Top 100 Best Prestigious Private (Boarding) Schools

PRIVATE SCHOOLS, also known as independent schools or nonstate schools, are not administered by local, state or national governments; thus, they retain the right to select their students and are funded in whole or in part by charging their students tuition, rather than relying on mandatory taxation through public (government) funding; at some private schools students may be able to get a scholarship, which makes the cost cheaper, depending on a talent the student may have e.g. sport scholarship, art scholarship, academic scholarship etc.

In the United Kingdom and several other Commonwealth countries including Australia and Canada, the use of the term is generally restricted to primary and secondary educational levels; it is almost never used of universities and other tertiary institutions. Private education in North America covers the whole gamut of educational activity, ranging from pre-school to tertiary level institutions. Annual tuition fees at K-12 schools range from nothing at so called 'tuition-free' schools to more than $45,000 at several New England preparatory schools.

The secondary level includes schools offering years 7 through 12 (year twelve is known as lower sixth) and year 13 (upper sixth). This category includes university-preparatory schools or "prep schools", boarding schools and day schools. Tuition at private secondary schools varies from school to school and depends on many factors, including the location of the school, the willingness of parents to pay, peer tuitions and the school's financial endowment. High tuition, schools claim, is used to pay higher salaries for the best teachers and also used to provide enriched learning environments, including a low student to teacher ratio, small class sizes and services, such as libraries, science laboratories and computers. Some private schools are boarding schools and many military academies are privately owned or operated as well.

Private (Boarding) Schools News, Reviews & Resources

• adsum - used to indicate one's presence usually in answer to a roll call: (Latin) I am present.
• Blocked Toilets Close Eton, Boarding School for Britain’s Elite Sons - "Flooding and a sewer backup have delayed the start of the new term. Classes at the school, which has educated princes and prime ministers, will move online."
• Boarding school - Wikipedia.
• Boarding school syndrome - Joy Schaverien.
• Britain’s Exclusive Schools Try to Be a Little Less So - The New York Times.
• Britain’s private school problem: it’s time to talk - "While many agree that private education is at the root of inequality in Britain, open discussion about the issue remains puzzlingly absent. In their new book, historian David Kynaston and economist Francis Green set out the case for change."
• British Boarding Schools Show back in Monaco in September - "The British Boarding Schools Show returns to Monaco on September 22, connecting parents with the UK’s leading boarding schools. Tickets are free of charge with online pre-registration. The Show is a unique opportunity for parents in Monte Carlo and the South of France to meet the Heads and Admissions Directors of Britain’s most prestigious boarding schools, the organisers say. Top UK schools as well as education, property and relocation experts will be exhibiting, offering parents the opportunity to plan every aspect of their child’s entry into the world’s most prestigious schools."
• Bursary - monetary award made by an institution to individuals or groups of people who cannot afford to pay full fees.
• Cram school - specialized school that trains its students to meet particular goals, most commonly to pass the entrance examinations of high schools or universities.
• Crown Princess Mary & Crown Prince Frederik left ‘shaken’ after ‘heartbreaking’ reports of bullying at son Prince Christian’s school - "The Danish royal couple has taken a rare public stance, voicing the incident is ‘completely unacceptable’."
• Estonia’s curriculum is one of the best - what can it teach us? - "Schools in the tiny Baltic state excel in reading, mathematics and science as well as fairness and happiness. The key to Estonia's success is a broad and balanced curriculum, with an emphasis on problem-solving, critical thinking, entrepreneurship and digital competence, the qualities that employers want. Pupils are expected to be active participants in their learning rather than passive recipients of facts."
• Eton bans smartphones for new pupils - "The school will issue boys with an offline Nokia handset instead amid wider moves to improve children’s mental health and behaviour."
• Eton College head denies stifling debate after teacher's dismissal - "The head of Eton College, which is at the centre of a bitter row over free speech following the dismissal of a teacher, has written to parents defending intellectual freedom and denying that he wants to shut down debate at the school."
• First day at school: Mum's before-and-after photos of daughter go viral - "Before-and-after photos of a five-year-old's first day back at school have been shared thousands of times online after her mother posted the 'really funny' images on Facebook."
• Inside the most expensive boarding school in the world - The Telegraph.
• John F. Kennedy's Life at Choate Rosemary Hall - "Portrait of a Troublemaker: A Rare Glimpse of John F. Kennedy's Life at Boarding School. Cast in his brother's formidable shadow, Jack pulled Cs and graduated 65th in his class. But the seeds of his greatness can be found in his years at Choate."
• K–12 - a term for the sum of primary and secondary education. It is used in the United States, Canada, South Korea, Turkey, the Philippines, Egypt, Australia and Iran.
• Kurt Hahn - (1986-1974). German educator. He founded Schule Schloss Salem, Gordonstoun, Outward Bound and the United World Colleges. Hahn's educational philosophy was based on respect for adolescents, whom he believed to possess an innate decency and moral sense, but who were, he believed, corrupted by society as they aged. He believed that education could prevent this corruption, if students were given opportunities for personal leadership and to see the results of their own actions. This is one reason for the focus on outdoor adventure in his philosophy.
• List of most expensive schools - Wikipedia.
• Nazis based their elite schools on top British private schools - "Eton and Harrow among those whose ‘character-building’ qualities were admired by German educators in 1930s and 1940s."
• PRIVATE SCHOOL - Wikipedia.
• PUBLIC SCHOOL - Wikipedia.
• The Most Common Graduation Advice Tends to Backfire - "'Follow your passions?' Not so fast." The New York Times.
• The racist questions I was asked at Eton - "Eton College: Nigerian author recalls racist abuse. In our series of Letters from Africa, journalist Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani speaks to one of the first African students at the UK's prestige Eton college about his experience of racism in the 1960s and 70s, and about his views on the current debate about apologising for slavery and colonial-era statues."
• The Rise of Super Strict Schools in England - "‘You Can Hear a Pin Drop’. Inspired by the academic success of schools like the Michaela secondary school in northwest London, some principals are introducing tight controls on students' behavior."
• The world's most exclusive boarding schools - The Telegraph.
• There’s Still One Big Trick for Getting Into an Elite College - "Every American high schooler knows the supposed secret to a lifetime of success: admission to an elite university. Competition for coveted spots is so fierce that while an admission victory can’t be guaranteed, it can be gamed, if you know how to play."
• Top 10 In-Demand Skills For 2030 - "What will the world be like in 2030? Well, obviously, no one knows for sure, but we have some interesting predictions: According to Dell, 85% of us who are in work will be doing jobs that don’t exist yet. In a WEF video, Danish politician Ida Auken predicted we would 'own nothing and be happy' as everything is provided as-a-service. Here’s my pick for what the first graduates of the next decade will want to have on their CVs if they want to impress - and what the rest of us should focus on to stay competitive too."
• What happened when Norway banned smartphones in schools? - "As Eton and the Italians promise their own bans, we visit Oslo to see how it works - and how pupils try to cheat."
• When Old Etonians go rogue - The Telegraph.
• Will Private Schools Survive the Culture Wars? - "Protests over curricula, battles on social media—things got rough at private schools last year. But now it’s time for kids to go back to class. Here’s what to expect at drop-off."

Australia

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• Geelong Grammar School - founded in 1855. "Exceptual Education." Independent, Anglican, co-educational, boarding and day school. The school's main campus is located at Corio, on the northern outskirts of Geelong, Victoria. Former pupils include Prince Charles & media mogul Rupert Murdoch.
• Knox Grammar School - founded in 1924. 7 Woodville Ave, Wahroonga NSW 2076. Independent, Uniting Church, day and boarding school for boys.

Denmark

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• Crown Princess Mary & Crown Prince Frederik left ‘shaken’ after ‘heartbreaking’ reports of bullying at son Prince Christian’s school - "The Danish royal couple has taken a rare public stance, voicing the incident is ‘completely unacceptable’."


• BORDINGS SCHOOL - founded in 1945.
• HERLUFSHOLM School - founded in 1565 by King Frederik II. "World-class education in Denmark."
• KREBS' School - founded in 1872.
• SORØ AKADEMI - founded in 1586.

France

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• American School of Paris - founded in 1946. Coeducational, independent international school in Saint-Cloud, in the Paris metropolitan area. The school has over 800 students from pre-kindergarten to Grade 12 and post-Bac. Located on a private 10.5 acre (40,000+ sq m) campus on the edge of Paris, ASP provides an American education to an international student body of more than 50 nationalities. ASP is organized into three divisions: Lower School (Early Childhood through Grade 5, or 3-10 years old), Middle School (Grades 6-8, or ages 11-13) and Upper School (Grades 9-12 and post-Bac, or 14-18 years old). Approximately one-third of the students are American, and 17% are French. The other half of the students come from over 50 countries.
• École Active Bilingue | EAB - private, co-educational, secular school that welcomes 2500 students from Maternelle (Early Years / Nursery) through to Terminale (Year 13 / 12th Grade) across it's five premises in Paris. Since its creation in 1954, it has been providing French and foreign students with an outstanding education, developing communication skills and competences in different languages (notably French, English and Spanish) and fostering the positive cohabitation of many different cultures.
• ÉCOLE DES ROCHES - Verneuil-sur-Avre, Normandy. Founded in 1899. The most famous private school in France. Former pupils include Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark. Avenue Edmond Demolins, 27130 Verneuil d'Avre et d'Iton.
• École normale supÉrieure - founded in 1794. (ENS; also known as Normale sup', Ulm or ENS Paris) is a grande école in Paris, France. It is now part of the 4 écoles normales of France and only provides graduate and doctoral degrees. It is one of the constituent members of PSL University. 45, rue d’Ulm, 75230 Paris cedex 05.
• EURÉCOLE - 5, rue Lubeck, Passy, 75116 Paris.
• INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL OF PARIS | ISP - founded in 1964. Private international school based in Paris.
• LUBECK SCHOOL - founded in 1882. Considered one of the best private schools for girls in Paris. Some of Lubeck’s illustrious alumnae: Victoire de Castellane of Dior, Vanessa Seward of Azzaro, Emmanuelle Alt of French Vogue, Camille Miceli of Louis Vuitton, Mathilde Agostinelli of Prada, Caroline Deroche of Givenchy and the former first lady Cécilia Sarkozy. Institut de l’Assomption, 6 - 8 rue de Lübeck, 75116 Paris.
• LycÉe Janson-de-Sailly - located in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, France. The lycéens of Janson are called les jansoniens and they usually refer to their high school as Janson, or JdS. It is the biggest academic institution in the region: 3,200 boys and girls from 11 to 20 attend classes ranging from junior high school to Classes Préparatoires. 106 rue de la Pompe, 75116 Paris.
• LycÉe Lakanal - secondary public school (enrollment 3,000) in Sceaux. The school also offers a middle school and highly ranked "classes préparatoires" undergraduate training. Famous French scientists and writers have graduated from lycée Lakanal.
• LycÉe Louis-le-Grand - founded in 1563. Prestigious secondary school located in Paris. Founded by the Jesuits as the Collège de Clermont, it was renamed in King Louis XIV of France's honor after he extended his direct patronage to it in 1682. It offers both a sixth-form college curriculum (as a lycée or high school with 800 pupils), and a post-secondary-level curriculum (classes préparatoires with 900 students), preparing students for entrance to the elite Grandes écoles for research, such as the École normale supérieure (Paris), for engineering, such as the École Polytechnique, or for business, such as HEC Paris. Notable alumni: Marquis de Sade, Jean-Paul Sartre, Voltaire, Edgar Degas, Eugène Delacroix, Maximilien de Robespierre, Georges Pompidou, Valéry Giscard d'Estaing & Jacques Chirac.

