The majority of public schools are affiliated with, or were established by, a Christian denomination, principally the Church of England, but in some cases the Roman Catholic and Methodist churches or else identify themselves as "non-denominational Christian". In 2021, using the 1981 ISIS definition or the 1944 Fleming Committee definition, there are now 298 independent secondary schools belonging to the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference (77% of HMC schools are co-educational, 10% are boys only and 14% are girls only), and 230 independent girls' secondary schools belonging to the Girls' Schools Association. At that time, there were 276 such independent schools (134 boys and 142 girls), which the 1965 Public Schools Commission took in scope of its work and also considered 22 maintained and 152 direct grant grammar schools. It started with the 1944 Fleming Committee definition of Public Schools, which consisted of schools which were members of the then Headmasters' Conference or the Girls' Schools Association. In November 1965, the UK Cabinet considered the definition of a public school for the purpose of the Public Schools Commission set up that year. Vivian Ogilvie in The English Public School (1957) suggests five "characteristics commonly associated with a public school" (while allowing that these are not absolute or definitive): "it is a class school, catering for a well-to-do clientèle it is expensive it is non-local it is a predominantly boarding school it is independent of the State and of local government, yet it is not privately owned or run for profit." Īrthur Leach, in his History of Winchester College (1899), states: "The only working definition of a Public School.is that it is an aristocratic or plutocratic school which is wholly or almost wholly a Boarding School, is under some form of more or less public control, and is. Ī public school has been very simply defined as "a non-local endowed boarding school for the upper classes". The characteristic features of these schools are, their antiquity, the numbers, and the ages of the young people who are educated at them. We do not give this as a definition which would have satisfied Porphyry or Duns-Scotus, but as one sufficiently accurate for our purpose. "By a public school, we mean an endowed place of education of old standing, to which the sons of gentlemen resort in considerable numbers, and where they continue to reside, from eight or nine, to eighteen years of age. The above definition of 1981 has resonance with that of Sydney Smith written in 1810 in The Edinburgh Review. The independent schools' representative body, the Independent Schools Information Service (ISIS) defined public schools as long-established, student-selective, fee-charging independent secondary schools that cater primarily for children aged between 11 or 13 and 18, and whose head teacher is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference (HMC). Public schools are not funded from public taxes. The starting point was the contrast between a public school and private teaching. There is no single or absolute definition of a public school, and the use of the term has varied over time and according to context. In 2019, two-thirds of Cabinet Ministers had been educated at such fee-charging schools, although a slim majority of cabinet ministers since 1964 were educated at state schools. Historically, the sons of officers and senior administrators of the British Empire were educated in English public schools whilst their fathers were on imperial postings. Public schools have had a strong association with the ruling classes.
Nine prestigious schools were investigated by Clarendon, and seven subsequently reformed by the Act: Eton, Shrewsbury, Harrow, Winchester, Rugby, Westminster, and Charterhouse. Although the term "public school" has been in use since at least the 18th century, its usage was formalised by the Public Schools Act 1868, which put into law most recommendations of the 1864 Clarendon Report. The playing fields of Rugby School, where in 1845 the rules of rugby football were codifiedĪ public school in England and Wales (but not Scotland) is a fee-charging endowed school originally for older boys that was "public" in the sense of being open to pupils irrespective of locality, denomination or paternal trade or profession.