The Eton Group is an association of 12 English
public schools within the
Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference
The Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference (HMC) is an association of the head teachers of 361 independent schools (both boarding schools and day schools), some traditionally described as public schools. 298 Members are based in the Unite ...
. 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
The Rugby Group is a group of 18 British public schools.
The group was formed in the 1960s as an association of major boarding schools within the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference.
As with the Eton Group, which was formed a few years ...
, 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 exte ...
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
''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, wh ...
'' into the Eton Group and other schools, the
Office of Fair Trading
, type = Non-ministerial government department
, nativename =
, nativename_a =
, nativename_r =
, logo = Office of Fair Trading (United Kingdom) (logo).png
, logo_width = 255px
, logo_caption =
, seal =
, seal_width =
, seal_caption =
, ...
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
The Competition Act 1998 is the current major source of competition law in the United Kingdom, along with the Enterprise Act 2002. The act provides an updated framework for identifying and dealing with restrictive business practices and abuse of ...
(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
Sevenoaks School is a highly selective coeducational independent school in Sevenoaks, Kent, England. It is the second oldest non-denominational school in the United Kingdom, dating back to 1432, only behind Oswestry (1407). Over 1,000 day pupils ...
.
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