Germany

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• Schule Schloss Salem - founded 1920. Boarding school with campuses in Salem and Überlingen in Baden-Württemberg, Southern Germany. It is considered one of the most elite schools in Europe. The school was established by the educator Kurt Hahn with support of Prince Maximilian of Baden in 1920 and from the beginning accepted girls and boys. Under the Nazi regime Hahn (who was Jewish) was forced to emigrate to Scotland where he founded the British Salem School of Gordonstoun as well as later Outward Bound and the United World Colleges.
• Schulpforta - founded in 1543. "Landesschule Pforta is a German boarding school with a long tradition and special concept of furthering talented students in languages, music and natural sciences." Notable pupils: Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock, August Ferdinand Möbius, Leopold von Ranke & Friedrich Nietzsche. Schulstraße 12, 06628 Naumburg (Saale).

Switzerland

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• Brillantmont International School - founded in 1882. Fully accredited day and boarding school for boys and girls aged 11-18 in the centre of Lausanne. Students study in the British Programme to prepare for the IGCSE and A Level examinations or for the American Programme which prepares students for the American High School Graduation Diploma. Upon completion of their studies students enter universities all over the world, with many choosing to go to the UK or to the USA.
• Ecole Nouvelle de la Suisse Romande - founded in 1906. Co-educational private school located in Lausanne.
• International School of Berne - founded in 1961. An international school in Gümligen, Muri bei Bern. It serves students from early childhood through grade 12. Also known to have potentially schooled North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un secretly during his childhood.
• International School of Geneva | Ecolint - since 1924. Private international school based in Geneva. It is the oldest and largest operating international school in the world.
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• LE ROSEY - founded in 1880. During most of the 20th century referred to as the "School of Kings", as the school has educated many notable alumni, including 7 monarchs, and generations of dynastic families, including Hohenzollerns, Rothschilds, Metternichs, Borgheses, Hohenlohes, and Radziwills.
• Lemania-Verbier International School - founded in 1908. "Educational Excellence in Verbier." Lemania-Verbier International School delivers a world-class educational experience for students ageds 3 to 15, where education goes beyond the curriculum and will provide your children with a learning experience that will last a lifetime.

United Kingdom

• Cecil Reddie - (1858-1932). Was a reforming English educationalist. He founded and was headmaster of the progressive Abbotsholme School.
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• Eton bans smartphones for new pupils - "The school will issue boys with an offline Nokia handset instead amid wider moves to improve children’s mental health and behaviour."
• Eton College seeks to hire clinical psychologist to toughen up boys with 'resilience' programme - The Telegraph.
• ETON SCHOOL UNIFORM - Tom Brown Tailors.
• Fagging - was a traditional practice in British boarding private schools (nearly all "public schools" in the English sense) and also many other boarding schools, whereby younger pupils were required to act as personal servants to the most senior boys. While domestic servants were common in family households, the custom reflected household task distribution and taught pupils about service from both ends of the relationship very much reminiscent of the relationship between squire and knight in the Middle Ages. Under school rules, fagging might entail harsh discipline and corporal punishment when those were standard practices. Fagging was sometimes associated with sexual abuse by those older boys.
• INDEPENDENT SCHOOLS council - "ISC independent schools are among the best in the world and educate more than 500,000 children in the UK."
• List of Old Harrovians - former pupils of Harrow School.
• List of Old Wykehamists - former pupils of Winchester College are known as Old Wykehamists, in memory of the school's founder, William of Wykeham.
• List of the oldest schools in the United Kingdom - Wikipedia.
• People educated at Eton College - Wikipedia.
• Public school (United Kingdom) - Wikipedia.
• Wykehamist - of, pertaining to or characteristic of Winchester College.

