Val:
"The thing about private schools is that they have to serve customers, which gives them some oversight. If the parents are unhappy with the education, they can vote with their feet."

You can do that in state schools too - only there is a bigger choice of state schools. Your financial clout is maybe 1 in 600 (if the school has 600 pupils) and inevitebly Little Lord Fauntelroy or a kid whose dad is a highly paid soccer player has many times more clout than Jonny Briggs from the council estate (housing projecct?) unfortunately.