There are 2,400 schools in the UK which are not subject to local or central government control. They are sometimes called fee-paying (or, more accurately, fee-charging) schools because they charge parents fees and receive no state support. Nevertheless, there is no commonly agreed definition of the term.

The core of independent sector is formed by several hundred public schools, which despite the name are not part of the state education system. Originally public meant that school offered free education to the public and was under public management, as opposed to private schools that were run for the benefit of their proprietor. Some of them date back to Middle Ages: Winchester was founded in 1394 and Eton in 1400. But the majority was established during the 19th century, since when the term public school has been applied to grammar schools that began charging some pupils fees, while the others were paid for from public funds.

There are 4 types of independent schools: Nursery/Kindergarten mentioned above, for children aged 2 to 4 years; Pre-Preparatory for 3 or 4 to 7-year-olds; Preparatory accepting 7 to 11-year-olds; and finally Senior, arousing the most controversies but in the same time the most desirable, for teenagers aged 11 to 18.

Many schools offer scholarships but this is not of that much help, due to their quite exceptional and exclusive character. Many schools have bursaries - grants from the school - to help to pay the fees. These are often awarded after a 'means test' of family income. Some schools, on the other hand, offer grants to children of clergy, teachers and those of armed forces - not a very democratic idea indeed. Help to children of former pupils, single parent families and orphans or concessions for brothers or sisters is sometimes available, too. Nevertheless, even the Independent Schools Council (ISC) admits they rarely cover the whole fees. But schools tend to create the picture of being more socially inclusive. This may be a result of national debate over the ways in which independent schools could be incorporated into the state system, taking place in recent years. This way Eton prides itself to have about 135 scholarship boys (of the total 1300) and about 25 boys (2%) educated free of charge. The numbers are very significant as they show that even thought some changes were made, the system is not much more egalitarian or democratic.

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 2321
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page double spaced)