Top 40 Private Schools United Kingdom

• Abbotsholme School - founded in 1889. Co-educational independent boarding and day school. The school is situated on a 140-acre campus on the banks of the River Dove in Derbyshire, England near the county border and the village of Rocester in Staffordshire. It is a member of the SHHIS (Society of Headmasters & Headmistresses of Independent Schools) and is a Round Square school.
• Abingdon School - founded in 1256. Day and boarding independent school for boys in Abingdon, Oxfordshire. The twentieth oldest independent British school, it celebrated its 750th anniversary in 2006. List of Old Abingdonians.
• Benenden School - founded in 1923. Private boarding school for girls in Kent, England, in Hemsted Park at Benenden, between Cranbrook and Tenterden. Benenden has a boarding population of over 550 girls aged 11 to 18, as well as a limited number of day student spaces. Former pupils include Anne, Princess Royal.
• Bradfield School - founded in 1957. "Where People Thrive." Secondary school with academy status situated on the edge of the village of Worrall, in the civil parish of Bradfield, in Sheffield, South Yorkshire. The school is a specialist Engineering College catering for pupils between the ages of 11 and 18.
• Bryanston School - founded in 1928. Co-educational independent school for both day and boarding pupils, located next to the village of Bryanston, and near the town of Blandford Forum, in Dorset in South West England. Bryanston is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference and the Eton Group. It has a reputation as a liberal and artistic school using some ideas of the Dalton Plan.
• CHARTERHOUSE - founded in 1611. English collegiate independent boarding school (also referred to as a public school) situated at Godalming in Surrey. It is one of the original nine English public schools as defined by the Public Schools Act 1868 which derived from the Clarendon Commission of 1864. Today pupils at Charterhouse are still referred to as Carthusians, and ex-pupils as Old Carthusians or OCs.
• Cheam School - founded in 1645. "Where traditional values meet modern thingking." Preparatory school in Headley, Hampshire. The school has a high level of academic work, as well as drama productions, music and sports. Notable alumni or former pupils include: Charles, Prince of Wales, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh and Lord Randolph Churchill, Conservative cabinet minister and father of Winston Churchill.
• Cheltenham Ladies' College - founded in 1853. Independent boarding and day school for girls aged 11 to 18 in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire.
• Chorister School - founded in 1416. "Encouraging All To Achieve." Notable former pupils: Tony Blair, Rowan Atkinson, James Fenton, Christopher Hancock, Stephen Hancock, Sir John Laws, Paddy MacDee, Sir Peter Vardy, Jammes, Wood, Hall Charlton.
• Churcher's College - founded in 1722. "Limitless Potential." Independent, fee-paying day school for girls and boys. The Senior School (ages 11–18) is in the market town of Petersfield, Hampshire with the Junior School and Nursery (ages 2 years, 9 months–11) in nearby Liphook. It is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference (HMC). The college has several notable alumni, known as Old Churcherians or OCs. Male OCs are eligible to become members of the East India Club, whilst women may join the University Women’s Club. Notable alumni: Tiny Rowland.
• Dragon School - founded in 1877. One school on two sites in Oxford. The Prep School (children aged 8–13) and Dragon Pre-Prep (ages 4–7) are both co-educational schools. The Dragon Prep School was founded in 1877 as the Oxford Preparatory School. It takes day pupils and boarders. Notable Old Dragons.
• Dulwich College - founded in 1619. 2–19 independent, day and boarding school for boys in Dulwich, London, England. It was founded in 1619 by Edward Alleyn, an Elizabethan actor, with the original purpose of educating 12 poor scholars as the foundation of 'God's Gift'. Admission by examination is mainly into years 3, 7, 9, and 12 (i.e. ages 7, 11, 13, and 16 years old) to the Junior, Lower, Middle and Upper Schools into which the college is divided. It is a member of both the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference and the Eton Group. Old boys of Dulwich College are called "Old Alleynians", after the founder of the school. Notable Old Alleynians include Sir Ernest Shackleton, Sir P G Wodehouse, Raymond Chandler, Sir Edward George, Bob Monkhouse, David Lean & Nigel Farage.
• Durnford Preparatory School - (1894-1939). Was a notoriously spartan and uncomfortable preparatory school which opened in 1894 on the Isle of Purbeck in Dorset. The school occupied Durnford House, in High Street (postcode BH19 3HB) in the village of Langton Matravers near Swanage. "Strip and swim" was the morning ritual for the boys - watched by headmaster Thomas Pellatt - into the sea from Dancing Ledge on the coast in 1898. Notable former pupils: Ian Fleming author of the James Bond novels, who attended Durnford before Eton together with his brother Peter, Henry Egerton Cotton, Sir Stephen Hastings, John Nicholas Rede Elliott & Vice-Admiral Sir Gerard "Ged" Mansfield.
• Ellesmere College - founded in 1884. "A school which reflects your beliefs and values." Located in Shropshire, near the market town of Ellesmere. Belonging to the Woodard Corporation. The College consists of a Lower School (Years 3-8), a Middle School (Years 9-11) and a Sixth Form (Year 12-13) where students can choose their own A-Level, BTEC, and International Baccalaureate subjects. Notable Old Ellesmerians: Lady Edwina Grosvenor - prison reformer and founder of The Clink Restaurants & Hugh Grosvenor - 7th Duke of Westminster.
• ETON - "Honoring Tradition. Inspiring Change." Founded in 1440. British independent boarding school located in Eton, near Windsor in England. It educates over 1,300 pupils, aged between 13 to 18 years and was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI as "The King's College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor". Eton is one of nine English independent schools, commonly referred to as "public schools", included in the original Public Schools Act 1868. Following the public school tradition, Eton is a full boarding school, which means all pupils live at the school, and is one of four such remaining single-sex boys' public schools in the United Kingdom (the others being Winchester College, Harrow School and Radley College) to continue this practice. It has educated nineteen British Prime Ministers and generations of aristocracy, and has been referred to as the chief nurse of England's statesmen.
• EXETER SCHOOL - founded in 1633. Selective independent co-educational day school for pupils between the ages of 7 and 18 located in Exeter, Devon. The school maintains close links with its former pupils through the Old Exonian Club which meets annually around the country.
