Independent school UK: Encyclopedia II - Independent school UK - Public school

Independent school UK - Public school

Public school in the British Isles is a label applied to leading fee-paying independent schools in England and Wales. In Scotland and Ireland it is not commonly used in this sense for schools in those countries (and indeed in Scotland and Northern Ireland the phrase has long been an alternative name for council schools in the state sector). A public school (in the independent sense) usually teaches children from the ages of 11 (for girls) or 13 (for boys) to 18, and was traditionally a single-sex boarding school, although many now accept day pupils and are coeducational. The majority date back to the 18th or 19th centuries, but several are over 600 years old. Nine old-established schools were regulated by the Public Schools Acts 1868, but it is largely a matter of history and habit that some fee-charging schools are referred to by the "public school" label while others are not. Today nearly all such schools, no matter their history, tend to use the phrase "independent school" when referring to themselves formally. It is suggested that the origin of the term came from distinguishing such a public institution open to anybody who paid the fees from the education provided by private tutors. The earliest known reference to a "public school" dates from 1364 when the Bishop of Winchester wrote concerning "the public school" at Kingston, which was then part of the diocese of Winchester. [6]

This English usage of the word "public" contrasts with the expectations of many English speakers from around the world. Outside the British Isles people usually refer to fee-paying schools as private schools or independent schools; many would assume that the word "public" should imply public financial support. Indeed, in many countries "public school" is the commonplace name for a government-maintained school where instruction is provided free of charge; in England such a school would commonly be called a state school, a local authority school, or a foundation or community school. Usage in Scotland has its own particular nuances; as in England nowadays, there is a tendency to avoid the phrase "public school" altogether, and to speak of "state schools" or "council schools" on the one hand and "private" or "independent schools" on the other. However, contrary to practice in England, the phrase "public school" is used in official documents (and still sometimes colloquially) to refer to Scottish state-funded schools. When the term is applied informally to independent schools located in Scotland some interpret the usage as an Anglicism or a parody of English usage.

Independent school UK - History and terminology

The English usage dates to an era before the development of widespread national state-sponsored education in England and Wales, although Scotland had early universal provision of education through the Church of Scotland dating from the mid 16th century, and the system of education in Scotland remains separate and different from the system covering England and Wales. Some schools (often called "grammar schools") were sponsored by towns or villages or by guilds; others by cathedrals for their choir. "Private schools" were owned and operated by their headmasters, to their own profit or loss, and often in their own houses. "Public schools" often drew students from across the country to board; in the 19th-century golden era of public schools, children from upper-class families typically began their education with home tutoring or as a day student at a local private school (what would today be called a preparatory school), and then went off to board at a public school once old enough.

The term in England can be traced to the middle ages, an era when most education was accomplished by private tutoring or monasteries. Public schools, by contrast, were independent charities, often offering free education. As time passed, such schools expanded greatly in size to include many fee-paying students alongside a few scholars, until they acquired their upper-class connotations. By the late 19th century, public schools were characterized not so much by the way the schools were governed or the students educated as by a very specific ethos of student life often celebrated or parodied in the novels of the day.

Independent school UK - Origins of public schools

Some public schools are particularly old, such as The King's School, Canterbury (founded c.600), Warwick (founded c.914),The King's School, Ely (founded c.970), Westminster (founded 1179 if not before), Stamford School (re-endowed in 1532, but in existence as far back as 1309), Eton (1440), and Winchester (1382), this last of which has maintained the longest unbroken history of any school in England. These were often established for male scholars from poor or disadvantaged backgrounds; however, English law has always regarded education as a charitable end in itself, irrespective of poverty. For instance, the Queen's Scholarships founded at Westminster in 1560, are for "the sons of decay'd gentlemen".

The transformation of free charitable foundations into expensive institutions came about readily: the foundation would only afford minimal facilities, so that further fees might be charged to lodge, clothe and otherwise maintain the scholars, to the private profit of the trustees or headmaster; and also facilities already provided by the charitable foundation for a few scholars could profitably be extended to further paying pupils. (Some schools still keep their foundation scholars in a separate house from other pupils). After a time, such fees would eclipse the original charitable income, and the endowment would naturally become a minor part of the capital benefactions enjoyed by the school. Nowadays there is remarkably little difference between the fees of an ancient public school with magnificent facilites, grounds and endowments, and those of many minor public schools with little capital: effectively the capital and income from former benefactors finance superior facililites, which attract better staff and wealthy parents who may be generous in their turn.

One school which continues its charitable foundation ethos is Christ's Hospital, a boarding school in Horsham; fees are charged according to the family income (in 2005, about one third of the pupils paid less than £250 per year). Well-off families are discouraged - the number of pupils that pay the full fee (~£15,000) is limited to 6% of the School population.

The educational reforms were particularly important under Arnold at Rugby, and Butler and later Kennedy at Shrewsbury, emphasizing the importance of scholarship and competitive examinations. Most public schools, however, developed during the 18th and 19th centuries, and came to play an important role in the development of the Victorian social elite. Under a number of forward-looking headmasters leading public schools created a curriculum based heavily on classics and physical activity for boys and young men of the upper and upper middle classes.

