School & Pupil numbers

There are around 2,600 independent schools in the UK, educating about 671,000 children. The actual number fluctuates more or less daily as new schools are registered. A "school" may be very small indeed: schools have to be registered if they educate five or more pupils, or even fewer in some cases. ISC schools range in numbers from 30 to over 2,000 pupils.

In England, independent schools educate just over eight per cent of the entire school age population. Proportions are lower in Scotland and Wales. There are regional variations, too: in the south east of England, about 10 per cent of children are in independent schools and the proportion rises to 14 per cent in Inner London and to 25 per cent in Edinburgh.

Between them, ISC's 1,271 member schools educate more than half a million children - over 80% of the pupils in the UK independent sector.