What is a Public School?
In England and Wales, public school is the term used to describe a top ranking independent private school. As with other independent schools, public schools charge fees and do not receive public funding. Schools supported by public money are known as state schools.
In Scotland, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the USA, a public school is the equivalent of an English state school and independent, fee-charging schools are known as private schools.
As a guide, the head of a public school in the United Kingdom will be a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference (HMC).
The apparently contradictory term "public school" was first used by Eton College and indicated that the school was open to the paying public, unlike religious schools where admission was reserved for adherents of a particular church. The description "public" also served to distinguish these secular establishments from private schooling at home, where very wealthy families employed tutors on a full time basis.
Although originally all were single-sex boarding schools, a number of public schools are now co-educational, or else accept girls at sixth form and some now accept day pupils.