Uniform in a 1914 dress of a junior Eton pupil, wearing a top hat, neck-tie and "bum-freezer", none of which are now worn The school is known for its traditions, including a uniform of black
tailcoat (or
morning coat) and black
waistcoat, a starched
stiff collar and black pinstriped trousers. Most pupils wear a white "
tie" which is a narrow strip of cloth folded over the joint of the collar to hide the collar stud, but some senior boys are entitled to wear a white bow tie and winged collar ("Stick-Ups"). These include boys part of select prefect bodies, those who represent their house as a type of House Captain (general, sports or arts) and those who are "keepers" of areas of the school. There are some variations in the school dress worn by boys in authority; see
School Prefects and
King's Scholars sections. is unfounded. In 1862,
Edward Balston, Head Master, noted little in the way of uniform in an interview with the
Clarendon Commission. Lord Clarendon: One more question, which bears in some degree upon other schools, namely with regard to the dress. The boys do not wear any particular dress at Eton? Edward Balston: No, with the exception that they are obliged to wear a white neckcloth. Lord Clarendon: Is the colour of their clothes much restricted? Edward Balston: We would not let them wear for instance a yellow coat or any other colour very much out of the way. Lord Clarendon: If they do not adopt anything very extravagant either with respect to colour or cut you allow them to follow their own taste with respect to the choice of their clothes? Edward Balston: Yes. Lord Lyttelton: They must wear the common round hat? Edward Balston: Yes. in 1915 The uniform worn today was gradually adopted and standardised towards the end of the nineteenth century. Until 1967, boys under the height of wore a cropped jacket (known as an Eton jacket,
mess jacket, or "bum-freezer") instead of a tailcoat.
Tutors and teaching Teachers are known officially as "Masters" but may also be referred to unofficially as "beaks". The pupil to teacher ratio is 8:1, which is extremely low by typical UK school standards. Class sizes start at around twenty to twenty-five in the first year and are often below ten by the final year. The original curriculum concentrated on prayers, Latin and devotion, and "as late as 1530 no Greek was taught". Later the emphasis was on
classical studies, dominated by
Latin and
Ancient History, and, for boys with sufficient ability,
Classical Greek. From the latter part of the 19th century this curriculum has changed and broadened: for example, there are now more than 100 students of Chinese, which is a non-curriculum course. In the 1970s, there was just one school computer, in a small room attached to the science buildings. It used
punched tape to store programmes. Today, all boys must have laptop computers and are given iPads for their school work, and the school
fibre-optic network connects all classrooms and all boys' bedrooms to the internet. The primary responsibility for a boy's studies lies with his House Master, but he is assisted by an additional director of studies, known as a tutor. Classes, formally known as "divisions" ("divs") or "schools", are organised on a school basis; the classrooms are separate from the houses. New blocks of classrooms have appeared approximately every decade since the construction of New (mathematics) Schools, designed by
Henry Woodyer and built 1861–63. Despite the introduction of modern technology, the external appearance and locations of many of the classrooms have remained unchanged for a long time. The oldest classroom still in use, "Lower School", dates from the 15th century, though this is now used more for religious services and as a detention centre. Every evening, about 75 minutes, known as Quiet Hour, is set aside, during which boys are expected to study or prepare work for their teachers if not otherwise engaged. Specialists (boys in sixth form) are not obliged to observe Quiet Hours but must still remain quiet and respectful during the allocated time. Some Houses, at the discretion of the House Master, may observe a second Quiet Hour after prayers in the evening. This is less formal, with boys being allowed to visit each other's rooms to socialise if neither boy has work outstanding. The
Independent Schools Inspectorate's report for 2016 says, "The achievement of pupils is exceptional. Progress and abilities of all pupils are at a high level. Pupils are highly successful in public examinations, and the record of entrance to universities with demanding entry requirements in the United Kingdom and overseas is strong." In 2017, a
science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) schools skills ranking table, designed to show employability, showed the school performed disproportionally badly, falling to 109th place and behind many state schools.
Edwina Dunn, the chairwoman of the company producing the report, called for schools to be reassessed based on how suitable pupils are for businesses in the post-Brexit world.
School publications The Chronicle is the official school magazine, having been founded in 1863. It is edited by boys at the school. Although liable to censorship, it has a tradition of satirising and attacking school policies, as well as documenting recent events.
The Oppidan, founded in 1828, (history),
The Agathon (philosophy),
The Axiom (mathematics),
Scientific Etonian (science),
The Ampersand (English),
Biopsy (medicine),
The Lexicon (modern languages) and
The Etonal (music). Online publications also include
EtonSTEM (STEM subjects) and
The Florentina (environmental).
Societies At Eton, there are many organisations known as 'societies', in many of which pupils come together to discuss a particular topic or to listen to a lecture, presided over by a senior pupil, and often including a guest speaker. As of September 2024, there are 80 clubs, activities and societies in existence, catering for a wide range of interests and largely run by boys.
