.6	23.1	17.3	23.7
Men	30	37	39	46	46
Percentage of men	16.4	23.1	22.9	16.4	22.2
Women	11	17	34	48	48
Percentage of women	8.5	16.7	23.3	18.3	25.3

As Table 1 shows, the 542 strong Team GB for 2012 was much larger than that for the previous Olympic Games. Britain, as the host nation, was entitled to enter teams for all 29 sports whereas in previous Games 6 or 7 sports were omitted. This Team GB is labelled ‘London 29’ in Table 1. The football associations of the four home countries (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland) were always fearful of losing the right to field separate teams in international competitions and so could not agree to form a composite team just for the Olympics; only England and Wales offered players for the men's team for 2012. In six others sports – basketball, handball, table tennis, volleyball, water polo and wrestling – Britain generally ranks low in the international standings and so teams are rarely selected for the Olympics. Since none of the 145 members of Team GB in these seven extra sports for the London Games had been educated at a British independent school, it was appropriate to record a second Team GB without their presence that was comparable in size to those for the earlier Games – a team labelled ‘London 22’ in Table 1.

Even allowing for the seven extra sports, Team GB for 2012 was the largest of the four. Men were in a slight majority at all four Games, although 2012 saw the greatest percentage of women team members.

The number of privately educated members of Team GB steadily increased from 2000 to 2012 – from 41 to 94 or from 13.1% to 23.7% of the team. The total for the four Games was 262. The increase is striking but even the highest figure falls well short of the oft-quoted fraction of one-third. The overall value for the four Games, using the modified numbers for 2012, is 20.3% – one-fifth rather than one-third.

The total of 262 privately educated members of Team GB for the four Games comprised 165 individual competitors; 73 won representation more than once – more on this below.

As around 7% of the total British school population is educated privately, the figure of 20.3% in Team GB lends support to the assertion that independent schools punch well above their weight in Olympic sports. However, since most pupils in independent schools stay on in full-time education until the age of 18, it might be more appropriate to compare that 20.3% with the percentage of the total school population over the age of 16 who are educated in independent schools. That figure is 18%. The Team GB percentage is just above that value for three Games and just below in the fourth; this perhaps suggests that independent schools win their fair share of places – and no more.

It is likely that Team GB will revert to 22 sports for the Olympic Games at Rio de Janeiro in 2016 to match the total for Beijing in 2008. The football associations will almost certainly withdraw their support; the international teams for basketball, handball, table tennis, volleyball (but not beach volleyball) and wrestling have lost all their funding from UK Sport and the drop in income for archery and badminton will severely hamper Olympic preparation.13 If all this comes to pass, the privately educated members of Team GB will probably exceed the total of 94 for London and comprise more than 23.7% of the team.

Gender

Table 1 shows that men outnumbered women in Team GB at all four Olympic Games – but less so at Beijing and London. After a lean year in 2000, the number of men who were privately educated stayed steady at over 20%. The picture is markedly different for women who were privately educated; their contribution steadily rose from 8.5% through 16.7%, and 23.3% to 25.3%. Men from independent schools now make up a fifth of the team, and women a quarter. The composition of the independent school contingent in Team GB for the London Games had a narrow female majority – 48 women and 46 men. In the one sport where men and women competed on equal terms, equestrianism, women outnumbered men five to three.

School Type

The 165 privately educated team members attended 117 different schools. These schools comprised 66 co-educational schools (56%) and 51 single-sex schools (44%), with figures close to the national proportion of schools of each type (60% co-educational; 40% single-sex). The proportion of team members from each type of school also matches the national figures – 97 (59%) from co-educational schools and 68 (41%) from single-sex ones. There was near gender equality across the two types of schools – 38 women (55%) and 59 men (61%) attended co-educational schools; 31 women (45%) and 37 men (39%) went to single-sex ones.

The same 117 schools comprised 62 day schools, 3 boarding schools and 52 mixed day-and-boarding schools – or 62 day schools (53%) and 55 schools with boarding (47%). As schools with boarding make up 40% of all independent schools for all age groups, and the number of schools with boarding increases markedly from age 11, these figures probably match the percentage of senior schools in each type. The numbers attending day schools and mixed day-and-boarding schools were almost identical – 78 and 77, both 47% – whereas only a few had been educated at wholly boarding schools (10 or 6%, with 8 going to Eton College). A greater proportion of women than men had attended day schools (36 women or 52% and 42 men or 44%); more men than women had experienced schools with boarding (33 women or 48% and 54 men or 56%).

Overall, no one type of school had more than its fair share of success – whether co-educational or single-sex, or day or boarding. This playing field is definitely level! Advocates of both co-education and single-sex schooling regularly extol the virtues of their type but both routes are equally successful at preparing Olympic competitors. Perhaps co-educational schools might be at an advantage for sports where boys and girls can train and compete together, as in hockey or swimming, and single-sex schools may be better suited to segregated sports, such as gymnastics, but much more will surely depend on the personality of each pupil. Boarding schools clearly allocate more time for sport but day schools allow greater opportunities for pupils to receive expert coaching at outside clubs. A co-educational sports-specialist day-and-boarding school, Millfield School is the prime example, can provide the best of all worlds.

