The terms independent school and private school are often synonymous. In the United Kingdom Independent schools & colleges (also known as private schools/colleges) are fee paying schools which are governed by an elected board of directors and are independent of many of the regulations and conditions that apply to state funded schools/colleges. In addition to charging tuition fees, many also benefit from gifts, charitable endowments and charitable status. There are more than 2,500 independent colleges in the UK, which educate around 615,000 children.  Many of these are members of the Independent Schools Council.

 

Thus private colleges are those colleges which are run by private organizations / people, under the specified rules laid down bhy UKBA. These colleges set their own curriculum and admissions policies. They are funded by fees paid by parents and income from investments. Just over half have charitable status. Every independent school/college must be registered with the Department for Education. Standards are regularly monitored by either Ofsted or an inspectorate approved by the Secretary of State, ensuring that the school maintains the standards set out in its registration document.

 

Most of the qualifications offered by private institutions are not awarded by these institutions but by some other awarding body like a vocaltional qualification awarding body or a university etc.

 

Independent schools/colleges, as compared with maintained schools/colleges, are generally characterised by more individual teaching; much better pupil-teacher ratios at around 9:1 longer teaching hours (sometimes including Saturday morning teaching) and homework, though shorter terms; more time for organised sports and extra-curricular activities; more emphasis on traditional academic subjects such as maths, classics and modern languages; and a broader education than that prescribed by the national curriculum, to which state school education is in practice limited. 

Educational achievement is generally very good. Independent school pupils are four times more likely to attain an A* at GCSE than their non-selective state sector counterparts and twice as likely to attain an A grade at A level. A much higher proportion go to university. Some schools specialise in particular strengths, whether academic, vocational or artistic, although this is not as common as it is in the State sector.

Independent schools & colleges are able to set their own discipline regime, with much greater freedom to exclude children, primarily exercised in the wider interests of the school: the most usual causes being drug-taking, whether at school or away, or an open rejection of the school's values, such as dishonesty or violence.

 

However independent (private) schools/colleges (especially private colleges) are sometimes criticised as teaching below suggested teaching standards. In reality these conditions vary from college to college.