They were schools for the gentlemanly elite of Victorian politics, armed forces and colonial government. Often successful businessmen would send their sons to a public school as a mark of participation in the elite. Much of the discipline was in the hands of senior pupils (usually known as prefects), which was not just a means to reduce staffing costs, but was also seen as vital preparation for those pupils' later rôles in public or military service. More recently heads of public schools have been emphasising that senior pupils now play a much reduced role in disciplining.

To an extent, the public school system influenced the school systems of the British empire, and recognisably 'public' schools can be found in many Commonwealth countries. Many prep schools in the United States (such as Groton School) are also recognisably "public" in the English sense.

Independent school UK - The ruling class

The role of public schools in preparing pupils for the gentlemanly elite meant that such education with associated accents, vocabulary and mannerisms became a mark of the ruling class. The "public school ethos" promoted ideas of service to the Empire and the Raj, with ideas like "it's not whether you win or lose, it's how you play the game" and "the battle of Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton", but also imbued an expectation of privilege and command. The "old boy network" of former pupils was a quick way to promotion, and a public school tie helpful in a career. Social class distinctions included sensitivity as to whether someone had gone to "a lesser public school". The English public school model influenced the nineteenth century development of Scottish private schools, but a tradition of the gentry sharing primary education with their tenants remained and Scotland remained comparatively egalitarian.

Acceptance of such social elitism was set back by perceived ineptitude of generals during the First World War, and by the widespread mixing of people from wildly different social backgrounds in the Second World War, but despite portrayals of the products of public schools as "silly asses" and "toffs" the system continued well into the 1960s. This can be seen in fiction such as Len Deighton's The Ipcress File which has a sub-text of tension between the grammar school educated protagonist and the public school background of his superiors and his posh but inept colleague. The British rock phenomenon brought working class chic and a tendency for some public school graduates to hide their accents, a trend which continued in the Thatcherite 1980s (and beyond) with the wide adoption of mockney or estuary English. At the same time fears of problems with state education pushed parents to get their children into what were now presented as "independent schools".

Independent school UK - Differing definitions

The head teachers of major British independent boys' and mixed schools belong to the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference (HMC), and a common definition of a public school is any school whose head teacher is a member of the HMC^[7]. However some do not consider every HMC school to be a typical public school, and thus other definitions are sometimes employed. Nor does this definition include any girls' schools; indeed it is debatable as to whether any girls' school can be considered to be a public school. Public schools are often divided into "major" and "minor" public schools, but these are not official definitions and the inclusion of a school in one or the other group is purely subjective (although a select few would be included in any list of "major" schools). Thus, in E W Hornung's book Raffles Further Adventures (1901), the following exchange takes place: "'Varsity man?" "No." "Public school?" "Yes." "Which one?" I told him, and he sighed relief. "At last! You're the very first I've not had to argue with as to what is and what is not a public school."

Prior to the Clarendon Commission, a Royal Commission that investigated the public school system in England between 1861 and 1864, there was no clear definition of a public school. The commission investigated nine of the more established schools: two day schools (Merchant Taylors' and St Paul's) and seven boarding schools (Charterhouse, Eton, Harrow, Rugby, Shrewsbury, Westminster and Winchester). A report published by the commission formed the basis of the Public Schools Act 1868. These nine are sometimes cited as the only public schools, albeit mainly by those who attended them.

Some suggest that only particularly old independent schools should be afforded the dignity of "public school". (see Lists of independent schools in the UK below).

The Public Schools Yearbook published in 1889 named the following 25 boarding schools, all in England:

• Bedford School
• Bradfield School
• Brighton College
• Charterhouse School
• Cheltenham College
• Clifton College
• Dover College
• Dulwich College
• Eton College
• Haileybury College
• Harrow School
• Lancing College
• Malvern College
• Marlborough College
• Radley College
• Repton School
• Rossall School
• Rugby School
• Sherborne School
• Shrewsbury School
• Tonbridge School
• Uppingham School
• Wellington College
• Westminster School
• Winchester College

However, it notably omitted the Merchant Taylors' and St Paul's day schools that had been listed in the Act. It also omitted others, including Highgate School as well as the City of London School, another day school, which derived from a mediæval foundation of 1442, was reconstituted by a private Act of Parliament in 1835, and was held to be a public school by the Divisional Court in the case of Blake vs. City of London in 1886.

It is often thought unsatisfactory that the designation of a "public school" in England is given primarily to old boarding schools. University College School, founded in 1830 as part of University College London, was unique in that it neither took boarders nor gave religious education; indeed, by not limiting its intake to a specific religious denomination, it gained the claim of being the first truly "public" school, open to all. By 1880, it was undoubtedly clear, by both the school's reputation and its list of alumni, that it was a major public school; by 1907, it was important enough for the King, accompanied by the Archbishop of Canterbury, to open the school's new site in Hampstead. Similarly, King's College School, Wimbledon, founded by King's College London, quickly became a top school. Both are now members of the exclusive Eton Group of public schools.

Perhaps the best way to tell if a school is a "Grand Public School" in modern times is to check an edition of Who's Who. The headmasters of many of the most prestigious schools have an entry there by virtue of their position.

Independent school UK - English public school language

The following list includes some terms peculiar to, originating from or commonly used in public schools in England ("independent schools"):

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Public school", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki