Emphatically not! You’re far better off reading a school’s admission criteria very carefully and reading books like my Working The System. A BBC investigation has revealed that parents are paying lawyers thousands of pounds to get into the school of their choice. I appeared on BBC Radio Wales and BBC Radio 5 Live and explained that parents are being ripped off if they pay advisers great sums to get into the school of their choice. Much of the time, if parents do not meet the criteria, they simply won’t get their child into the school — even if they pay thousands of pounds to a lawyer to prove differently. I also pointed out that the most significant research shows that overwhemingly it is the influence of parents, not the school, that determines a child’s future success in life…