• Felsted School - founded in 1564. Co-educational day and boarding independent school, situated in Felsted, England. It is in the British Public School tradition, and was founded in 1564 by Richard Rich, 1st Baron Rich. Felsted is one of the 12 founder members of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference, and is also a full member of the Round Square Conference of world schools. Felsted School has been awarded the Good Schools Guide award twice and is regularly featured in Tatler's Schools Guide.
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• FETTES COLLEGE - founded in 1870. Coeducational independent boarding and day school in Edinburgh, Scotland.
• FRANCIS HOLLAND SCHOOL - founded in 1878. "Knowledge, Compassion, Spirit and Perseverance." Francis Holland, Regent’s Park, is one of London’s leading independent schools for girls. Located at the edge of Regent’s Park, we are home to a thriving and happy community of girls with a shared desire to learn and succeed. With an enviable reputation for academic success, the school has a unique charm and warmth that reflect our core values. Regent's Park, NW1.
• FRANCIS HOLLAND SCHOOL - founded un 1881. "Be The Difference." From the moment our girls enter the school they are taught the value of social conscience. At the same time, they are encouraged to be brave, to be resilient and to rise to the challenge, however hard that may seem. Whilst academic achievement is highly valued, at Francis Holland School, Sloane Square, we provide an education which not only prepares young women for a fast-changing, technological world, but which enables them to make, and to be, the difference in society. Sloane Square, SW1.
• GORDONSTOUN School - founded in 1934. Co-educational independent school (public school in the British usage of the term) for boarding and day pupils in Moray, Scotland. It is named after the 150-acre (61 ha) estate owned by Sir Robert Gordon in the 17th century; the school now uses this estate as its campus. It is located in Duffus to the north-west of Elgin. The school uses the Common Entrance Exam for entry at age 13+. Founded in 1934 by German educator Kurt Hahn, Gordonstoun has an enrollment of around 500 full boarders as well as about 100 day pupils between the ages of 6 and 18. Three generations of British royalty were educated at Gordonstoun, including the Duke of Edinburgh and the Prince of Wales.
• HARROW SCHOOL - founded in 1243. English independent school for boys situated in the town of Harrow, in north-west London. There is some evidence that there has been a school on the site since 1243, but the Harrow School of today was formally founded by John Lyon under a Royal Charter of Elizabeth I in 1572. Harrow is one of the original nine public schools that were regulated by the Public Schools Act 1868.
• Heatherdown School - was an independent preparatory school for boys, near Ascot, in the English county of Berkshire. Set in 30 acres (12 ha) of grounds, it typically taught between eighty and ninety boys between the ages of seven and thirteen and closed in 1982. The school was a leading "feeder school" for Eton College. Notable former pupils: Prince Andrew, Duke of York, Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex, Andrew Russell, 15th Duke of Bedford, David Cameron, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, David Niven, Angus & James Ogilvy, George Windsor, Earl of St Andrews.
• HEATHFIELD SCHOOL - founded in 1899. "A leading independent boarding and day school for girls aged 11-18." Girls' independent boarding school in Ascot, Berkshire. It is one of two remaining full boarding girls' schools in the United Kingdom, the other being Benenden School in Kent, meaning all pupils board at the school full-time. Notable former pupils: Alexandra, Queen Consort of Yugoslavia, Marisa Berenson, Tiggy Legge-Bourke, Princess Alexandra, Princess Olga of Greece & Lady Henrietta Spencer-Churchill.
• Hill House School - founded in 1951. Preparatory day school based in Knightsbridge, London. Former pupils include Prince Charles.
• Hillbrow School - was an English boys' preparatory school established in 1859 in the Midland town of Rugby. Notable pupils: Rupert Brooke, Duncan Grant, Robert Graves & James Strachey.
• HURST LODGE SCHOOL - founded in 1945. Small non-selective independent school at Ascot, Berkshire, for girls and boys aged three to eighteen, with about 160 children of all ages. The school specializes in teaching performing arts, and all children take dance classes.
• King's College School | KCS - founded in 1829. Independent school located in Wimbledon in south-west London, United Kingdom. The school was founded as the junior department of King's College London and occupied part of its premises in Strand, before relocating to Wimbledon in 1897. It is a member of the Eton Group of schools. In September 2010, KCS admitted girls into the sixth form for the first time.
• Lockers Park School - founded in 1874. Day and boarding preparatory school for boys and co-educational pre-preparatory school, situated in 23 acres of countryside in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire. Former pupils: Prince Alemayehu, son of the Emperor of Ethiopia, Prince Maurice of Battenberg, Guy Burgess & Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, last Viceroy of India.
• Lord Wandsworth College - founded in 1928. Medium-sized fully co-educational independent school in Hampshire. It takes both day and boarding pupils from the ages of 11–18. It is set among 1200 acres of farmland adjacent to the small village of Long Sutton, near the small town of Odiham and village of South Warnborough.
• LUDGROVE SCHOOL - founded in 1892. "Fortnightly boarding for boys aged 8-13 years old." Independent preparatory boarding school for about 200 boys, aged eight years to thirteen. Workingham, Berkshire. Notable Old Ludgrovians: Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, Prince Harry, Prince Edward, Duke of Kent & Alexander Frederick Douglas-Home, 14th Earl of Home.
• Marlborough School - founded in 1939. Co-educational Church of England secondary school with academy status in the small market town of Woodstock, about 8 miles (13 km) northwest of Oxford. The school's catchment area includes Woodstock and surrounding villages.
• Millfield - founded in 1935. Co-educational independent public school, in Street in Somerset.
• New School at West Heath - motto: "Rebuilding Lives Through Education." Independent school in Sevenoaks, Kent. It caters for children for whom mainstream schooling has become insufficient, for varying reasons.
• North London Collegiate School (NLCS) - "Providing an ambitious academic education for girls, since 1850." Independent day school for girls in London. Founded in Camden Town, it is now located in Edgware, in the London Borough of Harrow. Notable former pupils: Rachel Weisz (actress) & Anna Wintour (fashion journalist; editor of Vogue.)
