Public school (privately funded)

In most of the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth countries, a public school is a traditional privately operated secondary school that is funded by the payment of tuition fees.[1] These schools, wherever located, often follow a British educational tradition. Originally, many were single-sex boarding schools, but many are now co-educational with both boarders and day-pupils. This usage is synonymous with preparatory school in the USA, although in British English preparatory school has a different meaning.
Whether a particular independent school is or is not a public school is not clearly defined, although there are some which indisputably are, and others which clearly are not. While this usage of the term public school is common in most of the United Kingdom, it can be ambiguous in Scotland, where it often refers to a publicly funded school.