Schools

Schools with most representatives over the four Olympic Games were Millfield School with 16; Eton College, 12; Kingston Grammar School, 9; King's School, Chester, 8; King Edward VI School, Southampton, 7; Coleraine Academical Institution and King's School, Canterbury, 6 each; and Kelly College, Monkton Combe School and Truro School, 5 each.

If repeat selections are discounted, the schools with the most Olympians in the period 2000–2012 were Millfield School with 12; Eton College, 8; King's School, Chester and Kingston Grammar School, 5 each; and Coleraine Academical Institution, Kelly College, King's School in Canterbury, Monkton Combe School, Repton School and St Paul's School, 3 each.

All 12 Olympians from Coleraine Academical Institution, King's School in Canterbury, Monkton Combe School and St Paul's School were rowers, whereas Millfield School's 12 competed in six different sports – athletics, fencing, hockey, rowing, shooting and swimming. Eton College's eight covered three sports – athletics, equestrianism and rowing – whereas Repton School's trio all played hockey. King's School, Chester and Kingston Grammar School produced a total of four hockey players and six rowers. Of the 15 schools with two Olympians, the pairs in 6 schools played the same sport whilst those in the other 9 schools practised separate disciplines.

Some privately educated members of Team GB were educated at schools with a strong tradition in one, or perhaps two, Olympic sports – particularly rowing and hockey – whereas many more applied their comprehensive physical education and sports coaching to a whole range of Olympic sports. Millfield School's breadth of provision is remarkable.

Other Schools

At the present time, around 700 independent schools in the United Kingdom educate children from the age of 11 to 19 years. As only 117 of these schools, about 17%, have provided members for Team GB in the period 2000–2012, the sporting record of these other schools needs to be examined.

The final chapter of Physical Education and Sport in Independent Schools contains a table that lists 720 names of current and former pupils of independent schools in the United Kingdom who had represented their country at full international level at any sport in the period 2000–2012. As the book was published mid-year, the table was kept up to date online and, at the end of the year, the list had expanded to 808 names.14 The vast majority, 744 (92%), competed for Great Britain or for one of the constituent home countries.

Millfield School also tops this list of British internationals with 48 names, well ahead of the second-placed Gresham's School with 20. Other schools with more than 10 names are Wellington College (17), St Catherine's School (16), Uppingham School (16), Dulwich College (15), Kingston Grammar School (15), The Lady Eleanor Holles School (14), Kelly College (13), Berkhamsted Girls' Collegiate School (12), Eton College (12), Colston's Collegiate School (11), Repton School (11), Brentwood School (10), Brighton College (10), Llandovery College (10), Merchiston Castle School (10) and Whitgift School (10).

Nine of these schools with strong sporting traditions sent not a single representative to the last four Olympic Games – Berkhamsted Girls' Collegiate School, Brighton College, Colston's Collegiate School, Gresham's School, The Lady Eleanor Holles School, Llandovery College, Merchiston Castle School, St Catherine's School and Uppingham School. There are two explanations for this. The first is that each of these schools has a national reputation in a sport that is not included in the Olympic Games. The three girls' schools – Berkhamsted Girls' Collegiate School, The Lady Eleanor Holles School and St Catherine's School – are famous for lacrosse; Colston's Collegiate School, Llandovery College and Merchiston Castle School are formidable rugby union schools (the small-side version of the sport, rugby sevens, will be included in the 2016 Olympic Games); Gresham's School and Uppingham School are renowned shooting schools – but their Bisley discipline is not included in the Olympic Games; and Brighton College excels at cricket for boys and girls. The second explanation is that some of their international representatives did play sports that are included in the Olympic Games, but they did not gain places in the quadrennial Team GB.

Academics and Sport

With about 700 senior independent schools in the United Kingdom and only 236 of them listed in the online table mentioned above, one can see that more than 450 of these schools have not produced a single international sportsman or sportswoman since 2000. The question as to whether only the less academic independent schools produce Olympians and international sportsmen and sportswomen thus needs to be addressed. Examining the 2012 academic league table for independent schools, based on that summer's results at A-level, the International Baccalaureate (or IB) and the Cambridge Pre-U examination, reveals the following results.15

Twelve schools in the academic top 20 for 2012 have produced international sportsmen and sportswomen since 2000: King's College School (2nd in the league table), The Haberdashers' Aske's School for Girls (3rd), North London Collegiate School (6th), Oxford High School (8th), The Lady Eleanor Holles School (9th), The Perse School (10th), Withington Girls' School (11th), Royal Grammar School, Guildford (12th), South Hampstead High School (16th), Brighton College (18th), James Allen's Girls' School (19th) and Manchester High School for Girls (20th). The eight who did not were Wycombe Abbey School (1st), Magdalen College School (4th), Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School (5th), Guildford High School for Girls (7th), City of London School for Girls (13th), Alleyn's School (14th), City of London School (15th) and Merchant Taylors' School, Northwood (17th). These two lists, however, are not complete for many independent schools choose not to publish their examination results and their number includes Eton College, King's School in Canterbury, St Paul's School and Winchester College – schools with very high academic standards and a total of 22 Olympians since 2000.