• Queen's College, London - founded in 1848. "Thrive - Queen's is a community where every individual thrives." Independent school for girls aged 11–18 with an adjoining prep school for girls aged 4–11 in the City of Westminster, London. Notable alumnae: Katherine Mansfield, Lady Soames Mary Churchill, Peaches Geldof, Asma al-Assad & Anna Wintour.
• Queen's Gate School - founded in 1891. Independent day school for girls in Queen's Gate, South Kensington, London.
• Radley College - founded in 1847. Boys' independent boarding school near Radley, Oxfordshire. It is one of four boys-only, boarding-only independent senior schools in the United Kingdom, the others being Winchester College, Harrow School and Eton College.
• Roedean School - independent day and boarding school founded in 1885 in Roedean Village on the outskirts of Brighton, East Sussex. It is for girls aged 11 to 18. The campus is situated near the Sussex Downs, on a cliff overlooking Brighton Marina and the English Channel.
• Rugby School - founded in 1567. Co-educational day and boarding school located in the town of Rugby, Warwickshire. One of the oldest independent schools in Britain. The influence of Rugby and its pupils and masters in the nineteenth century was enormous and in many ways the stereotype of the English public school is a reworking of Thomas Arnold's Rugby. It is one of the best-known and most expensive schools in the country.
• Sedbergh School - founded in 1525. Public school (English independent day and boarding school) in the town of Sedbergh in Cumbria, in North West England. It comprises a junior school for children aged 4 to 13 and the main school for 13 to 18 year olds. Despite its long history, The Good Schools Guide notes how “Sedbergh has faced up to the demands of the 21st century but managed to retain traditional values and ethos. Its increasing numbers indicate parents very much approve. It rightly retains its formidable reputation on the sports field but away from it, provides a happy and caring environment for all its pupils regardless of ability or sports prowess. Notable Old Sedberghians: Brendan Bracken, 1st Viscount Bracken, Politician, businessman and associate of Winston Churchill.
• Sherborne School - independent boarding school for boys, located beside Sherborne Abbey, in the parish of Sherborne, Dorset. The school has been in continuous operation on the same site for over 1,300 years. It was founded in 705 AD by St Aldhelm and, following the dissolution of the monasteries, re-founded in 1550 by King Edward VI, making it one of the oldest schools in the United Kingdom. Sherborne is one of the twelve founding member public schools of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference in 1869 and is a member of the Eton Group. In the public school tradition, Sherborne remains a full boarding school with boys living seven days a week in one of nine boarding houses. Sherborne is one of only five such remaining single-sex boys' boarding independent senior schools in the United Kingdom (the others being Eton, Harrow, Radley, and Winchester), although uniquely Sherborne also admits a few day boys. List of Old Shirburnians.
• St Andrew's School, Pangbourne - founded in 1934. Independent preparatory school in the hamlet of Buckhold, near Pangbourne, Berkshire. Together with its 'Pre-Prep - Early Years' department, the school educates girls and boys aged between three and thirteen. In 2011, there were 266 children at the school, of whom 155 were boys and 111 were girls. The school has a Christian ethos, and its chapel services are reported to be "broadly Anglican in style". Notable former pupils: John le Carré, Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, wife of Prince William & her sister Pippa Middleton.
• St Paul's Girls' School - founded in 1904. Independent day school for girls, located in Brook Green, Hammersmith, in West London, England. It remains one of the leading schools in the country, as supported by the consistent outperformance of other schools in examination results and university offers.
• Stowe School - founded in 1923. Independent co-educational school in Stowe, Buckinghamshire.
• SUMMER FIELDS SCHOOL - motto: Mens Sana in Corpore Sano. Preparatory school for 7-13 year old boys.
• The Elms School - founded in 1614. Co-educational, independent, boarding, prep school located in Colwall, Herefordshire. The Elms was founded in 1614 by Humphrey Walwyn of the Worshipful Company of Grocers, and is the oldest prep school still on its original site. The original school house was based on a farmhouse, built in the 1550s, on the edge of the village of Colwall in the lee of the Malvern Hills. In 2014 The Elms School celebrated its 400-year anniversary. It maintains close links with the Grocers' Company, and receives financial assistance from the company's charitable arm.
• Wellington College - founded in 1859. British co-educational boarding and day independent school in the village of Crowthorne in Berkshire.
• WESTMINSTER SCHOOL - founded in 1179. One of Britain's leading independent schools, with the highest Oxford and Cambridge acceptance rates of any secondary school or college in Britain. With a history going back to the 11th century, the school's notable alumni include Ben Jonson, John Dryden, Robert Hooke, Christopher Wren, John Locke, Jeremy Bentham, Edward Gibbon, Henry Mayhew, A. A. Milne, Tony Benn and seven Prime Ministers. Boys are admitted to the Under School at age seven, and to the senior school at age thirteen; girls are admitted only at sixteen.
• WETHERBY SCHOOL - founded in 1991. Notting Hill, London. Attended by Prince Harry.
• WINCHESTER COLLEGE - founded in 1382. Independent school for boys in the British public school tradition, situated in Winchester, Hampshire. It has existed in its present location for over 600 years and claims the longest unbroken history of any school in England. Current pupils of Winchester College are known as Wykehamists, in memory of the school's founder, William of Wykeham; former pupils are known as Old Wykehamists, or amongst themselves as Old Woks.
• Wixenford School - was an independent preparatory school for boys near Wokingham, founded in 1869. A feeder school for Eton, after it closed in 1934 its former buildings were taken over by the present-day Ludgrove School. Old Wixenfordians: George Nathaniel Curzon, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston, Lord Alfred Douglas, or "Bosie" & Kenneth Clark.
• Wycombe Abbey - founded in 1896. Independent girls' boarding school situated in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. It is academically one of the top schools in the United Kingdom, and the top girls' boarding school (in terms of academic results).

