The final round of emotional public school balls and dinners to wave off 18-year-olds and their parents is now taking place. It is a tearful moment for many, particularly those of us who have paid a full term’s fees for a term substantially reduced by “study leave”.

Study leave is the increasingly popular public school habit of letting, or in some cases encouraging, pupils to go home to revise for public exams. Barely had my trembling hand signed the cheque for nearly £9,000 for Offspring Number One’s final term than the study leave question arose.