Turning to the other end of the academic league table for 2012, only one of the bottom 20 schools, Coleraine Academical Institution, sent representatives to any of the four most recent Olympic Games or had pupils win international honours in sport in the same period. To be fair to these bottom schools, all of them produce academic standards worthy of entry to the universities and the professions; less academic schools may have withheld publication of their examination results; some schools enter their pupils for vocational rather than academic qualifications; and pupils at some schools leave at age 16 and take their A-levels at other independent or state providers.

It can be seen therefore that many of the top academic schools have produced international sportsmen and sportswomen since 2000, and at least three of them, and probably seven, have supplied members of Team GB for the Sydney, Athens, Beijing and London Olympic Games. They are James Allen's Girls' School, King's College School and Oxford High School – and, in all probability, Eton College, King's School in Canterbury, St Paul's School and Winchester College.

Sports

Privately educated members of Team GB for the four Olympic Games were not present in all sports: 9 of the 29 sports had no representatives from independent schools, including the men's and women's teams for basketball, handball, football and volleyball – though one was half of the (ladies') beach volleyball pair in both 2008 and 2012. Other sports without representatives were archery, boxing, judo, table tennis, taekwondo and wrestling.

Sports with their highest presence in the total of 262 competitors were rowing (76), hockey (36), swimming (29), athletics (28), equestrianism (23) and sailing (16). The order changes if the proportion of the total number of competitors in each sport is calculated: current and former pupils of independent schools made sizeable contributions to the teams in equestrianism (c.44%), rowing (c.40%), hockey (c.28%), sailing (c.25%), tennis (c.22%), swimming (c.16%), fencing (c.13%), triathlon (c.13%), athletics (c.9%), shooting (c.9%) and gymnastics (7%). These percentages are approximate as team totals vary slightly at each Olympic Games. The independent school contribution to the other 17 sports was small but occasionally, as in cycling, very effective.

If competitors are counted just once, no matter how many Games they attended, the sports with their highest presence in the amended total of 165 were rowing (49), hockey (23), athletics (20), swimming (18), equestrianism (11) and sailing (8). That is a total of 129. The other 36 were spread thinly across the remaining 20 sports.

As mentioned above, Olympic sports are not the most popular ones at British independent schools. In the list of 808 international sportsmen and sportswomen from these schools, mentioned in the previous section, six Olympic sports rank highly: rowing (2nd), swimming (3rd), hockey (4th), athletics (8th), equestrianism (11th) and sailing (12th). High-ranking non-Olympic sports are rugby union (1st), lacrosse (5th), Bisley shooting (6th), cricket (7th) and rugby sevens (9th).

Performance

Turning attention to performance and success, and believing that to concentrate solely on medal winners would be too limiting, let us examine how many competitors reached the top-eight positions in their sport or, in the case of multi-event sports such as gymnastics and swimming, who reached the top eight in one of their events. The findings are summarised in Table 2.

Table 2 Top-eight finalists for Team GB, summer Olympics 2000–2012.

	Sydney 2000	Athens 2004	Beijing 2008	London 29 2012	London 22 2012
Non-IS in team	272	208	243	448	303
Top-eight finalists	97	92	134	166	166
Percentage of non-IS	35.7	44.2	55.1	37.1	54.8
Average points	1.65	2.18	2.47	1.79	2.65
IS in team	41	54	73	94	94
Top-eight finalists	33	30	58	73	73
Percentage of IS	80.5	55.6	79.5	77.7	77.7
Average points	4.34	2.81	4.07	4.47	4.47

Note: IS, independent schools.

About half of Team GB matched this achievement over the four Olympic Games – 683 of the combined team of 1433 or 47.7%; or, using the 22-sport team for London, 683 of 1288 or 53.0%. The overall percentage was lower for team members who had not been educated at independent schools: 489 of 1171 or 41.8%; or, using the 22-sport team for London, 489 of 1026 or 47.7%. Team members who had been educated at independent schools performed better: 194 of 262, or 74.0%, reached the top eight. Using top-eight finalists as the criterion, Beijing 2008 was the most successful Games for both groups, with the modified London results just behind.

An alternative method of measuring success is to award the top-eight finalists points from eight to one, with no points at all for the remaining competitors. These scores are also shown in Table 2 and, once again, they refer to each competitor's best event.

The average score for Team GB over the four Olympic Games is 2.38 or 2.60 using the 22-sport team for London. For those not educated at independent schools, the corresponding figures are 1.97 or 2.25, whilst those from independent schools scored 4.00.

Sportsmen and sportswomen educated at independent schools may have only won their fair share of places in Team GB, but they were over-represented at the sharp end of competition. In approximate terms, members of Team GB who had been privately educated were, when compared to the rest of their teammates, nearly twice as likely to reach the top eight in their best event and, once there, to score nearly double the points.

Best Sports

Privately educated members of Team GB have made significant contributions in 8 of the 29 Olympic sports as shown in Table 3. Top-eight places were achieved by all or nearly all the privately educated competitors in all four Olympic Games in cycling, equestrianism, hockey, modern pentathlon, rowing, sailing and swimming, and by nearly half of those in athletics. It is true that team numbers in some of these sports are very small – for example in cycling and modern pentathlon – but the contributions are nonetheless significant.