Grants and admissions Prizes are awarded on the results of trials (internal exams), GCSE and AS-levels. In addition, many subjects and activities have specially endowed prizes, several of which are awarded by visiting experts. The most prestigious of these is the
Newcastle Scholarship. The
Newcastle Scholarship is awarded on the strength of an examination, consisting of two papers in philosophical theology, moral theory and applied ethics. The Keynes Prize is awarded on an examination of a particular topic within the branch of Economics. The Rosebery Prize for History is awarded on the same day as the Newcastle Scholarship, and follows a similar format of a three-hour exam during the Lent Half (although the Newcastle Scholarship is awarded on the basis of two such examinations). Also of note is the Gladstone Memorial Prize and the Coutts Prize, awarded on the results of trials and AS-level examinations in C block (
Year 12); and the Huxley Prize, awarded for a project on a scientific subject. Other specialist prizes include the Newcastle Classical Prize (which was formerly the same prize as the Newcastle Scholarship, but the two were separated as a decreasing number of philosophers were fluent in Latin and Classical Greek); the Queen's Prizes for French and German; the Duke of Newcastle's Russian Prize; the Beddington Spanish Prize; the Strafford and Bowman Shakespeare Prizes; the
Tomline and Russell Prizes for Mathematics; the Robert Bridges Prize for English; the Sotheby Prize for History of Art; the Waddington Prize for Theology and Philosophy; the Birley Prize for History; the Rorie Mackenzie Prize for Modern Languages; the Robert Boyle Prize for Physics; the Macmillan Prize for Politics; the Wilder Prize for Theology and the Hervey Verse Prize for poetry in senior years. Prizes are awarded too for excellence in activities outside of academics. The Loder Declamation Prize is one of the oldest prizes and the most prestigious non-academic prize in the school where boys are required to read a bible passage, a monologue from a Shakespeare play, and a set of prose. Other non-academic prizes are awarded for activities such as painting, sculpture, ceramics, playing musical instruments, musical composition, acting, backstage work, classical and modern language declamation, silverwork, and design. Various benefactions make it possible to give grants each year to boys who wish, for educational or cultural reasons, to work or travel abroad. These include the Busk Fund, which supports individual ventures that show particular initiative; the C. M. Wells Memorial Trust Fund, for the promotion of visits to classical lands; the Sadler Fund, which supports, among others, those intending to enter the Foreign Service; and the Marsden Fund, for travel in countries where the principal language is not English.
Incentives and sanctions Eton has a well-established system for encouraging boys to produce high-standard work. An excellent piece of work may be rewarded with a "Show Up", to be shown to the boy's tutors as evidence of progress. If, in any particular term, a pupil makes a particularly good effort in any subject, he may be "Commended for Good Effort" to the Head Master (or Lower Master). If any boy produces an outstanding piece of work, it may be "Sent Up For Good", This is for sub-standard work, which is sometimes torn at the top of the page/sheet and must be submitted to the boy's housemaster for signature. Boys who accumulate rips are liable to be given a "White Ticket", a form of a progress report which must be signed at intervals by all his teachers and may be accompanied by other punishments, usually involving doing domestic chores or
writing lines. In recent times, a milder form of the rip, 'sign for information', colloquially known as an "info", has been introduced, which must also be signed by the boy's housemaster and tutor. Internal examinations are held at the end of the Michaelmas half (i.e. autumn term) for all pupils except those in the last year, and in the Summer half for those in the first, second and fourth years (i.e. those not taking a full set of public examinations). These internal examinations are called "Trials". Boys who fail to achieve a certain mark in a subject in a set of trials are 'flagged', and sometimes asked to revise that subject over the coming holidays to then re-sit the exam at the beginning of the next half. A boy who is late for any division or other appointments may be required to sign "Tardy Book", a register kept in the School Office, between 7:35 am and 7:45 am, every morning for the duration of his sentence (typically three days). Tardy Book may also be issued for late work. For more serious misdeeds, a boy is placed "on the Bill", which involves him being summoned by the sudden entry of a prefect (Sixth Form Select) into one of his divisions, who announces in a loud and formal tone that at a given time a certain pupil must attend the office of the Head Master, or Lower Master if the boy is in the lower two years, to talk personally about his misdeeds. In such cases the pupil would ordinarily receive a detention of either one or two hours in length, however it is possible for no punishment to be given if a sufficient explanation is provided. The most serious misdeeds may result in expulsion, suspension, or
rustication (a form of suspension which doesn't go on one's disciplinary record) or in former times, beating. Conversely, should a master be more than 15 minutes late for a class, traditionally the pupils may claim it as a "run" and absent themselves for the rest of its duration, provided they report their intention so to do at the School Office. A traditional punishment took the form of being made to copy, by hand, Latin
hexameters. Offenders were frequently set 100 hexameters by Library members, or, for more serious offences,
Georgics (more than 500 hexameters) by their House Masters or the Head Master. The giving of a Georgic is now extremely rare, but still occasionally occurs.
Corporal punishment Eton used to be renowned for its use of
corporal punishment, generally known as "beating". In the 16th century, Friday was set aside as "flogging day". A special wooden birching block was used for the purpose, with the boy being directed to fetch it and then kneel over it.
