Special units that deal with difficult schoolchildren are not the brutal institutions you might think. By Penny Fox

THE HOPES of an 11-year-old boy being allowed to continue his education at a private boarding school under the assisted places scheme hung in the balance yesterday.

INDEPENDENT schools are becoming more socially exclusive, says a research report published yesterday.

Rachelle Thackray on a management school offering graduates their first taste of the varied world of marketing

Flic Everett investigates the world of 'trailing spouses': the women (it's hardly ever men) who give up everything to follow their husbands overseas

THE GOVERNESS: An Anthology ed Trev Broughton and Ruth Symes Sutton pounds 18.99

Bunty's boarding schools and jolly good sports could teach today's girls a thing or two, says Hester Lacey

Rachel Cusk felt trapped by the interminable misery of boarding school, even after she left. But then she learned how to play a trick on time ...

We should not be too surprised when kids do a bunk, and head for the bright lights. After all, children's literature is full of such adventure, tales of those setting off heroically with their spotted handkerchiefs on the end of a stick. Think of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn hiding out on Jackson's Island to escape Injun Joe and the nagging of Aunt Polly. Oliver Twist ran away to escape life as an undertaker's apprenticeship and nights spent sleeping in a coffin.

The 10 state comprehensives to come top in the GCSE and

Though the assisted places scheme has been abolished, Elaine Williams reports that many independent schools are refusing to let the ethos behind it die. Inventive, and painful, ways are being found of offering disadvantaged pupils a high-standard education

En route to Stratford we hear the story of a Jewish girl from Liverpool who escaped and made it big: Edwina Currie is out selling herself. What a surprise!

Crossing the divide between state and private schools can be a challenging time for children.

The Dancing Face by Mike Phillips Collins Crime, pounds l5.99