This paper presents a study from the Scottish Independent School Project (SISP). The first part of the paper provides an overview of the characteristics of Scottish independent schools (e.g. location, structure, fees) with the aim of distinguishing the different orientations of schools in the sector. The second and main part of the paper is a discourse-based analysis of the website texts of three case-study schools to show how schools discursively construct themselves and their "assumptive worlds" (Ball, 2001). We explore what these schools take for granted by their use of language, and the nature of their communication with potential parents and pupils. The analytic of social capital (Bourdieu & Wacquant, 1992; Coleman, 1988; Putnam, 2000) and following Bourdieu, other capitals (e.g. cultural, national, emotional) are used to examine the discourses accepted, appropriated and deployed by the schools and the extent to which they advance the interests of specific social groups. (Contains 2 tables and 7 notes.)