Table 3 Selected independent school top-eight finalists for Team GB, summer Olympics 2000—2012.

	Sydney 2000			Athens 2004			Beijing 2008			London 2012			Total 2000–2012
	Top 8	IS	Av pts	Top 8	IS	Av pts	Top 8	IS	Av pts	Top 8	IS	Av pts	Top 8	IS	%
Athletics	4	5	3.00	1	6	0.83	5	7	2.71	3	10	1.30	13	28	46.4
Cycling	2	2	7.00	1	2	4.00	2	2	7.50	2	2	5.50	7	8	87.5
Equestrianism	2	3	3.00	4	5	4.60	7	7	5.00	8	8	7.38	21	23	91.3
Hockey	7	7	3.00	0	5	0.00	10	10	3.50	14	14	5.77	31	36	86.1
Modern pentathlon	2	2	7.00	2	2	3.50	1	1	7.00	0	0	0.00	5	5	100
Rowing	12	14	6.00	9	17	3.24	19	21	5.74	24	24	6.13	64	76	84.2
Sailing	2	2	8.00	4	4	5.50	4	6	5.33	4	4	7.25	14	16	87.5
Swimming	3	6	2.00	8	8	3.13	7	9	3.44	7	8	2.75	25	31	80.6

Note: Top 8 =  the number of IS competitors who reached the top eight in their best event; IS =  the number of competitors from independent schools; Av pts =  the average points of all IS competitors in the sport – eight for first, seven for second, etc.; % =  the percentage of all IS competitors in the sport who reached the top eight in their best event.

The top-eight hit rate is impressive: nearly three-quarters of all the privately educated members of Team GB over the four Olympic Games reached the top eight in their best event.

Medals

Most observers, however, will judge success in the Olympic Games on the number of gold, silver and bronze medals won. The findings are summarised in Table 4.

Table 4 Medallists (or top three) for Team GB, summer Olympics 2000–2012.

	Sydney 2000	Athens 2004	Beijing 2008	London 29 2012	London 22 2012
Non-IS in team	272	208	243	448	303
Medallists	32	36	44	67	67
Percentage of non-IS	11.8	17.3	18.1	15.0	22.1
IS in team	41	54	73	94	94
Medallists	16	15	26	45	45
Percentage of IS	39.0	27.3	35.6	47.9	47.9
Percentage of medallists					Overall
Non-IS	67.3	73.4	62.3	62.5	65.5
IS	32.7	26.6	37.7	37.5	34.5

Note: IS, independent schools.

The number of members of Team GB who won medals rises steadily from 48 at Sydney in 2000 to 112 at London in 2012 – it must be remembered that each member of medal-winning groups, for example relay squads in athletics and teams in hockey, receives a medal. A few competitors won more than one medal at each Games but are only counted once. Team members who had not been educated at independent schools saw their total increase steadily from 32 to 67 and, bar a stutter in 2004, the same can be said for their privately educated teammates whose total increased from 16 to 45.

A difference is revealed, however, when the percentages of each group winning medals are compared. For those not educated at independent schools, 179 of 1171 (15.3%) won medals whereas for those educated privately, 102 of 262 (38.9%) won medals. The over-representation of sportsmen and sportswomen educated at independent schools, this time on the medal podium, has increased; they were two-and-a-half times as likely to win a medal as their teammates.

As the figures in the lower part of Table 4 show, independent schools have supplied about one-third of the Team GB medallists at each of the four Games, with an overall contribution of 34.5%. A competitor who wins more than one medal is counted more than once as a medallist.

Most medals won by privately educated members of Team GB over the four Olympic Games came in rowing (45), equestrianism (19), sailing (12), cycling and hockey (8 each) and modern pentathlon (4). Other medals were won in canoeing, swimming and triathlon (two each), and athletics, badminton, cycling, diving, gymnastics, shooting and tennis (one each).

Olympic Champions

British independent schools produced 45 Olympic champions in the period 2000–2012 – remember, once more, that each member of a gold-medal-winning group receives a medal. Most notable amongst them are Ben Ainslie (sailing), who won gold in all four Games; Chris Hoy (cycling), who won six golds over three Games; Andrew Triggs Hodge and Tom James (both rowing), who won golds in 2008 and 2012; and Iain Percy (sailing) with golds in 2000 and 2008. These five attended different independent schools.

Olympic longevity is an attribute for several privately educated members of Team GB. Ben Ainsley and Chris Hoy won medals at all four Games from Sydney to London, whilst Iain Percy, Mary King (equestrianism) and Frances Houghton (rowing) also competed at all four Games. King and Houghton both won two silver medals.

Schooling

Sportsmen and sportswomen who were educated at independent schools may or may not have won more than their fair share of places in Team GB but, as a group, they did outperform their teammates once the competition started. Can this success be attributed to their schooling? Alan Bairner, professor of sport and social theory at Loughborough University, has cited the contribution of ‘incredible sports facilities at the private schools, and (their) specialist coaches’, the commitment of teachers to take ‘teams to matches on Saturdays’ and the dominance of independent schools in the ‘allegedly “posh” disciplines of rowing, sailing and equestrianism’.16 The willingness of teachers in independent schools to contribute to extra-curricular and weekend activities is well documented, but whether independent schools dominate rowing, sailing and equestrianism is debatable – these schools provided c.40%, c.25% and c.44% of the teams for the four Games. But is he correct about ‘incredible’ facilities and ‘specialist’ coaching?

