Drawing on findings from a longitudinal study of four private schools in one geographical area in England, this paper seeks to extend understand- ings of how these schools differentially seek to position themselves as ’elite’. Findings highlight the continuing legacy of the Great Schools (private boarding-schools) of 18th and 19th century England in shaping contemporary and modern-day practices. An emphasis on academic excellence and the development of the whole person could be found in each of the schools studied. However, the increasingly competitive (global) education market means that individual schools must actively re-interpret these elite markers to engage more directly with the social group fractions they see as comprising their core recruitment constituencies.