U. S. A.

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• Agnes Irwin School - founded in 1869. All-girls, non-sectarian college preparatory day school for students from pre-kindergarten through grade 12. Rosemont, Pennsylvania. Notable alumnae: Tory Burch & Kara Ross.
• Brooks School - founded in 1926. Private, co-educational, preparatory, secondary school in North Andover, Massachusetts on the shores of Lake Cochichewick. Notable alumni: Anthony Perkins, James Spader & Sam Waterston.
• Buckley School - founded in 1933. College preparatory day school. Located in Sherman Oaks, in the San Fernando Valley portion of the Los Angeles, California. It is the oldest co-educational independent day school in the Los Angeles area. Notable alumni: Paris & Nicky Hilton, Nicole Richie, Kim Kardashian, Matthew Perry, Laura Dern and Christian Brando.
• Chapin School - founded in 1901. American all-girls, private day school located in the Manhattan borough of New York City, NY.
• Choate | Choate Rosemary Hall - founded in 1890. Highly-selective, private college-preparatory boarding school located in Wallingford, Connecticut. Its history, influence, and academic excellence have made it one of the most prestigious boarding high schools in the world. Among Choate's alumni are President John F. Kennedy, two-time Presidential nominee Adlai Stevenson, playwright Edward Albee, novelist John Dos Passos, philanthropist Paul Mellon, and actors Glenn Close, Michael Douglas, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Paul Giamatti.
• Concord Academy - founded in 1922. Coeducational, independent, college preparatory school for grades nine through twelve, located in Concord, Massachusetts. Notable alumni: Caroline Kennedy amp; Queen Noor of Jordan.
• Convent of the Sacred Heart - founded in 1881. Independent Roman Catholic all-girl school in the Manhattan borough of New York City. Teaching grades from pre-kindergarten through twelve, it is located on Manhattan's Upper East Side at East 91st Street and Fifth Avenue. It is one of the most selective and expensive schools in Manhattan. Notable alumnae: Lady Gaga, Paris Hilton, Nicky Hilton, Dorothy Donnelly, Caroline Kennedy, Joan Bennett Kennedy, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, Jean Kennedy Smith and Gloria Morgan Vanderbilt.
• Dalton School - founded in 1919. Originally the Children's University School, is a private, coeducational college preparatory school in New York City and a member of both the Ivy Preparatory School League and the New York Interschool. Notable Alumni: Claire Danes, actress, Noah Emmerich, actor & Christian Slater, actor.
• Ethel Walker School - founded in 1911. Also commonly referred to as “Walker’s”, is a private, college preparatory, boarding and day school for girls in grades 6 through 12 plus postgraduate located in Simsbury, Connecticut.
• Foxcroft School - founded in 1914. College-preparatory boarding and day school for girls in grades 9-12, located near Middleburg, Virginia.
• Groton - founded in 1884. Private Episcopal college preparatory boarding school located in Groton, Massachusetts. It enrolls approximately 372 boys and girls, from the eighth through twelfth grades. Notable alumni: Joseph Alsop, Hugh D. Auchincloss, Francis Biddle, C. Douglas Dillon, W. Averell Harriman, J. P. Morgan, Jr., Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Sam Waterston, William Payne Whitney.
• Holton-Arms School - founded in 1901. Independent college-preparatory school for girls in grades 3–12, located in Bethesda, Maryland. Notable alumnae: Brooke Astor, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Susan Ford and Christine Lagarde.
• Horace Mann School - founded in 1887. Independent college preparatory school in New York City. Horace Mann is a member of the Ivy Preparatory School League, educating students from all across the New York tri-state area from nursery school to the twelfth grade. Notable alumni: Roy Cohn, Henry Geldzahler, Jack Kerouac, Tom Lehrer and Ira Levin.
• Hun School of Princeton - founded in 1914. Private, coeducational, secondary boarding school located in Princeton, New Jersey. The school serves students from grades 6 through high school.
• John Thomas Dye School - founded in 1949. Independent private coeducational nonsectarian elementary day school located in the Bel-Air area of Los Angeles, California, serving students in kindergarten through sixth grade. Notable alumni: Paul Thomas Anderson, Monica Lewinsky, Lisa Marie Presley, Maureen & Ron Reagan, Melissa Rivers and Tori Spelling.
• Lawrenceville School - founded in 1810. Coeducational, independent college preparatory boarding school for students in ninth through twelfth grades, located on 700 acres (2.8 km²) in the historic Lawrenceville section of Lawrence Township, New Jersey. Notable alumni: Charles Chaplin, Jr., Michael Eisner, Malcolm Forbes, Huey Lewis & John Gutfreund.
• Madeira School - founded in 1906. Private, non-denominational college-preparatory boarding school for girls located in McLean, Virginia.
• Miss Porter's School - founded in 1843. (Also known as Porter's, Farmington, or MPS). Private college preparatory school for girls located in Farmington, Connecticut. It is a selective school that excels in academics and athletics. Its acceptance rate is 29% with an average SSAT score of 89. It was named the number one girls' boarding school by US News. Notable alumnae include: Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis, Lilly Pulitzer, Gloria Vanderbilt, Dorothy Walker Bush, Lee Radziwill, Barbara Hutton, Dina Merrill.
• Notre Dame High School - founded in 1851. Private, All-Female, Catholic,college preparatory high school located in the San Mateo County suburb of Belmont, California.
• Oldfields School - founded in Baltimore County, Maryland in 1867 by Anna Austen McCulloch, is the oldest girls' boarding school in Maryland. Among the School's notable graduates was Wallis Warfield Simpson, who became the Duchess of Windsor.
• PHILIPS EXETER ACADEMY - founded in 1781 by John Phillips. Highly selective, coeducational independent school for boarding and day students in grades 9 through 12, and offers a secondary postgraduate program. Alumni of Exeter include Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.
• Phillips Academy Andover - founded in 1778. Highly selective, prestigious, co-educational independent boarding preparatory school for boarding and day students in grades 9–12, along with a post-graduate (PG) year. The school is located in Andover, Massachusetts.
• Pomfret School - founded in 1894. Independent, coeducational, college preparatory boarding and day school in Pomfret, Connecticut, serving 360 students in grades 9 through 12 and post-graduates.