Information readily available in Internet biographies, on websites of schools and sports associations, and from other Internet sites reveals much about the early sporting careers of the 94 members of Team GB for London 2012 who were educated at British independent schools. I shall concentrate on these 94 for the remainder of this section and the next.

Most were introduced to their Olympic sport at school (52 or 55%), many at a sports club (28 or 30%), some through their parents (9 or 10%) and a few at university (5 or 5%). Schools were particularly influential in three sports found in most physical education programmes – athletics, hockey and volleyball. The majority of the rowers, 18 of 24, met the sport at schools with a strong rowing tradition, and both water polo players had attended schools with national reputations in the sport. Schools, however, played no or little part in the first experience in several other sports, notably canoeing, cycling, diving, equestrianism, gymnastics, synchronised swimming, triathlon and weightlifting, and their influence matched that of clubs for fencing, swimming and tennis. Parents provided the first taste for many riders and most sailors. One fencer, one shooter, both cyclists and the remaining six rowers took up their Olympic sports after leaving school – including Team GB's first gold medallists, Heather Stanning and Helen Glover in the women's rowing double sculls.

The influence of the schools attended by the 94 competitors increased slightly in the years after the introductory stage. Several of the sports that had been started with the help of parents or clubs would have developed through coaching by teachers. Schools provided both coaching and appropriate facilities in their Olympic sports for 60 of the 94 in Team GB, or 64%. Fencing, sailing, shooting, swimming and tennis all benefited from school involvement, whereas canoeing, cycling, diving, equestrianism (only Laura Bechtolsheimer seems to have ridden at school), gymnastics, synchronised swimming, triathlon and weightlifting owe little to schools other than the important contribution of an effective and comprehensive programme of physical education and sport. The suggestion that independent schools commonly provide velodromes, purpose-built rowing lakes, show-jumping arenas and 10 m diving platforms above 50 m swimming pools – with expert coaching to match – is, alas, unfounded.

Sports Scholarships

A further factor that needs examination is the role of sports scholarships to independent schools. When, shortly after the Beijing Games, Margaret Talbot wrote in the Association for Physical Education's journal that ‘talented sports persons’ were often ‘scholarshipped into private schools specialising in sport’, she implied that state schools had done all the hard work and then independent schools bagged the glory.17 Professor Talbot presented no data to support the assertion, but the assumption of ‘shabby’ practice lingered on.18

Scholarships granting remission of fees have been awarded by independent schools to candidates of proven ability or perceived potential for over two centuries. Most were, and still are, awarded for academic prowess, but more recently music, art, sport, design, technology and information technology have been added to the list in accordance with holistic principles. Full sports scholarships and all-rounder scholarships with a sports ingredient are normally offered at age 11 or 13 in line with this policy. Sports scholarships at age 16 are generally awarded to support the candidates' international or professional ambitions and to boost the performance of school teams. Occasionally awards may be made at any age from 11 to provide academic and pastoral support for outstanding performers in individual sports who then receive high-level coaching at specialist clubs associated with the school or, in some cases, at the school.

The first type rarely attracts publicity, if only because the chances of spotting long-term winners at age 11 or 13 are much smaller in sport than in, for example, mathematics or music. Sports scholarships at 16, however, have been a bone of contention within schools and between schools since the 1990s when they first became widespread. Most are awarded to boys in the traditional team sports of rugby, football and cricket. Parents of pupils who lose their team place to imported stars can feel aggrieved, and schools on the sporting circuit dislike being thrashed at senior level when they have held their own in the junior years. The third type, specially tailored to an individual's needs, has a history that stretches from Mary Bignal at Millfield School in the 1950s (she won gold, silver and bronze medals in athletics at the Tokyo Olympics of 1964) to Tom Daley of Plymouth College (the 10 m diving bronze medallist at the London Games). Tom has been coached at Plymouth Diving Club since he was 8. Schools gain little other than publicity and the exemplary role of a high achiever from awards like Tom's and no pupils, parents or rival schools are disadvantaged.

Schools, of course, are unlikely to divulge personal and financial information about their current and former pupils, but they do advertise openly in the annual Independent Schools Yearbook and on their websites whether or not they award sports scholarships.19 Of the 76 independent schools attended by members of Team GB for London 2012, 42 or 55% currently offer sports or all-rounder scholarships and 34 or 45% do not. These figures, of course, may have been different when the team members were at school.

