The Eton Group is an association of 12 English public schools within the

Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference The Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference (HMC), formerly known as the Headmasters' Conference and now branded HMC (The Heads' Conference), is an association of the head teachers of 351 private fee-charging schools (both boarding schools ...

. 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. History The group was formed in the 1960s as an association of major boarding schools within the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference. In 2003, as part of a wider investigation ...

, 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. They have existed for many centuries, and now extend acr ...

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 Sunday 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 N ...

'' into the Eton Group and other schools, the

Office of Fair Trading The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) was a non-ministerial government department of the United Kingdom, established by the Fair Trading Act 1973, which enforced both consumer protection and competition law, acting as the United Kingdom's economi ...

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 The Independent Schools Council (ISC) is a non-profit lobby group that represents over 1,300 private schools in the United Kingdom. The organisation comprises seven independent school associations and promotes the business interests of its ...

said independent schools were following long-established practice and were not aware that the

Competition Act 1998 The Competition Act 1998 (c. 41) 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 a ...

(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 Public school (United Kingdom), public school. It is co-educational, a Private schools in the United Kingdom, private boarding school, boarding and day school, located in Sevenoaks, Kent, England. Established in 1432, it ...

. 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 school organisations in England