State schools close in on the top dogs

State schools are gaining ground in a survey of the performance of schools in the United Kingdom, carried out by the Financial Times, and boarding schools have tended to perform less well than day schools. This may be due to the recession having reduced their market, thus pressurising them to become less selective. Single sex schools tend to perform well in academic terms, though may affect students' development in other ways. The survey examines 1,000 schools, and 23 publc sector schools were among the top 200 in 1993, compared with 3 public sector schools in 1992.