British Educational Research Journal

Much has been made of the academic success of children who have attended private secondary schools in Britain, but far less attention has been directed to whether there are similar benefits from attending a private primary school. Using data from three British birth cohorts—born in 1958, 1970 and 2000/1—this paper profiles the family background and personal characteristics of children at state‐funded and private fee‐paying schools and then investigates the effect of the type of primary school attended on academic progress made during the primary‐school years. Applying ‘value‐added’ linear regression and propensity score‐matching techniques, we find evidence of a positive association between private primary‐school attendance and a child's cognitive progress in all three cohorts. This effect remains after accounting for a wide range of individual and family characteristics, despite the very different times and socio‐economic circumstances experienced by the children and their families in the three studies. Findings are discussed and compared against contrasting international findings.