19. Special school

This is a school (primary or secondary) for children who are handicapped in some way, either physically or mentally, for example, children who are blind, deaf, crippled, or educationally subnormal.

Special education usually has this meaning too. It is defined in BEE as "education adapted to the needs of pupils who are handicapped by a disability of body or mind."

Independent (Private) Schools

20. The meaning of the words independent and private with reference to educational institutions has already been explained (see unit 2).

The expressions independent/private school are general ones and not necessarily connected with the English educational system.

e.g. In England there are state schools and independent/private schools. In the Soviet Union there are no independent/private schools; all schools are state. Independent schools, unlike state schools, are fee-paying, that is, parents have to pay fees. The majority of independent schools are boarding schools, and pupils go home only for the holidays. However, there are also some independent day schools. Most independent schools are single-sex, that is, for boys or girls only, whereas most state schools are now coeducational, or mixed. (Mixed is less formal than coeducational. Coeducational can be abbreviated to coed in non-formal style.) Independent schools are not generally divided into primary and secondary, like state schools. Many fit into the following pattern:

1. kindergarten or pre-preparatory school — ages 5-8

2. preparatory school (see unit 22) —ages 8-13

3. public school or similar school (see unit 21) —ages 13-16/18

21. Public school

A public school is an independent school for pupils aged 13-18 which is distinguished from other such schools by membership of the Headmasters' Conference or one of two similar bodies, and therefore has a certain status. (There are about 260.) Most of them are boys' boarding schools, although some are day schools and some are for girls. A few have even become coeducational recently. Some of them are several hundred years old, but many others, including some of the thirty leading public schools, were founded in the last 150 years. The most famous are Eton, Harrow, Winchester, and Rugby.

It is clear from this definition that public schools are now not public in the usual sense of the word. Formerly, however, the name was quite appropriate, as С. Е. Eckersley explains in his PATTERN OF ENGLAND: "Public schools are private foundations. Originally they depended mainly on endowments by noble founders and wealthy benefactors, and were intended to put education within the reach of anyone intelligent enough to take advantage of it, whether their parents were rich or poor. Now they depend almost entirely on the fees paid by their pupils' parents." Note, however, that in the USA public school means a school supported by public funds, and corresponds to British English state school. (In American English state means "штат".)

An English public school education is traditionally academic, with an emphasis on the classics.