ABSTRACT
The governing body controls the finances, and the chief executive is responsible for educational policy, for the hiring and firing of teachers, and for the admission and, if necessary, the expulsion of pupils. There are some 1,360 independent schools in the United Kingdom that annually submit statistics to Independent Schools Information Service (ISIS), which was established in 1972 as an information centre for the schools. The most important of the associations reporting to ISIS are the Headmaster's Conference (HMC), the Girls Schools Association (GSA) and the Incorporated Association of Preparatory Schools (IAPS). The constitution of the leading boys independent secondary schools, the so-called Clarendon schools, including Eton, Winchester, and Westminster is laid down in statutes and regulations, the key statute being the Public Schools Act of 1868. Other independent schools have their own trust deeds. Whatever the legal instrument under which the schools operate, there are broad similarities in the organization and management of independent schools.
