And the IB is a "lifestyle" being adopted by an increasing number of independent schools. Last October, 48 UK schools - both private and state - offered the IB, now it's an impressive 61 Nearly half of these are in the independent sector. Nearly half of these are in the independent sector. Yet the IB is not a new mode of study Rather, it has been offered in Britain since 1970. The two-year diploma, devised in 1968 by the International Baccalaureate Organisation in Geneva, aims to cultivate internationalism and prepare students for university. Ask the latest British proponents of the IB why they like it and inevitably they'll say because it's broad. IB students select options from six required subject groups: first and second languages, humanities, sciences, maths, and the arts. They also write an extended essay of 4,000 words, undertake a theory of knowledge course, and complete 150 hours of supervised CAS (creativity, action, service) time.For many students the advantage of the IB diploma is the ability to study a wide range of subjects, rather than specializing early on as the A-level system demands.

Its international flavour is attractive for those thinking of studying or working overseas, and in theory it provides an education based on intercultural understanding rather than just passing exams. "Parents are used to the small and cosy atmosphere of their child's primary or prep school and our school provides a continuity of that atmosphere."The high staff/pupil ratios in small schools - it's one teacher to every ten pupils at Halliford - reassures those parents whose children lack confidence or struggle socially or academically."It's very difficult for a child to fall though the cracks of the organisation," says Cottam. "Whether it's a social or academic issue, we are able to offer a lot more informal support and assistance."Robinson agrees. She approves of both the skills taught, and the way students are assessed with written and oral exams geared towards how well they communicate. Put like this, it's hard to see how the IB could fail to appeal.Oakham in the East Midlands adopted the IB four years ago and Head Dr Joseph Spence is full of enthusiasm: "I meet two or three people a day who want a school which offers the IB and my goodness, they are quality". The school's IB co-ordinator Jill Rutherford describes herself as "pretty missionary" about the IB, which she sees as a good educational package unmuddied by national politics.

We have to be efficient or we would not survive."The fine-tuned ratio between pupil numbers and income has prompted Bethany to increase its numbers over the past decade."When I came here in 1990 we had 280 pupils and today we have 350," says Dorey. "We saw that if we wanted to develop the school and meet what we knew would be substantially increased teaching salaries then we would need to make sure we were bigger in order to cushion ourselves However, the increase happened without us doing anything. It seemed to happen just through the popularity of the school."Fees at the smaller schools don't reflect the diseconomies of scale they face. Day fees work out at between £2,000 and £3,800 a term with the fees for boarders from £5,000 to £6,000 a term. These sit well within the fee ranges suggested by the Independent Schools Council Information Service, which offers a fee range of £2,300 to £4,100 per term for a boy's day school and £4,000 to £6,500 a term for boarders.Philip Cottam, head of Halliford School in Shepperton, Greater London, a boy's day school with girls admitted in the sixth form, says his school of 360 does well despite competition in the local area from two large day schools."Parents find our size very comforting," says Cottam. "The economics do work although, as they say in Yorkshire, we do have to be careful. Pupil numbers are quite critical: we set our budget each year on 285 to 290 pupils and when we get 300 we put the surplus into sports equipment, buildings or bursaries."The maths seem to work.

"While we can't do everything a big school does, we do proportionately more," says Robinson. "Most schools around here have 1,000 children so they're three times the size of us, but they're not doing three times what we do."Nick Dorey, head of Bethany School, a co-ed boarding and day school in Goudhurst, Kent, with 350 pupils across the secondary age range, says careful financial husbandry is critical."We don't have huge endowments to fall back on and there's no land to sell or stocks and shares, so we have to live off our income," says Dorey "That means we have to be a very lean-run machine. Small is beautiful - and it is also increasingly private. As small state schools come under increasing pressure to merge with their neighbours or close entirely, parents seeking a close-knit community in which to entrust their offspring are turning to the independent sector where pupil bodies of less then 400 continue to hold their own. Having failed to make a profit since 2000, the best news it could muster for its shareholders yesterday was that its 2004 losses were substantially less than last year. Unfortunately, however, even this improvement was mostly accounted for by the one-off sale of one of its London properties.Ian Pickering, the chief executive, did his best to put a positive spin on another worrying set of numbers. As a result, the superior extra-curricular facilities of independent schools are more attractive than ever, providing a rounded education and an adaptable (thus employable) school-leaver.While there are differences between Wellington and Bedales, at the core of each school's philosophy is a word much employed in the current education debate: choice.