John Keate, Head Master from 1809 to 1834, took over at a time when discipline was poor. Until 1964, offending boys could be summoned to the Head Master or the Lower Master, as appropriate, to receive a
birching on the bare posterior, in a semi-public ceremony held in the Library, where there was a special wooden birching block over which the offender was held.
Anthony Chenevix-Trench, Head Master from 1964 to 1970, abolished the birch and replaced it with
caning, also applied to the bare buttocks, which he administered privately in his office. Chenevix-Trench also abolished corporal punishment administered by senior boys. Previously, House Captains were permitted to cane offenders over the seat of the trousers. This was a routine occurrence, carried out privately with the boy bending over with his head under the edge of a table. Less common but more severe were the canings administered by Pop (see
Eton Society below) in the form of a "Pop-Tanning", in which a large number of hard strokes were inflicted by the President of Pop in the presence of all Pop members (or, in earlier times, each member of Pop took it in turns to inflict a stroke). The culprit was summoned to appear in a pair of old trousers, as the caning would cut the cloth to shreds. This was the most severe form of physical punishment at Eton. Chenevix-Trench's successor from 1970,
Michael McCrum, retained private corporal punishment by masters but ended the practice of requiring boys to take their trousers and underpants down when bending over to be caned by the Head Master. By the mid-1970s, the only people allowed to administer caning were the Head Master and the Lower Master. Corporal punishment was phased out in the 1980s. The film director
Sebastian Doggart claims to have been the last boy caned at Eton, in 1984.
Prefects In addition to the masters, the following three categories of senior boys are entitled to exercise school discipline. Boys who belong to any of these categories, in addition to a limited number of other boy office holders, are entitled to wear winged collars with bow ties (known as "Stick-Ups"). •
Pop: officially known as 'Eton Society', a society comprising the most well-regarded, confident and able senior boys. It is a driving ambition of many capable Eton schoolboys to be elected to Pop, and many high-performers who are refused entry to this society consider their careers at Eton a failure.
Boris Johnson was a member of Pop, whilst
David Cameron (unlike his elder brother
Alexander) failed to be elected, which possibly fed their later political rivalry. Over the years its power and privileges have grown. Pop is the oldest self-electing society at Eton, created in 1811 by
Charles Fox Townshend. The rules were altered in 1987 and again in 2005 so that the new intake are not elected solely by the existing year and a committee of masters. Now, it involves a complex process where all boys in C Block, all teachers, Housemasters, Dames, and the current Pop vote for who they think are the best candidates. The Lower Master then compiles all this information and holds a final meeting called the 'Pop Committee', where all members are decided upon, including which of these members are to be chosen as the President of Pop, Chairman of Pop, Captain of the School and Captain of the Oppidans. Members of Pop wear a braided tailcoat (buttonhole), white and black
houndstooth-checked trousers, a starched stick-up collar and a white bow-tie, and are entitled to wear flamboyant waistcoats, often of their own design. Historically, only members of Pop were entitled to furl their umbrellas or sit on the wall on the Long Walk, in front of the main building. However, these traditions have died out. They perform roles at many of the routine events of the school year, including school plays, parents' evenings and other official events, and generally maintain order. Notable ex-members of Pop include the
Prince of Wales (unlike his younger brother the
Duke of Sussex, who failed to be elected),
Hugh Laurie,
Eddie Redmayne,
Arthur Hallam,
William Ewart Gladstone,
Stafford Northcote,
Lord Rosebery and
Tom Hiddleston. The former Provost
Lord Waldegrave was both the President of Pop and Captain of the Oppidans. •
Sixth Form Select: an academically selected prefectorial group consisting, by custom, of the 10 senior King's Scholars and the 10 senior Oppidan Scholars (though recently, high-achieving pupils who are not King's or Oppidan Scholars have also been admitted entry). The number of Sixth Form Select has grown over time. Members of Sixth Form Select are entitled to wear silver buttons on their waistcoats. They also act as Praepostors: they enter classrooms in mid-lesson without knocking and ask in a loud and formal tone, "Is (
family name) in this division?" followed by "He is to see the Head Master at (time) on the bill" (the
Bill, see above). Members of Sixth Form Select also perform "Speeches", a formal event held five times a year, most notably on Fourth of June. The names of members of Sixth Form Select are engraved in the Head Master's Schoolroom. •
House Captains: The captains of each of the 25 boys' houses (see above). There are usually either one or two per house. They have little responsibility at a school level, but nonetheless act as representatives of their houses and help maintain order within the house. House Captains are entitled to wear a mottled-grey waistcoat with their house colours at the back. It is possible to belong to
Pop,
Sixth Form Select and be a House Captain at the same time. It is less common for a House Captain to belong to Pop but it still happens fairly often. The position of the Head Boys of Eton is divided into four roles: President of Pop, Chairman of Pop, Captain of the School and Captain of the Oppidans. The first two are the leaders of Pop and the latter two are the leaders of Sixth Form Select. Captain of the School and Captain of the Oppidans are also in Pop and in the Monarch (rowing prefect body)
ex officio. In the era of
Queen Elizabeth I, there were two praepostors in every form, who noted down the names of absentees. Until the late 19th century, there was a praepostor for every division of the school. ==Extra–curricular activities==