What is the difference between Public School and Private School?

[SugarSkyHigh]

I am told that private schools are fee-paying results-driven sausage factories, and that public schools are concerned with holistic development as well as academic excellence. Could anyone add clarification?

I've always believed that public schools were the "posher" ones, which often took rich-but-thick kids so I suppose they have to aim at something other than academic excellence , But I'm sure someone will be able to give you a less cynical definition

I'd say public schools are the old fashioned, we've been here 100years and not much has changed schools. So a subset of private schools.

Public schools are the more traditional names, usually boys only, schools lioek eton, Harrow, Winchester, Tonbrige, Stowe which admit by Common Entrance exam at 13+. Would n't credit them necessarily with a holistic approach but academic hothouses or OB network.

Lizs is right. Also, public schools usually offer boarding (or are exclusively boarding) and generally are more expensive than private schools. They usually have bigger grounds. There are a lot of private schools, particularly girls' ones, which were founded in the late 19th century and thus are a similar age to some of the public schools, so I don't think age helps sort out which is which, really. Not all private schools are academically driven, either!

Also publics are members of the Headmasters Conference, which is sort of a trade organisation for public schools. If you're 'established' enough then your school gets to be in.
Publics vary in how academic they are too, but do tend to have some lovely old buildings and grounds.

Not all Publics are boarding, but most are. Some are even a bit alternative (Bedales and Frensham Heights).

They key thing is the best school for a specific child, whatever category it falls into.

I think it usually refers to those schools which are part of headmaster and headmistresses association(usually the older usually boarding schools)

Public = big established name, traditionally favoured by the Establishment. Private = all others in the independent sector. Eton, Harrow, Rugby, Stowe, Westminster, Winchester etc. are all in the first group.

Re. longetivity though, the GPDST (Girls' Public Day School Trust) was only founded in 1872 (unsurprising in the context of academically rigorous provision for girls). The 'P' for 'Public' was dropped in 1998. I think Public can only be of any significance in distinguishing between the old boys' foundations.

Way back, schooling happened at home for the rich or through monks/clergy in religious institutions. "Public" meant simply "'open to the public" who could not afford home tutors or gain access to the educators in religious foundations. Ironically (given today's fees for the majority of pupils) their aim was often to educate poor scholars without access to education.

In the mid 1800's a review identified a small no of schools as public - Eton, Westminster, Charterhouse, Shrewsbury, Winchester - maybe a few others, (Rugby? I can't remember). Other old schools were not so categorised but I have no idea why. There were no girls' schools on the list though some girls' schools are referred to as public today in the media.

So it is a woolly concept I think. Today it tends to refer to the older, "bigger" names and suggests age and reputation and to some people and sense of grandeur perhaps? Other than historical interest, I don't think the term has any practical weight or meaning today with regard to the education and experience provided.

In brief, all public schools are independent but not all independent schools are referred to as public. The term "private" can include privately owned, for-profit schools.

Frenhsma Heights is a private not Public school, simiarly I'm not sure Bedales is really a Public one.

There are definitely plenty of schools in the HMC that wouldn't be considered public. Probably the "real" public schools are those that are in the Eton Group or the Rugby Group (which are loose associations within the HMC) plus a few others. Of course it hardly matters - as slipshod says it just relates to age, history and the associated prestige that that has for some people.

Actually slipshod is right: there are technically only 9 public schools according to the Public Schools Act: Charterhouse, Eton, Harrow, Rugby, Shrewsbury, Westminster, Winchester, Merchant Taylors, St. Paul's. City of London was subsequently added to the list. Interesting stuff.

What about the difference between private and independent schools?

to me the diff between private and independent is easier to understand : i.e., there is no difference! just meaNS the same thing.

But i did think that not all private/independent schools are not Public Schools. And what everyone has said seems to confirm that. However, it does seem to be a woolly area..... the thing that sets Public Schools apart from the rest... the rest meaning private, state, grammar etc.

sorry- first sentence second paragraph should read, "but i did think that not all private/independe4nt schools are Public Schools." inserted an extra 'not' - it's wine-o'clock and eurovision is on in the background!!

slipshod are those the first nine strictly in terms of date of foundation?

Moldova was great.

Yellowstone, no they are not strictly the first nine, though they are among the oldest, which is why I said I think it is a woolly concept. The choice of those 9 seems slightly random except that even then, they were well known names - and concentrated in the South East.

The act was a consequence of a review of the schools due to concerns over abuses and management (Victorian Ofstead?) and a decision to regulate their governance (ie give them an independent governing body to manage them).

I checked and saw these links for those who might need the info for a pub quiz one day!

www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_Schools_Act_1868

www.publicschools.co.uk/school-guide

So although it sounds grander than simply "independent", the term "public" does not have any special magic in itself except initially for the magical idea that education should be open to all and the formalization of the term in 1868 appears to arise from concerns about management.

ps cupofteainpeace, independent means independently managed (free of the state) but independet schools are managed by a governing body while private is a term which can sometimes (not always) refer to schools which are in private ownership and therefore provide profits for the owner. eg GEMS schools and several smaller private schools - often prep - scattered around.

In practice all these terms are mixed up with no harm done.

Thanks, Slipshod. Shrewsbury doesn't fall into a neat geographical category though since it's about as far west as it's possible to go without falling into Wales. History is so untidy.

All public schools are private but not all private schools are public dahling!

Publics are posher!

I hink you'd be hard pushed today to find people referring to 'public schools' - unless they are old, posh people - just a quaint oold term for independent boarding schools.

DH & I had this conversation the other day!

Technically a school can be called a 'public school' if it is a member of the HMC. In reality, many independent schools don't call themselves 'public' as it more associated with the traditional/ older/ boys boarding schools.

We found it amusing to discover that both DH's old school, and DS1's school from Spet are both, technically, 'public schools'.

Lets not get carried away by membership of the HMC,I think that body has 250+ members,many of those are not as far as Im concerned public schools.

propatria - Public schools were defined in the report of the Fleming Committee in 1942 as "schools which are in membership of the Governing Bodies' Association or Headmasters' Conference".

So there's a difference between people's perceptions of public schools and the technical definition.

Do your children go to what you perceive as a 'proper' public school by any chance?

An American accent.