• Rhodes Preparatory School - (1945-1979). Was a private school located at 11 West 54th Street in Manhattan, New York City. Former students: James Caan, Robert De Niro & Marc Rich.
• SACRED HEART ACADEMY - founded in 1949. All-girls' preparatory private and catholic school located on Cathedral Avenue, in Hempstead, NY.
• Saint Ann's School - founded in 1965. Private school in Brooklyn, New York City that is ranked one of the top high schools in the United States (by the Wall Street Journal). The school is a non-sectarian, co-educational pre-K–12 day school with programs in the arts, humanities, and sciences (its high school offers 200+ classes yearly).
• Saint David's School - founded in 1951. Independent Roman Catholic primary and pre-primary school located on East 89th Street in the Upper East Side of Manhattan, New York City. It is an all-boys school, educating students from pre-kindergarten through to eighth grade.
• Shipley School - founded in 1894. Coeducational, independent, college-preparatory day school with approximately 1,000 students in pre-Kindergarten through 12th grade. Shipley is located in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, approximately 12 miles west of Philadelphia.
• SIDWELL FRIENDS SCHOOL - founded in 1833. Quaker school located in Bethesda, Maryland and Washington, D.C., offering pre-kindergarten through high school classes. Described as "a great Quaker school", the school has educated children of notable politicians, including those of several presidents. President Theodore Roosevelt's son Archibald, President Richard Nixon's daughter Tricia, President Bill Clinton's daughter Chelsea Clinton, President Barack Obama's daughters, Sasha and Malia, Vice President Joe Biden's grandchildren, and Vice President Al Gore's son, Albert Gore III, graduated from Sidwell Friends.
• Spence School - motto: Non scholae sed vitae discimus. All-girls independent school in New York City, founded in 1892 by Clara B. Spence. She described her school as: "A place not of mechanical instruction, but a school of character where the common requisites for all have been human feeling, a sense of humor and the spirit of intellectual and moral adventure." Notable alumnae: Madeleine Astor, Edith Bouvier Beale, Georgina Bloomberg, Eleanor A. Campbell, Huguette M. Clark, Dawn French, Helen Clay Frick, Jade Jagger, Margaret Carnegie Miller, Marjorie Post & Gwyneth Paltrow.
• St. Albans School - founded in 1909. Independent college preparatory day and boarding school for boys in grades 4–12, located in Washington, D.C. St. Albans had the 11th-highest success rate in placing graduates at 10 selective universities. Almost 75% of the faculty at the school have advanced degrees. Notable alumni.
• ST. BERNARD'S SCHOOL - founded in 1904. Private all-male elementary school. 4 E. 98th Street, New York City, NY.
• St. Paul's School - founded in 1856. Highly selective college-preparatory, coeducational boarding school in Concord, New Hampshire, affiliated with the Episcopal Church. The school is one of only six remaining 100% residential boarding schools in the U.S. Notable alumni: John Jacob Astor IV, James Bond, did not graduate. The name-sake for Ian Fleming's fictional spy, Archibald Cox, Huntington Hartford, William Randolph Hearst, John Kerry, Catherine Oxenberg, Charles Scribner III and Cornelius Vanderbilt III.
• St. Timothy's School - founded in 1882. Four-year private all-girls boarding high school in Stevenson in Baltimore County, Maryland. Notable alumnae: Liz Claiborne, Edie Sedgwick & Sunny von Bülow.
• The Brearley School - founded in 1884. All-girls private school in New York City. It is located on the Upper East Side of the Manhattan borough of New York City. Notable alumnae: Anne Baxter, Oona, Lady Chaplin, Jill Clayburgh and Caroline Kennedy.
• THE BUCKLEY SCHOOL - founded in 1933. Motto: "Dare to Be: Brilliant, Creative, Strong, and True."
• THE CHAPIN SCHOOL - founded in 1901. All-girls, private day school. 100 East End Ave., New York City, NY. Notable alumnae: Jacqueline Bouvier, Sunny von Bülow, Alexandra Isles, Tricia Nixon Cox, Vera Wang, Sister Parish, Sigourney Weaver, Julie Nixon Eisenhower, Cosima von Bülow Pavoncelli.
• THE DWIGHT SCHOOL - founded in 1880. Motto: "Use your spark of genius to create a better world." Selective, combined elementary and secondary private school on the Upper West Side in New York, NY.
• The Harvey School - founded in 1916. Highly selective, co-educational, college preparatory school near Katonah, New York, for students in grades 6 through 12.
• The Hewitt School - founded in 1920. Independent, K-12 girls school in New York City, New York. The school serves girls from Kindergarten through 12th Grade. Notable alumnae: Christina Onassis, Athina Livanos, Mary Duke Biddle Trent Semans, Brenda Frazier, Julie Harris, Margaret Campbell, Duchess of Argyll, Lee Remick, Barbara Hutton, Lady Pamela Hicks and Edith Kingdon Gould.
• The Hill School - founded in 1851. Elite, highly selective preparatory boarding school for boys and girls located in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, about 35 miles northwest of Philadelphia. Notable alumni: James Baker III, Leonard Firestone, Harry Hamlin, Alan J. Pakula, George Patton IV, Donald Trump Jr. and Oliver Stone.
• The Hotchkiss School - founded in 1891. Selective independent, coeducational college preparatory boarding school located in Lakeville, Connecticut. Notable alumni: Henry Luce, Henry Ford II, Edsel Ford, William Clay Ford, Forrest Mars, John Mars, Charles Edison, Harold Stanley, Potter Stewart and John G. Avildsen.
• THE PUTNEY SCHOOL - founded in 1935. "Progressive education for a sustainable future." An independent, coeducational boarding and day high school, with a strong program in the arts, music, land use, academic college preparatory program, sports in Putney, Vermont.
• The Wilberforce School - K-12 Classical Christian school in Princeton Junction, New Jersey. Founded in 2005, the school is named in honor of noted abolitionist William Wilberforce and seeks to provide a distinctly Christian education characterized by academic excellence and joyful discovery within a classical framework.
• Todd School for Boys - (1848-1954). Was an independent preparatory school located in Woodstock, Illinois. Under headmaster Roger Hill from 1929, it became a progressive school that provided students including Orson Welles with a creative educational environment that emphasized practical experience over traditional academics. Only one building, Rogers Hall, remains from the original campus.
• Westover School - founded in 1909. Independent college-preparatory day and boarding school for girls. Located in Middlebury, Connecticut, USA, the school offers grades 9-12.