Publicly available information lists Jamie Murray with a tennis scholarship at The Leys School and Tom Daley's scholarship at Plymouth College. Another 20 members of Team GB attended schools that commonly award sports scholarships: eight in hockey, four in athletics, four in rowing, three in swimming and one in tennis. Schools attended by a further 15 occasionally make awards to outstanding candidates: this list comprises four rowers, two athletes, two fencers, two hockey players, two swimmers, one gymnast, one sailor and one water polo player. I can find no record of the schools attended by 10 more competitors making awards other than to players of the major team games. It is thus unlikely that two riders, two rowers, two shooters, one cyclist, one fencer, one sailor and one weightlifter held sports scholarships. Adding the ‘unlikely’ category to the ‘no’ group, and combining the more positive three, leads to the conclusion that about 40% of the 94 members of Team GB would have had sports awards at school and about 60% would not.

Summary and Conclusion

The question in the Introduction about the London Games asked: ‘Would independent schools provide one-third of Team GB and over half of its medallists?’ The answers to both parts are ‘no’.

Privately educated members of Team GB at the four summer Olympic Games from 2000 to 2012 comprised 13.1% of the team in Sydney, 20.6% in Athens, 23.1% in Beijing and 17.3% in London. Even when the reduced team for London is considered, the figure is 23.7%. At no stage is the fraction greater than one-quarter and the overall value for the four Games, using the reduced numbers for 2012, is 20.3% – one-fifth rather than one-third.

Members of Team GB who had been educated at independent schools supplied about one-third of the United Kingdom's medals at each of the four Games, with an overall contribution of 34.5%. The record at Sydney was 32.7%, Athens 26.6%, Beijing 37.7% and London 37.5%. The fraction was always well short of one-half.20

The British Prime Minister, David Cameron, proved to be better informed than the UK Sport and Olympics bosses when he said: ‘independent schools produce more than their fair share of medal winners’. But, before tackling this point, it would be useful to have a summary of all the findings from the previous sections:

• A total of 262 members of Team GB over the four summer Olympic Games attended independent schools.

• They constituted 20% of the four teams.

• The 262 comprised 165 individual competitors; 73 won representation more than once.

• It is debatable whether or not they won more than their share of team places.

• The 20% is much greater than the 7% of the national school population who attend independent schools but comparable to the 18% of that population who stay on at these schools until the age of 18.

• The percentage at London 2012, where Team GB competed in all 29 sports, was 17%; it will probably be greater at Rio de Janeiro in 2016 if the British Olympic Association reverts to the Beijing 2008 total of 22 sports.

• Men from independent schools made up one-fifth of the four teams, women one-quarter.

• The 165 privately educated team members attended 117 different schools.

• The 117 comprised 66 co-educational schools and 51 single-sex schools.

• There was near gender equality across the two types of school.

• The 117 comprised 62 day schools and 55 schools with boarding.

• More men than women attended schools with boarding.

• No one type of school had more than its fair share of success – whether co-educational or single-sex, or day or boarding.

• Schools with most representatives over the four Olympic Games were Millfield School with 16; Eton College, 12; and Kingston Grammar School, 9.

• If repeat selections are discounted, the schools with the most Olympians in the period 2000–2012 were Millfield School with 12; Eton College, 8; King's School, Chester and Kingston Grammar School, 5 each.

• About 17% of senior independent schools provided members for Team GB in the period 2000–2012.

• Many more senior independent schools have strong sporting reputations in non-Olympic sports such as cricket, lacrosse and rugby union.

• Nine of the top-20 schools that produced the most international sportsmen and sportswomen in 2000–2012 sent no representatives to the last four Olympic Games.

• The majority of independent schools in the academic top 20 for 2012 produced international sportsmen and sportswomen in the period 2000–2012.

• Seven of these 20 schools supplied members of Team GB for the last four Olympic Games.

• The 262 privately educated members of Team GB competed in 20 of the 29 Olympic sports.

• There were no representatives in archery, basketball, boxing, handball, football, judo, table tennis, taekwondo and wrestling – or in the team version of volleyball.

• Rowing, hockey, swimming, athletics, equestrianism and sailing had most representatives.

• Equestrianism, rowing, hockey, sailing, tennis and swimming had the largest concentrations of privately educated competitors.

• High-ranking non-Olympic sports at independent schools include rugby union, lacrosse, Bisley shooting, cricket and rugby sevens.

• A total 194 of the 262 privately educated members of Team GB, or 74%, finished in the top-eight positions in one of their events in one of the four Olympic Games.

• They were nearly twice as likely to finish in the top eight as other members of Team GB.

• A total of 102 medals were won by the 262 – a strike rate of 39%.

• They were two-and-a-half times as likely to win a medal as their teammates.

• Those educated at independent schools supplied about one-third of Team GB's medallists at each of the four Games, with an overall contribution of 34.5%.

• About half of the 94 privately educated members of Team GB at the London Games were introduced to their Olympic sport at school, about a third at clubs and the remainder through parents or at university.

• About two-thirds of the 94 received coaching in their Olympic sport at school, usually by teachers.

• Most of the schools attended by the 94 have good sporting facilities but few boast lavish ones.

• Lavish facilities are more likely to be provided by specialist clubs.

• 42 of the 76 schools attended by the 94 team members at the London Games currently offer sports scholarships or all-rounder scholarships.

• About 40% of the 94 members of Team GB in 2012 may have been supported financially at school with sports scholarships or all-rounder scholarships.

