While the figures showed that pupils fortunate enough to get into grammars got better GCSE results than their peers, the study concluded: "At a national level, and adjusting for pupil characteristics, there appears to be no overall impact of selective schooling, either positive or negative.
'None of them would know how to make something like this.' Dechen considers herself fortunate to be a pupil; prior to 1998, tradition prevented girls from being admitted to the school.
She's been fortunate enough not to experience pupils fainting in her class, due to lack of food, as other teachers have witnessed, but is pained to see children's future ignored in favour of economic power.
David Jesson, a professor in the Centre for Performance Evaluation at York University, has shown that pupils in specialist schools are outperforming the less fortunate elsewhere.
"A number of them have minor injuries - but we are very fortunate after having seen the scene of the incident itself - that no pupils were more seriously injured," he said.
He sought professional help at a time when little was available, and was fortunate to come under the supervision of a pioneering young doctor, a future pupil of Carl Jung's, who attempted to treat him using a talking cure.
While 10% of pupils taking their GCSEs had less than £49,000 spent on them, a more fortunate one in 10 had more than £67,000 spent on their education by the government.
They ate seafood and sipped wine on Monday night as pupil and teacher, as baseball pitcher and baseball coach and as two proud Cubans who feel fortunate not to be ruled by Fidel Castro.
The students at Teleos Preparatory are very fortunate to have him as a principal, and Brian is just as happy to have the students at Teleos Prep as his pupils.
The worry, as ever, is that by striving so hard to attract pupils who already have the advantage of pointy parental elbows, Mossbourne will be pushing children who aren't so fortunate into other schools.
