Day pupils

Day pupils part company with the boarders in the early evening to make their way home. Frequently individuals stay at School for some event or production or they join a group going to a theatre or a concert. Day pupils taking part in School or House plays or concerts who find it difficult to get home safely by a reasonable time often arrange with Housemasters to stay overnight.

The Westminster Week (a detailed version of the week’s events and activities in the term diary) is distributed around the School and on the intranet. (http://www.westminster.org.uk/study/dayinthelife.asp)

Public schools in the UK

A public school, in common British usage, is a school which is usually prestigious and historic, which charges fees, does not arbitrarily restrict admissions, and is financed by bodies other than the state, commonly as a private charitable trust. Often but not always they are boarding schools. Confusingly to a non-native English speaker a public school is actually a private school! In British usage, a government-run school (which would be called a 'public school' in other areas, such as the United States ) is called a state school.

Many of the independent schools in the UK do not refer to themselves as public schools . Many choose to use the term independent school. In part this is due to a sense that some 'minor' public schools have many of the social associations and traditions of public schools but without the quality of teaching and extracurricular activities.

The term 'public' (first adopted by Eton) historically refers to the fact that the school was open to the paying public, as opposed to, a religious school that was only open to members of a certain church, and in contrast to private education at home (usually only practical for the very wealthy who could afford tutors).

Public schools played an important role in the development of the Victorian social elite. Under a number of forward-looking headmasters leading public schools developed a curriculum based heavily on classics and physical activity for boys and young men of the upper and upper middle classes. They were schools for the gentlemanly elite of Victorian politics, armed forces and colonial government. Often successful businessmen would send their sons to public school as a mark of participation in the elite (it was Martin Wiener's opposition to this tendency which inspired his 1981 polemic "English Culture and the Decline of the Industrial Spirit: 1850-1980", which became a huge influence on the Thatcher government's opposition to old-school gentlemanly Toryism and, by default, a key reason for the recent upsurge of privately-educated pop singers in the UK).

Public schools often relied heavily on the maintenance of discipline by older boys, both to reduce staffing costs and as preparation for military or public service.

While under the best circumstances the Victorian public schools were superb examples of education, the reliance on corporal punishment and the prefect system could also make them awful. The classics-based curriculum was criticised for not providing skills in sciences or engineering.

The public school system influenced the school systems of the British empire to an extent. Recognisably 'public' schools can be found in many Commonwealth countries.

Today most public schools are highly selective on academic grounds, as well as financial grounds (ability to pay high fees) and social grounds (often a family connection to the school is very desirable in admissions).

Slang peculiar to or originating from public schools

The following list includes some commonly used slang terms, and some historic slang, used at public schools in the UK:Term Meaning Specificity

ABROAD Out of the sick room. Winchester

BAD EGG A nasty and unpleasant person. -

BEARDS! An exclamation of surprise. The Leys

BEDDER A bedmaker and cleaner. Also used in Cambridge University

BIBBLING Six strokes of the cane Winchester

BRUSHING Flogging. Christ's Hospital

CARRELL A booth for private study St Paul's School

CHEESE A dandy. Cambridge

CHINNER Wide grin Winchester

CLIPE To tell tales. -

COXY Conceited -

EXECUTION Flogging by the Head Master with a birchrod. Eton

FAG A junior boy who acts as servant for a sixth-former. -

GOD A prefect or sixth former. Eton

GOOD EGG A trustworthy or reliable person (later inversion of BAD EGG ). -

MAJOR Such as Smith Major, the elder brother. -

MAXIMUS Such as Smith Maximus, the eldest brother (of three or more). -

MINIMUS Such as Smith Minimus, the youngest brother (of three or more). -

MINOR Such as Smith Minor, the younger brother. -

MUZZ To read. Westminster

NEWBIE New boy; now a general term. -

PEPPER To fill in the accents on a Greek exercise. -

PLEB A junior boy. -

QUILL To flatter. Winchester

RAG A misdemeanour, hence: -

RAG WEEK where sponsored 'misdemeanours' are common. Also used at some universities

SAPPY Severe flogging. -

SHELL A boy in the youngest year Harrow, St. Edward's, Winchester;

org. from Westminster.

TITCHING caning Christ's Hospitale English, Welsh and Northern Irish sy

Date: 2015-02-28; view: 797