The Prime Minister was correct and UK Sport and Olympics bosses were wrong: the appropriate question to ask was why independent schools produce more than their fair share of Olympic finalists and medal winners and not why they win more than their fair share of team places. One-fifth of Team GB won one-third of the medals.

Is it the time allocated to physical education and sport in the curricular and extra-curricular timetables of independent schools? Is it the provision of sports centres and playing fields? Is it that boys and girls are equally willing to play sport? Is it the parental demand that all pupils should be offered the chance to compete in school teams? Is it the contribution of teachers and coaches? Is it the sporting tradition maintained by governors and head teachers? Is it the expectation of high achievement, or the regular competition and co-operation amongst pupils, or the collective ‘you can do it’ philosophy? Or is it a combination of some or all of these?

When the author, as editor of Physical Education and Sport in Independent Schools, was planning the content of its collection of essays, he wrote to all leading British university departments for physical education and sport-related subjects to seek contributions linked to recent and current research on physical education and sport in independent schools. Nothing was forthcoming. It would seem that no enquiries have been made in these schools about their provision since Brian Ashley's 1973 survey published as an appendix to the Schools Council's Physical Education in Secondary Schools – an interval of 40 years.21 It is time for a re-examination of physical education and sport in British independent schools.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Malcolm Tozer

Malcolm Tozer is a Governor of Repton School. He taught at Uppingham School before his appointment as the Headmaster at Northamptonshire Grammar School and then at Wellow House School. He has published more than 30 essays on the intertwined histories of education, sport and imperialism; his books span Physical Education at Thring's Uppingham (1976) to Physical Education and Sport in Independent Schools (2012).

Notes

^1.The Daily Telegraph, July 5, 2012.

^2.The Daily Telegraph, February 2, 2010.

^3.The Daily Telegraph, August 2, 2012. The Guardian of the same date reported that Moynihan said ‘that half of Team GB's gold medallists in Beijing four years ago were privately educated’. Subsequent reports on BBC Radio 4 and in national newspapers sometimes referred the 50% to all medals and sometimes to gold medals. Lord Coe succeeded Moynihan as Chairman of the British Olympic Association in November 2012.

^4. These schools were generally called public schools until the 1970s; thereafter, the schools preferred to be known as independent schools. In both cases, the schools are private fee-paying enterprises, independent of state provision. Findling and Pelle, Historical Dictionary, 350.

^5.Goodbody, “Contributing to National Sporting,” 169.

^6.Mangan, ‘Manufactured’ Masculinity, 228–61.

^7.Tozer, “Realising Lord Coe's Olympic.”

^8.Tozer, Physical Education and Sport, 277–99.

^9.Cronin, “What Went Wrong,” 399ff.

^10. The search engine Google started in 1998.

^11.The Independent, February 14, 2013.

^12. The identities of competitors and information about their schools, sports and Olympic performance can be accessed at www.peandsports.co.uk/table.htm

^13.The Guardian, December 18, 2012; Basketball retained some funding on appeal, The Guardian, February 1, 2013.

^14.http://www.peandsports.co.uk/table.htm

^15.The Daily Telegraph, August 25, 2012. Pupils attending UK schools who seek admission to universities or the professions take examinations in academic subjects at age 18. Most take the General Certificate of Education Advanced Level examinations (A-levels), but others may opt for the IB, the Scottish Highers or the Pre-U set by Cambridge University. The league table cited does not include Highers.

^16.Agence France-Presse, August 7, 2012.

^17.Talbot, “Message from the Chief.”

^18.The Guardian, August 13, 2012.

^19.Mott, Independent Schools Yearbook, passim.

^20. If, as in note 3, Moynihan really did say ‘that half of Team GB's gold medallists in Beijing four years ago were privately educated’, he was wide of the mark. A total of 11 of 30 Team GB gold medallists were educated privately (37%).

^21.Kane, Physical Education in Secondary Schools, 112–8.

