What School Did You Go To?

Sophie Pender, like Greta Thunberg, is someone who is making change happen, simply by deciding to do so– Alastair Campbell

‘Sophie Pender is formidable, extremely clever and you’re going to be hearing a lot more of her’ – Amol Rajan

Sophie Pender grew up on a council estate in north London. Succeeding at her local state school despite severe economic hardship and losing her father to addiction when she was twelve, she went to Bristol University and then took a job with a top city corporate law firm. Shed made it, she thought.

But the imbalances and injustices drawn along class lines, clear stumbling blocks to success, had been exposed to her at university. Sophie began to recognise that the inequality of private vs state education plays out in all areas of our society and negatively impacts everyone. Aged just nineteen she founded The 93% Club – a crucial network for state-educated students and professionals – and set about changing other peoples lives.

What School Did You Go To? is Penders agenda-setting book on our flawed education system. Combining powerful storytelling with eye-opening facts, it lays out the common justifications for private schools and busts the myth that inequality is improving. It argues that for us to make social progress as a country, we must dismantle private schools – and that we will all benefit.

Timely, powerful and game-changing, this is an essential book for our times. Pender’s book is a call to arms for all of us. No matter which school you went to, or where you send your own children, this book promises to move you, make you demand more, and leave you wondering: how did we let this continue for so long?