The Eton Group is an association of 12 English
public schools
Public school may refer to:
*State school (known as a public school in many countries), a no-fee school, publicly funded and operated by the government
*Public school (United Kingdom), certain elite fee-charging independent schools in England and ...
within the
Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference. The Eton Group schools often cooperate with each other, organising events and school matches. For example, the Heads of academic departments meet to discuss curriculum matters of common interest. The Headteachers and the Bursars also meet from time to time.
Unlike the older
Rugby Group, which contains only
boarding school
A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. As they have existed for many centuries, and now exten ...
s, the Eton Group includes both boarding schools outside of London and London schools taking day pupils.
The 12 Eton Group schools are:
In 2003, following an investigation by ''
The Sunday Times'' into the Eton Group and other schools, the
Office of Fair Trading
The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) was a non-ministerial government department of the United Kingdom, established by the Fair Trading Act 1973, which enforced both consumer protection and competition law, acting as the United Kingdom's economic ...
launched an investigation into alleged fee-fixing at independent schools.
The bursar of Eton College, Andrew Wynn, was quoted as saying: "We do meet and talk about fees to get some idea of what other schools are thinking. We are a co-operative bunch and we are not out to slit each other's throats."
The
Independent Schools Council said independent schools were following long-established practice and were not aware that the
Competition Act 1998 (on which they were not consulted) had removed their previous exemption from anti-cartel rules.
The OFT concluded in 2005 that 50 schools, including seven in the Eton Group, had exchanged detailed information about planned fee levels in a survey coordinated by
Sevenoaks School.
The case was settled in 2006, with the schools admitting that such exchange of information "involved a distortion of competition and infringed competition law", but not admitting to any effect on fees. The schools each paid a £10,000 penalty, and agreed to make ex-gratia payments totalling £3 million to a trust to benefit pupils attending the schools in the relevant years.
References
{{Public schools (United Kingdom)
Private and independent school organisations in England