Appendix: Independent Schools Represented at the Summer Olympics, 2000–2012

Table

School	2000	2004	2008	2012	2000–2012	Co-ed (c) or Single-sex (s)	Board (b), day (d) or mix (m)	Scholarship possible
Abbey Gate, Chester				1	1	c	d	Yes
Abingdon		1	1		2	s	m	Yes
American School in London		1			1	c	d	No
Bablake		1	1	1	3	s	d	No
Bedford				1	1	s	m	Yes
Bedford High^a	1^d				1	s	d	No
Bedford Modern	1				1	c	d	Yes
Bedgebury, Hawkhurst			1	1	2	s	b	No
Belmont Grosvenor		1	1	1	3	c	d	No
Benenden		1			1	s	b	Yes
Bishop's Stortford				1	1	c	m	Yes
Bolton Boys'				1	1	s	d	No
Bootham		1			1	c	m	No
Bradford Grammar			1	2	3	s	d	No
Brentwood			1		1	c	m	Yes
Brighton & Hove High	1	1			2	s	d	Yes
Bristol Grammar				1	1	s	d	Yes
Bromsgrove				1	1	c	m	Yes
Christ's Hospital		1			1	c	m	No
Clifton			1	1	2	c	m	Yes
Coleraine Academical		1	2	3	6	s	d	No
Culford			1^d		1	c	m	Yes
Cundall Manor		1	1	1	3	c	d	No
Dame Alice Harpur^a		1	1		2	s	d	No
Dean Close			1		1	c	m	Yes
Dollar Academy				1	1	c	m	No
Downe House			2	1	3	s	m	Yes
Dulwich	1	2			3	s	m	Yes
Elizabeth College, Guernsey	1	1		1	3	s	d	No
Ellesmere	1	1		1	3	c	m	Yes
Eltham				1	1	s	d	Yes
Eton	3	3	3	3	12	s	b	No
Ewell Castle		1			1	c	d	Yes
Exeter			2		2	c	d	No
Farnborough Hill			1	1	2	s	d	Yes
George Watson's	1	1	1	1	4	c	d	No
Glasgow Academy			1	1	2	c	d	No
Glenalmond			1	1	2	c	m	Yes
Gordonstoun				2	2	c	m	No
Hampton	1			1	2	s	d	No
Headington			1	1	2	s	m	Yes
High School of Dundee				1	1	c	d	No
Howell's, Llandaff				1	1	s	d	No
Hulme Grammar, Oldham				1	1	s	d	No
Hurst Lodge, Ascot			1	1	2	c	m	No
Ipswich				1	1	c	m	Yes
James Allen's	1				1	s	d	Yes
Kelly	2^d	1	2^d		5	c	m	Yes
King Edward VI, Southampton	1	2	2	2	7	c	d	No
King Edward's, Bath				1	1	c	d	Yes
King's College School				1	1	s	d	Yes
King's, Canterbury	2	1	1	2	6	c	m	Yes
King's, Chester		1	3	4	8	c	d	No
King's, Ely		1	1	1	3	c	m	Yes
King's, Macclesfield				1	1	c	d	No
King's, Tynemouth^b		1			1	c	d	No
King's, Worcester			1	1	2	c	d	No
Kingston Grammar	4	4		1	9	c	d	Yes
Ladies' College, Guernsey				1	1	s	d	No
Latymer Upper			1		1	c	d	Yes
Lincoln Minster			1	1	2	c	m	No
Loughborough Grammar		1			1	s	m	No
Manor House, Honiton	1	1	1	1	4	c	d	No
Mary Erskine				2	2	s	m	No
Millfield	5^d	2	4^d	5^d	16	c	m	Yes
Monkton Combe	1	1	2	1	5	c	m	Yes
Monmouth			1		1	s	m	Yes
Morrison's Academy			1		1	c	d	No
Northampton High		1	1	1	3	s	d	Yes
Norwich			1^d	1	2	c	d	Yes
Norwich High			1^d	2	3	s	d	No
Nottingham High		1	1	1	3	s	d	No
Nottingham High Girls'		1			1	s	d	No
Oakham			1	1	2	c	m	Yes
Oratory		1			1	s	m	Yes
Oundle		2	1		3	c	m	Yes
Oxford High			1	1	2	s	d	Yes
Pangbourne			1	1	2	c	m	Yes
Perse Girls'	1^d		1^d		2	s	d	No
Plymouth			1	1	2	c	m	Yes
Portsmouth High			1	1	2	s	d	Yes
Prior Park				1^d	1	c	m	Yes
Queen's, Chester		1	1	1	3	s	d	No
Reed's	1	1			2	c	m	Yes
Reigate Grammar		1			1	c	d	Yes
Repton	1		1	1	3	c	m	Yes
Robert Gordon's		1	1	1	3	c	d	No
Rosemead	1	1	1		3	s	m	No
Shiplake	1			1	2	s	m	Yes
Solihull	1	1			2	c	d	Yes
St Bede's, Manchester			1		1	c	d	No
St Catherine's, Twickenham				1	1	s	d	No
St Edward's, Cheltenham				1	1	c	d	Yes
St George's, Weybridge			1	1	2	c	d	Yes
St Mary's, Calne			1	1	2	s	m	Yes
St Mary's, Crosby			1	1	2	c	d	No
St Maur's, Weybridge^c		1	1		2	s	m	No
St Paul's	1	1	1		3	s	d	No
Stamford	1				1	s	m	Yes
Stewart's Melville			1	1	2	s	m	No
Stowe			1	1	2	c	m	Yes
Sutton Valence			1	1	2	c	m	Yes
Teesside High				1	1	s	d	Yes
The Leys			1	1	2	c	m	Yes
The Royal Wolverhampton				1	1	c	m	Yes
Trinity				1	1	s	d	Yes
Truro	1	1	1	2	5	c	m	Yes
Wadhurst^c	1	1			2	s	m	No
Wellingborough			1	1	2	c	d	Yes
Wellington	1				1	c	m	Yes
West Buckland	1				1	c	m	Yes
Whitgift				1	1	s	d	Yes
William Hulme, Manchester^b	1	1			2	c	d	No
Wimbledon High				1	1	s	d	Yes
Winchester				1	1	s	m	No
Worth	1		1		2	c	m	Yes
Yarm				1	1	c	d	No
^aNow combined ^bNow academies ^cNow closed	^dFour competitors attended two schools				266 or 262	66c 51s	3b 52d 62 m	52n 65y